Italian driver Kimi Antonelli, 19, from Mercedes, achieved his first victory in Formula 1 at the Chinese Grand Prix, this Sunday (15), ahead of his teammate George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who reached the podium for the first time since joining Ferrari.
Antonelli, who on Saturday (14) became the youngest driver to win pole position in the history of Formula 1, closed a perfect weekend on a day in which both McLaren cars were unable to start due to technical problems. The same happened with Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, from Audi, and Thai Alexander Albon, from Williams.
“I’m speechless, almost crying. Thank you very much to the team, because they helped me make this dream come true. I wanted to take Italy back to the top, and we did it,” said the winner.
The Italian prodigy briefly lost the lead at the start, but once he regained it, he controlled the pace to win with authority.
“It was a difficult start. I closed the inside too much and gave the Ferraris too much of an advantage, but the pace was good and we finished at the front”, analyzed Antonelli.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth in the other Ferrari car.
Hamilton shines again
Hamilton, just as he had done in Saturday’s sprint race, made a fantastic start and took the lead right out of the first sequence of corners.
Leclerc also made a brilliant start and managed to overtake Russell, who had started second.
The top four swapped positions several times before the safety car entered the track on lap 11 and took them all to the pits.
Once everything stabilized and the race resumed, Antonelli led ahead of Hamilton, with Leclerc third and Russell fourth.
On lap 29, Russell overtook the two Ferraris and took second place, setting off in pursuit of his young Italian teammate, who at that point already had an advantage of more than seven seconds on the track.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen prolonged Red Bull’s poor start to the season by being forced to abandon the race on lap 46.
McLaren’s nightmare
The situation got even worse for McLaren, with world champion Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri being left out of the race before the start.
Norris was stuck in the pits while mechanics worked on his car and was unable to make it to the grid.
“It’s simply revolting,” Norris exclaimed to Sky Sports, pointing to the engine block which, this year, uses a combination of 50% internal combustion and 50% electrical energy.
“It’s the first time [que perco uma largada]. It’s hard to swallow, but that’s the nature of competition in motorsport.”
Australian Piastri got to position himself on the grid, but had to return to the pits a few minutes later with a different problem.
The start of the season has proven very difficult so far for the British team, the current constructors’ world champion.
Last weekend, only one McLaren started the opening race in Melbourne after Piastri suffered an accident on the way to the starting grid. This means the Australian has yet to compete in a Grand Prix this season.
