Shanghai: Oscar Piastri hailed his “mega” McLaren after winning a Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday later overshadowed by the disqualifications of Ferrari´s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for technical infringements.
Alpine´s Pierre Gasly was also kicked out after Piastri led a McLaren one-two from pole position with Lando Norris second. Almost three hours after the chequered flag, stewards ruled that Leclerc and Gasly had cars that weighed less than the 800 kilogram minimum, while Hamilton was found to have excessive plank wear underneath his car.
Leclerc had finished fifth and Hamilton sixth. Their points have been stripped with all the drivers below them gaining places. Gasly finished 11th so was already out of the points.
It means that Esteban Ocon moves up to fifth, Kimi Antonelli to sixth, Alex Albon to seventh and Oliver Bearman to eighth. Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz were promoted to score points for ninth and 10th respectively
It was a disastrous end to a weekend that had started so brilliantly for Ferrari when Hamilton took his maiden win for his new team in Saturday´s sprint.
The plank assembly is a skid plate which is designed to wear away when the floor strikes against bumps on the track or kerbs. If it is too worn it can improve performance as cars can run closer to track, increasing “ground effect” down force.
During the race Piastri kept a cool head to bounce back from the disappointment of his spin in the closing laps of the season-opener in Melbourne a week ago. From the moment he fended off George Russell´s Mercedes at the first bend, Piastri was in total control for all 56 laps around the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit as he took his third grand prix win.
Norris darted past from third on the grid at the same turn and the two McLarens then sped away, leaving Russell to take his second third-place finish of the season. It was McLaren´s 50th one-two finish in their long history.
“It´s been an incredible weekend, the car has been pretty mega,” said Piastri, 23, after McLaren made a one-stop strategy work to perfection. “Very, very happy. The hard was a much better tyre than everyone expected so to go all the way to the end was a bit of a surprise, but a happy surprise.”
Red Bull´s world champion Max Verstappen snatched fourth place after a thrilling late pass on Leclerc. Norris had to cope with a late brake issue which forced him to settle for second rather than launch a challenge on his teammate.
“I was lucky. Lucky to finish the race today and that´s not something you want to be saying,” said a relieved Norris, for whom the finish line came just in time. “Brakes are something you hate but something you really do need and it can save your life,” he added.
Norris leads the championship after two race weekends on 44 points from Verstappen on 36. Russell is on 35 with Piastri closing in on 34. Russell was delighted with third place.