Oscar Piastri won a strategic Chinese Grand Prix ahead of teammate Lando Norris and George Russell in a McLaren domination show in Shanghai.

After winning the sprint, Lewis Hamilton could only manage sixth place, behind Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.

The race was dominated by a changing strategy for most teams. At lights out, a two-stop seemed the most obvious strategy, but as the hard tyre hung on for most drivers, a switch to a one-stop meant much more tyre management during the race.

It meant a compromised strategy for most, but Piastri managed his tyres best to take the chequered flag first at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Piastri showed immense race management to take his third victory in Formula One (F1), and one which truly announced his status as a championship contender.

After second place at the Chinese Grand Prix, Norris extends his F1 Driver’s Championship lead to eight points ahead of Max Verstappen. Russel sits just a point behind in 3rd, with Piastri just another point behind in 4th.

How the Chinese Grand Prix Unfolded

It was a frantic start to the race as all the top three got away well.

Russell tried it up the inside of the McLaren of Piastri into the long turn one. Piastri covered the inside line and forced Russell to run tight, allowing Norris to run right round the outside of the Mercedes.

In the tightening turn one, two, and three complex, Leclerc hit the rear of teammate Hamilton’s car. That gave the Monegasque front wing damage in the first bit of slight drama between the two teammates.

In sector two, Gabriel Bortoleto suffered an aero wash-out when chasing the Haas of Oliver Bearman, sending the Brazilian into the gravel and the pits.

Lap four would see the first retirement of the race with Fernando Alonso suffering back-to-back DNF’s. This one due to a dramatic brake failure.

The race entered its tyre management phase very quickly with drivers suffering heavily with graining issues on the newly laid track surface in Shanghai.

Gasly was the first to box from 12th place, emerging in 18th place on his hard tyres.

Tsunoda and Ocon pitted a lap later on lap 12, becoming the first of the points-runners to take a stop. With the undercut, Gasly managed to jump the Haas.

The knock-on effect continued a lap later with Antonelli and Hadjar in. The power of the undercut continued as Antonelli lost a place to Tsunoda.

Hamilton became the first front-runner to pit on lap 14, along with Max Verstappen. They came out in 10th and 12th respectively.

Piastri and Russell pitted a lap later, giving Norris the lead of the Chinese Grand Prix until a lap later when he, and the Ferrari of Leclerc, who opted not to take a new front wing.

The lap later gave Russell a sniff of second place into turn one, and the Mercedes swept around the outside to take him into a net-P2 after the first round of stops.

Norris refused to give up the ghost, getting passed the Mercedes of Russell on lap 18 into turn one.

The closest battle on track was between the two Ferrari’s as a damaged Leclerc chased Hamilton.

Eventually, on lap 20, Alex Albon became the last driver who started on the medium tyres to stop, emerging down in P14 from his P11 running before the pit-stops.

The gap up front between Piastri and Norris extended to four seconds.

Towards the back of the grid, Liam Lawson’s struggles continued as he struggled to make progress. After starting on the hard tyre’s, the Red Bull driver pitted for the medium compound on lap 18, and ran in 17th place, only ahead of both Sauber’s.

The second stint of the race saw the action really settle down, with the exception of Oliver Bearman who tried to slice his way through the field on faster tyres. The Brit made a lovely undercut move on Jack Doohan on lap 32 to move into P15.

Lance Stroll was still running on his first set of hard tyres on lap 36 when the Racing Bulls of Hadjar and Tsunoda made their second stops on lap 34 and 35.

The Aston Martin would eventually pit on lap 36 and emerge in 14th on a new set of medium tyres.

Hamilton, who was struggling on his tyres, made his final stop onto hard tyres on lap 38, putting him behind Verstappen but on the freshest tyres on the track.

Bearmans’s remarkable progress continued on lap 41 as he went around the outside into turn one and took 10th place from Pierre Gasly.

Lance Stroll started to make progress in his Aston Martin, getting passed Carlos Sainz and into 12th.

Lap 46 saw Yuki Tsunoda’s race heavily compromised as surprise front wing damage whilst following Doohan forced the Japanese driver to pit for a third time.

In that scrap with Tsunoda and Hadjar, Doohan received a 10 second penalty for forcing a driver off the track.

With late race pace, Max Verstappen closed up to the rear of Charles Leclerc with five laps to go.

After a lovely battle through turns one, two, and three, Verstappen took the place on lap 53 and moved into fourth.

And just a couple of laps later, the chequered flag flew at the Chinese Grand Prix, with Piastri taking the win in Shanghai, ahead of Lando Norris and George Russell, who completed the podium.

Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Ocon, Antonelli, Albon, and Bearman completed the point scorers.

It was a remarkable turnaround for Haas at the Chinese Grand Prix, who scored points with both cars after finishing last of the running cars in Australia.