Five winners and five losers from the F1 Chinese Grand Prix

The Chinese Grand Prix was hardly a thriller but provided a clearer picture of the F1 pecking order in 2025.

McLaren were able to celebrate the 1-2 they missed in the season opener as the British squad underlined their position as title favourites, but it wasn’t all smiles up and down the grid.

Here are our winners and losers from China.

Winner - Oscar Piastri

After a disappointing result at his home race last time out in Melbourne, Oscar Piastri got his own title aspirations back on track in Shanghai.

The Australian led Lando Norris home as he converted his maiden grand prix pole position into a calm and controlled victory. Piastri led from start to finish, only briefly losing first place during the pit stop phase.

It was a convincing win for Piastri as he kept Norris at bay with a margin of around four seconds for most of the race. The result moves Piastri to within 10 points of Norris’s championship lead, putting him right in title contention.

Loser - Ferrari

Ferrari had already endured a pretty bad day at the office, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in no-man’s land and lacking the pace of their rivals as they finished fifth and sixth on the road.

But Sunday turned into an absolute nightmare for Ferrari after the chequered flag, with both Leclerc and Hamilton being disqualified from the final classification for separate technical infringements.

Ferrari have lost 18 points as a result and have fallen to fifth place in the constructors’ championship behind Williams, to add further salt into the wounds. They are now a whopping 61 points behind McLaren.

Winner - McLaren

McLaren maintained their 100 percent winning start to the season with a dominant 1-2 having missed out on the same result in Australia.

The perfect result for the Woking squad, despite the scare of Norris’s late brake drama, to strengthen their position at the top of the constructors’ championship. They lead Mercedes by 21 points.

McLaren’s manner of victory was emphatic and will act as a worrying warning shot to the chasing pack.

Loser - Liam Lawson

Liam Lawson’s future with Red Bull is in jeopardy after his dire start to the season continued in China.

The 23-year-old Kiwi qualified last in both qualifying sessions at the Chinese Grand Prix and could only recover to 15th on the road after starting Sunday’s grand prix in the pitlane as Red Bull experimented with a “radical” set-up.

It appears Lawson is already at risk of being axed, with Red Bull not ruling out an immediate driver swap - most likely with Yuki Tsunoda - before the next race in Japan.

Winner - George Russell

It was another great drive from George Russell as he once again got the most out of his Mercedes, which didn’t have the pace to challenge the dominant McLaren duo.

Russell was ahead of Norris after the only round of pit stops, but could not prevent his fellow countryman powering past as he had to settle with the final spot on the podium for the second week running.

It was so nearly P2 for Russell, who claimed he would have overtaken the ailing Norris at the end if the race was just fractionally longer.

Loser - Racing Bulls

Just like in Australia, Racing Bulls come away from the weekend rueing another big missed opportunity.

Both Isack Hadjar and Tsunoda stated inside the top-10 after brilliant qualifying laps, but a two-stop strategy backfired, leaving them outside of the points.

Tsunoda finished last after a bizarre front wing failure forced him to make an unscheduled third visit to the pits, compounding a miserable race.

Winner - Haas

Haas came away from China as huge winners following Ferrari’s double disqualification.

The team had already enjoyed a great race, with Esteban Ocon taking seventh and F1 rookie Ollie Bearman charging up to 10th, but both would gain a further two places thanks to the post-race exclusions.

As a result of their 14-point haul, Haas have leapfrogged ahead of Aston Martin and up to seventh in the constructors’ standings.

Loser - Alpine

Alpine are now the only team yet to score a point in 2025, having come away from China empty-handed.

Jack Doohan had a poor grand prix, picking up a 10-second penalty for his overzealous defending against Hadjar, while he collected four penalty points over the single weekend.

Teammate Pierre Gasly fared better on Sunday, finishing 11th on the road. But the Frenchman was disqualified post-race after his Alpine car was found to be underweight.

It has been a hugely disappointing start to the season for the French squad, who considered themselves front-of-the-midfield challengers before a wheel was turned.

Winner - Alex Albon

Alex Albon produced a brilliant qualifying lap to secure a top-10 starting position, which he converted into a strong ninth on the road in China. That would become seventh following the disqualifications for Ferrari.

It was a fantastic and measured drive from Albon, who is rising to the challenge of having four-time grand prix winner Carlos Sainz as his new teammate.

It turned out to be a great day for Williams on the whole, with Sainz promoted up to 10th, giving the team another precious point which lifts them above Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.

Loser - Fernando Alonso

It has been a pretty woeful start to the season for Fernando Alonso, who completed just four laps in Shanghai before a brake problem hit, forcing him into retirement.

Alonso has now failed to finish the opening two grands prix of 2025 after crashing out of the season opener in Melbourne.

Had Alonso not experienced his race-ending issue, he could well have scored decent points thanks to the post-race exclusions, which promoted Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll up to P9.