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Red Bull break another record: What happened at the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix
Next weekend, the Chinese Grand Prix is on the cards for Formula 1 drivers. After Lando Norris won the season opener in Melbourne by narrowly staying ahead of Max Verstappen in the final laps, it is now time for the pinnacle of motorsport to travel to China. This is how things went during last year's race weekend in China at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Chaotic Friday in China for the grid
Last year, the Chinese Grand Prix was held later in the season, on the weekend of 21 April, which was also a sprint weekend in China last time out. A remarkable scene happened during the weekend's only free practice session when there was a red flag due to there being a fire on the track. The grass area next to the track caught fire, and as a result, no more data could be collected. Surprisingly, Lance Stroll topped the timesheet during the first and only free practice of the race weekend, and so he was the fastest of that session, with only 15 minutes of the session being driven.
On Friday, after the only practice session, sprint qualifying came next. In SQ1 and SQ2, it was dry, so there were no real shocks going into the final part of qualifying for the sprint race. During SQ3, the rain came and the track became damp, meaning the grid had to qualify on intermediates. Lando Norris was fastest during the session, and Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton completed the top three, while Verstappen got no further than the fourth fastest time.
Verstappen outclasses everyone in qualifying
However, when it came to the sprint race, Verstappen came into his own, taking sprint race victory on Saturday for the eighth time in his career. After nine laps, the Red Bull driver was already in the lead, with teammate Sergio Perez also doing well after he qualified in P6 during sprint qualifying. He finished second behind Verstappen, starting off what was to be a dominant weekend for the Austrian team.
When qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix came around, the Dutchman was no match for anybody. Verstappen brought Red Bull Racing the 100th pole in Formula 1 history, yet another record for the Austrian team after their stunning 2023 season the year before.
Lewis Hamilton did not get beyond Q1, starting an ominous trend for the 2024 season where the seven-time world champion struggled in qualifying. Perez qualified P2, alongside the Dutchman on the front row of the grid, but it was with some luck. In his final run of Q1, he made a mistake, only just finishing 15th. During Q2, Carlos Sainz slid off the track, causing a red flag. In Q3, Verstappen was slower than in Q2 but still had a substantial lead over the competition, three-tenths faster than Perez in P2.
Red Bull shows class on Sunday in Shanghai
The weekend only got even more successful for Verstappen and Red Bull on Sunday, with the Dutchman taking his 58th win in Formula 1. Despite two safety cars, Norris finished more than ten seconds behind the Red Bull driver, while Perez, who started alongside Verstappen on the front row of the grid, crossed the line in second place. Things got tense for a while with the restart at the end of the race, but Verstappen executed it perfectly, immediately shooting away from Leclerc and Perez. Verstappen therefore stood head and shoulders above the rest during the 2024 race weekend in China. However, a repeat of this dominance seems unlikely in the 2025 edition.
This article was created in collaboration with Kim Hoefnagel
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