F1 wrap: Piastri subdued, Lawson in the gun, why Ferrari was disqualified
Oscar Piastri says it’s too soon to be talking about his title hopes, but the Australian knows what he must do to turn his dreams into a reality. All the fallout from the Chinese Grand Prix inside.
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Oscar Piastri has vowed to capitalise on his McLaren’s performance early in the season after celebrating his “most complete” weekend in Formula 1, but says it’s too early to start thinking about his place in the title fight.
The Australian star boosted his title credentials with a flawless win from pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix to cap his strongest race weekend in F1 to date.
Piastri also finished second in Saturday’s sprint race in China and had started on pole for the first time en route to his third grand prix win.
The Melbourne-born racer now sits fourth in the drivers’ standings after the first two races with just 10 points separating the top four.
Asked if he was thinking about the title fight this year after his win, Piastri said it was too early to be talking titles, but stressed the importance of striking while his McLaren was hot.
“It’s very, very early, clearly (in the championship),” Piastri said.
“But I think no matter how short or long the championship is, you need to maximise the car that you have every race.
“We saw last year that (Max) Verstappen was able to win the championship by capitalising on the car he had in the first part of the year.
“He obviously did a good job through the rest of the year as well, but he built a gap when he had the ability to build the gap.
“That’s an important thing at the moment as well because you never know when someone’s going to find some speed with an upgrade or find something in how they operate the car. There are pretty fine margins out there.
“So you obviously want to capitalise whenever you can, but I’m certainly not thinking about the championship yet.
“As much of a cliche as it is, it’s a cliche for a reason and I’m focusing on one weekend at a time because ultimately that’s how you win a championship – by getting the most out of every weekend.”
Piastri led home a McLaren one-two in Shanghai with his teammate Lando Norris surviving late brake drama to finish runner-up after his opening-round win in Australia.
Piastri’s win in China, which followed his victories in Hungary and Azerbaijan last year, helped ease the hurt from his home race at Albert Park a week earlier when he spun out in the rain while in pursuit of Norris for the lead and finished ninth.
The 23-year-old said the win had capped his most satisfying and complete race weekend in F1 so far.
“It’s always a pretty good day when you cross the line first, that’s obvious. But I think for me this has been the most satisfying – not just race – but weekend for myself,” Piastri said.
“The two wins I had previously were very different, and I think this one’s been the most complete.
“This weekend’s been maybe less emotional than the first two wins I’ve had, but definitely more satisfying.
“It’s been a weekend where I’ve been quite comfortable, been confident in what I needed to do and how I’ve been driving.
“I feel like I just managed the race well when I needed to, and pushed when I needed to. So (I’m) just very happy with how the whole weekend’s turned out.”
LUCKLESS LAWSON
Speculation is mounting that struggling rookie Liam Lawson’s fledgling Formula 1 career is already on life support and that the Kiwi could be replaced at Red Bull by Yuki Tsunoda as early as the next race in Japan.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was peppered with questions about Lawson’s F1 future as the New Zealander’s underwhelming start to his rookie campaign continued in China, but appeared to make no guarantees about his seat.
Lawson has endured a miserable start to his F1 career, crashing out in the opening race at Albert Park and getting knocked out in the first stage of every qualifying session so far.
He crossed the line at the Chinese Grand Prix in 15th place, but benefited from three post race disqualifications to push up to 12th.
Website motorsport.com reported after the Chinese Grand Prix Red Bull was considering a swap with Tsunoda for the Japanese driver’s home race, from April 4-6 at Suzuka.
Asked to comment on the speculation about a potential driver swap following the race in China, Horner did not offer any assurances.
“There is always going to be speculation in the paddock,” Horner said.
“As I say, we’ve only just finished the race here, we’ll take away the info and have a good look at it.
“Look, I think everything is purely speculative at the moment. As I say, we’ve just finished this race, we’re going to take away the info and have a good look at it.”
Lawson was promoted to the Red Bull seat to replace Mexican Sergio Perez from its junior squad Racing Bulls over the more experienced Tsunoda.
Horner acknowledged the pressure on Lawson and said he “felt sorry” for the young New Zealander.
“I think Liam still has got potential, we’re just not realising that at the moment … the problem for him is he’s had a couple of really tough weekends and he’s got all the media on his back,” Horner said.
“The pressure just naturally grows in this business. I feel very sorry for him that’s he’s … you can see it’s very tough on him at the moment.
“He’s a young guy, we’ve got a duty to look after him. We’re going to do the best that we can to support him. Liam’s still a very capable driver, we know that, we’re just not … for whatever reason, we’re not seeing him able to deliver that at the moment.”
BULL-SEAT
The talk might have Tsunoda in the frame for an early-season driver swap, but former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher has warned the Japanese driver off the Red Bull seat, saying he “wouldn’t recommend it to anyone”.
Tsunoda already has three points to his name this year after a sixth-place sprint finish at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old has made no secret of his desire for a Red Bull promotion, but Schumacher believed he would be better off staying in his Racing Bulls seat.
“I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone,” Schumacher told Sky Germany about moving to a Red Bull seat.
“If I were Tsunoda’s manager, I wouldn’t advise him to go there because at the moment, the Racing Bull is the better car, and Tsunoda is doing very well with it.
“Moving to Red Bull wouldn’t do him any favours.”
FERRARI FAIL
After the high of a sprint race win for his new team Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton came crashing back to earth after he was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix for a technical infringement.
On a horror day for Ferrari, Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc was also disqualified after post-race checks found his car was underweight.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the third driver to be disqualified with his car also found to be underweight. Both cars came in at 799kg and the minimum weight limit is 800kg.
Hamilton and Leclerc had finished the race in fifth and sixth, while Gasly had placed 11th.
Hamilton’s infringement was relating to the skid wear of his car and the thickness of the part which protects the floor from damage, which had worn down beyond the 9mm limit.
Ferrari later explained the errors made and said there had been no intention to gain an advantage.
“Charles was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tyre wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight,” the team statement said.
“With regard to Lewis’s skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin. There was no intention to gain any advantage.
“We will learn from what happened today and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.”
The DQ’s came the day after Hamilton claimed his first win for Ferrari in the sprint race in Shanghai.
Hamilton sits ninth in the championship standings after the opening two rounds with nine points, 35 behind McLaren’s championship leader Lando Norris.
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