Max Verstappen recovers from bad start to finish fourth at the Chinese Grand Prix
Max Verstappen finished fourth in the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. The reigning champion recovered from a bad start with a late surge of pace, which resulted in him catching both Ferrari cars. Oscar Piastri of McLaren won the race.
It is the same position that Verstappen started the race in. However, this situation changed quickly, as an uncharacteristically bad start from Verstappen resulted in Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton going past him at the beginning of the race.
This seemed like it would be costly after the first 10 laps as Verstappen was nowhere near the Ferraris and the rest of the top three, which consisted of Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, and George Russell.
The first pitstop for the team came in the 14th lap, but the change to hard tires did not reap too many rewards initially as Verstappen climbed back to sixth but did not progress any further than that.
He was also receiving no help from his teammate Liam Lawson, who continued his struggle in his first few races for Red Bull. The New Zealander was in 17th spot at the midway point of the race.
Surprisingly, Verstappen’s pace seemed to kick into another gear with 20 laps to go. This resulted in Ferrari going for a pitstop with Hamilton’s car as Verstappen had put the former champion under severe pressure.
This was followed by the 27-year-old also catching Charles Leclerc in fourth. Verstappen used a brilliant move to overtake the Monegasque in the 53rd lap.
This resulted in a positive end for Verstappen, with some surprise at the fact that his quickest time came in the final laps of the race. “Let’s analyze everything. The last few laps were a lot more competitive, that’s for sure,” he said to his team at the end of the race.
It was Piastri’s third race win of his career. McLaren achieved their 50th 1-2 in Formula One, with Lando Norris finishing in second and George Russell finishing in third with his Mercedes for the second week in a row.
