Another race, another victory for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at Chinese GP.
The three-time defending champion won the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday starting from pole, his fourth victory in five races this season and his 23rd in the last 27 extending through last season.
11:57 Sun, 21 Apr 2024.
Associated Press

SHANGHAI (AP) — Another Formula 1 race. Yet another victory for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Only a brake failure last month at the Australian GP in Melbourne probably kept him from sweeping all five.

Verstappen trailed for only a few laps following a pit stop. Lando Norris of McLaren was about 14 seconds behind Verstappen in second — the eighth time he has been No. 2 in his career as he still seeks his first victory. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was third.

The Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc, in fourth, and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top five, holding off Mercedes driver George Russell and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin in sixth and seventh, respectively.

‘Another race, another victory’;

https://apnews.com/article/max-verst...29af650db906b2


Max Verstappen 'on another planet' to rest of F1 with Chinese GP win
12:47 Sun, 21 Apr 2024.
The National

Max Verstappen continued his relentless domination of Formula One after once again destroying the field to win the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. Verstappen was denied a 100 per cent points-scoring weekend when Fernando Alonso picked up the bonus for the fastest lap after a late switch to fresh tyres.

“He’s [Verstappen] been on fantastic form all weekend but the team as well have been outstanding this weekend, to win the sprint, to get the front row, the pole position and the front row lockout for the race, and a one, three in the race,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said.

“Max is on another planet at the moment, his form is absolutely fantastic … he’s totally at one with the machine and he has this unbelievable feel and empathy with the car and the grip and the conditions, and the confidence in himself. He has the ability to understand the tyres, when they need to be pushed, when they need to be saved and he’s got this incredible racing brain, it’s almost unhuman what he’s capable of.”

'On another planet';

https://www.thenationalnews.com/spor...hinese-gp-win/


MAX DOMINATES TO WIN HIS FIRST CHINESE GP: 'AMAZING WEEKEND'
21 April 2024
Stefan Meens
Verstappen.nl

“It felt amazing. We were quick all weekend but the changes we made yesterday made the car even better to drive”, said Max. “It was a delight to drive, regardless of the tyres we were on. This track is tough on them, especially the front left. It did mean I had to manage it, but we were still able to gain four or five tenths every lap.”

Two safety cars in the middle of Grand Prix, did not deter Max from holding on to the lead. “The restarts were good and the car was just on rails. I could do with it what I wanted. These kinds of weekends are amazing to be a part of. It’s fantastic.”

'AMAZING WEEKEND';

https://news.verstappen.com/en/article/5439/


Norris thrilled with ‘surprise’ Chinese GP podium as he reveals pre-race Ferrari bet
11:45 Sun, 21 Apr 2024.
Formula One - Official Site

Lando Norris expressed his delight – and surprise – at finishing on the podium during Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, while also revealing that he had made a bet over “how far behind” McLaren would be relative to Ferrari. Norris started the race fourth, behind the two Red Bull drivers and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, but emerged from an action-packed encounter in second position, splitting race winner Max Verstappen and third-placed Sergio Perez.

Asked to reflect on the performance, Norris said: “Surprised, so I’m very happy! I’m happy for the whole team, they deserved it… good pit stops, today just worked out. “I don’t know why, I really wasn’t expecting it to be the kind of race we had today, but I got comfortable, managed the tyres a lot, which was a much easier task than what I had [in the Sprint] yesterday. I could just push. The car felt great and I felt comfortable, so it’s a good day, good points and another podium [after finishing third in Australia]. I’m very happy.”

Norris revealed a pre-race ‘bet’ as to how far McLaren would finish behind Ferrari – only for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to cross the line 10 and 20 seconds behind him respectively. “I made a bet to how far behind the Ferrari we would finish today!” Norris smiled. “I thought 35 seconds and I was very wrong by that. I’m happy to be wrong with myself from my own bets, but it’s a good day for everyone.”

‘Lando Norris expressed his delight’;

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...EUn2ixYfeFiNrp


“I prefer not to comment” - Carlos Sainz reacts to Charles Leclerc’s Lap 1 defence
Tension continues to brew at Ferrari following an aggressive Lap 1 defence from Charles Leclerc at the Chinese Grand Prix.
21 Apr 2024
Connor McDonagh
Crash.Net

Reflecting on the events of the opening lap, Sainz felt it was “clear” that Leclerc’s defending cost both of them crucial track position. “I prefer not to comment,” Sainz told Sky Sports F1. “But it’s obviously quite clear that it cost us both two positions so it helped neither of us.

“Given what our pace was today, better than P5 was impossible. We had a poor start with the situation there in turns one and two that cost both cars two positions, from then on we were just playing catch-up. We had to box very early for the hards and then we had to one-stop from lap 18, something like this and just went forever on the hard tyre which we never going to go much more forward on.”

“At least we saved P5, which given the pace of the car this weekend and the decisions we took, the situation at the start it was the maximum we could achieve.”

“I prefer not to comment”;

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/104725...-lap-1-defence


Toto Wolff’s troubling verdict after ‘not good enough’ result in the Chinese GP
21 Apr 2024 11:40 AM
Michelle Foster
PlanetF1.com

Having proclaimed a month prior that the W15 was “not a bad car”, Toto Wolff has changed his tune and told Ted Kravitz after a lacklustre result in China that is “not an OK car”. Mercedes team principal Wolff admits that’s “not good enough”.

“I think considering where we put the cars altogether, the drivers and the team was not in a good position today,” he told Kravitz. “Not good enough overall. P6 I think it was, and P10 (ninth, ed), but it was lacking pace. So we’ve got to dig deep. We’ve got something coming from Miami that looks like a good step. Let’s see where that brings us.”

Asked if the W15 was ‘fundamentally, now that we have a decent number of races under our belt, an OK car’, Wolff accepted: “No, no, it’s not an OK car. I think we can see what the mistakes were on the car. I think we wanted to go a bit more aggressive to see if it is something that is so different that we need to do on the car. You can see Lewis today who took it on, that was maybe a step too far.”

‘Toto Wolff’s troubling verdict’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-w...ult-chinese-gp


Horner slaps down Wolff’s Verstappen comments: Stop ‘focusing on drivers that are unavailable’
Christian Horner has snapped back at Toto Wolff after the Austrian's latest comments on Max Verstappen, with the Mercedes team principal seemingly putting on a charm offensive to win the Dutch driver over.
21 April 1:50PM
Samuel Coop & Ian Parkes
RacingNews365

Verstappen has a contract until 2028 at Red Bull, but given the power struggle and recent events within the team, there has been speculation he could leave - with Wolff looking to a seat in 2025 following Lewis Hamilton's departure.

"I'm going to think carefully about what I say here," Horner said to media including RacingNews365 when he was told of Wolff's latest remarks. "Have you spoken to Max about this? Because if you speak to Max – and it’s not about pieces of paper at the end of the day, we know that he has a contract to the end of 2028 – it’s about how he feels in the team and the relationship he has in the team and the way he’s performing.”

"I don’t think Toto’s problems are his drivers; I think he’s probably got other elements that he needs to be focusing on rather than focusing on drivers that are unavailable."

‘It’s about how he feels in the team and the relationship he has in the team’;

https://racingnews365.com/horner-swi...appen-comments