Unpacking the Chinese Grand Prix

As we arrived in the office this morning, my first problem of the day was where do I start with the Chinese Grand Prix... after office conversations and a little deliberation. It's only correct to begin with a huge congratulations to Oscar for his excellent first win of the season and an outstanding race weekend with a huge congratulations from everyone at Senate Grand Prix. Then, a huge congratulations to the organisers of the Shanghai Grand Prix for putting on a spectacular event; it really was a fantastic weekend.

So, let's dive in as Oscar Piastri drove a fantastic race, looking after the tyres and the balance of the McLaren car. Oscar and Lando are working seamlessly with the McLaren technical team, pit wall and mechanical engineers to deliver world-class race performances throughout the weekend.

The same goes for Lando Norris, who took a hard-fought, amazing second place, which was well deserved after several race tussles throughout, keeping him top of the F1 Driver Championship table. It appears the two McLaren drivers have both come to this year's season with a thirst for victory, but are we about to see two drivers in the same team enter into a bitter head-to-hear battle for the F1 Championship title and how will Zak Brown manage this as Oscar Piastri proves to the Woking-based team that he has come to race for world driver titles and with this weekends performance you could not argue that Oscar is a world-class force to be reckoned with as he brushed aside teammates and contenders like Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton who have eleven world titles between them. Could this year turn into a McLaren Teammate battle that will play out for the world to see? 

Congratulations to George Russell, who looks like a very consistent Mercedes driver and is driving the car well this season in all practice sessions, qualifying, and races. He's been outstanding this season for Toto Wolf and the Mercedes F1 team, with Kimi Antonelli, the rookie, driving very well, too, for a new F1 driver.

Moving along to Max Verstappen again, what an outstanding driver he is. He is one of the best drivers the world has ever seen, stunning the world of motorsport each time he steps into a Formula One car. He is already considered one of the all-time greats in Formula One. 

Moving on to the Ferrari disqualifications, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been excluded from Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, but both for very different reasons. 

It's a shame because they both ran a great race weekend, with Lewis Hamilton winning the sprint race this weekend in China.

Charles Leclerc was found to be 1 kilogram underweight, which is enormous in F1 terms. In terms of disqualification, it's a slam dunk, so no arguments. 

However, Lewis Hamilton's story was very different. The plank underneath the car had extensive wear of half a millimetre; again, the FIA has said this season they're going to be coming down hard on everybody, so let's hope they're consistent throughout the season.

More information will come over the next few days as we unpack each driver in detail, mainly focusing on Pierre Gasly's disqualification, the Ferrari disqualification detail, and what is happening to Liam Lawson.