Nico Hülkenberg finished tenth in the Haas and finished in the points for the third time this year. “It feels good. That was all that was possible today,” said the Emmericher on Sky. His season is “currently a ten” compared to the team’s possibilities, “but we have to improve.”
Record world champion Lewis Hamilton, who only started from 18th position after a botched qualifying, drove his Mercedes up to at least ninth place and did some damage limitation. The car was “not good,” explained team boss Toto Wolff bluntly.
Zhou Guanyu, who comes from Shanghai, came home empty-handed in 14th place in front of a sold-out crowd, but the Sauber driver was still celebrated frenetically and fought back tears in the face of the ovation after the race.
Almost exactly 15 years ago to the day, Red Bull celebrated its first pole and its first Grand Prix victory in Shanghai thanks to Sebastian Vettel – now there are 117 successes. On Saturday Verstappen captured the 100th pole position for the team, and on Sunday the world champion won the Chinese Grand Prix for the first time. Of the 24 routes in this year’s racing calendar, the Dutchman only has a score to settle with Singapore.
Verstappen, who won the sprint race on Saturday comfortably ahead of Hamilton and Perez, got off to a strong start and quickly pulled away. Even two safety car phases, one after Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas’ engine failure and one after a rear-end collision, failed to embarrass Verstappen. Currently only defects or small parts probably have this potential.
Verstappen is driving “absolutely flawlessly,” said Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko on Sky: “He’s only turning 27 this year, so there’s still a lot to come.” And then the doctor from Graz added mischievously: “We can think about the World Cup title again.”