The Rising Son

The Chinese Grand Prix weekend had plenty to talk about. Lewis Hamilton proved too hard for the pack to handle, as he swept to his and Scuderia Ferrari’s first ever Saturday Sprint victory! In only his second outing for the Italian marque it appeared that Hamilton was back to winning ways. But come Sunday the race set-up slowed him down a fraction and allowed two McLarens, a Mercedes and a Red Bull out qualify him!

If that wasn’t dramatic enough, after a processional race where everyone stopped just once for fresh rubber he first fell back to P6 behind his team mate and then in post-race scrutiny was disqualified for a plank-wear issue! For Ferrari things went from a high on Saturday to outright anguish on Sunday as Charles Leclerc’s SF25 was found illegal too as it was underweight by a kilo! This was the first time ever in the history of Formula One that both Ferraris were disqualified from a Grand Prix!

Up in the front though, Oscar Piastri was kerb-perfect in his execution of the race and led from flag to finish some 9 seconds clear of team mate and opening round winner Norris!

With both drivers having won a round a piece it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top in Suzuka this weekend. Will they actually be allowed to race or be asked to ‘bring it home safe’? The Japanese Grand Prix can make or break the favourites McLaren if the drivers go wheel-to-wheel through the famed figure-of-8 circuit and take no prisoners!

But even that battle between the favourites isn’t box-office for fans this weekend as the real story is the promotion of Yuki Tsunoda to Red Bull Racing and the demotion of Liam Lawson to Racing Bulls! After two disappointing rounds for the Kiwi, Red Bull decided to give Lawson the boot in favour of the one who lost out to him earlier — Tsunoda. Whether it’s a Honda influenced decision to have their Japanese protege at his home track or a Christian Horner decision to make the swap it’s difficult to know. 

One thing that’s clear is that the second Red Bull is difficult to tame. Even Max Verstappen agrees! It’s the kind of challenge that could see Yuki rise above all this Sunday at Suzuka. In the land of the rising sun!

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Round 3 | Japan | Sunday, 6th April 10:30 am | F1TV & FanCode App