Formula 1 News: 2025 Chinese GP Post-Race Quotes

All ten Formula 1 teams plus tire supplier Pirelli provided quotes after the 2025 Chinese GP at the Shanghai International Circuit.  The race was won by Australian Oscar Piastri.

McLaren

Lando Norris, 2nd

“Overall, a good result today in what was a very tough race with tire management required. I don’t think a lot of people were expecting a one-stop strategy, but the team executed it well to secure a strong result with great points. We’ll debrief the entire weekend to look at the positives and the areas we need to work on before we head to Japan next month. A big thank you to everyone in papaya for their effort and support this weekend!”

Oscar Piastri, 1st

“It’s been an incredible weekend, and the car has been mega the whole time. The tires behaved very differently to the earlier sessions in China but the race we’ve managed to pull-off this afternoon has been excellent. The support from the grandstands and all the papaya fans has been terrific and we can be proud of the 1-2 result we’ve secured through hard work. I’m looking forward to some time back at the factory in preparation for the upcoming triple-header.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“Overall, there are several learnings for us to take away from this weekend. We would have liked to have scored more points in the Sprint, but we must recognize how competitive the field is, and I’m pleased with how the team reacted as we transitioned into Qualifying and the GP, learning from the Sprint and making improvements which made today’s result possible. My thanks as always go to the men and women at McLaren for their hard work and support, to our colleagues at HPP and to the team’s committed partners, as well as our drivers for their teamwork both on and off the track. We now take some time to regroup back at Woking before heading to Japan for the first race of the triple-header.”

Mercedes

George Russell, 3rd

“P3 was the maximum for us today. We can therefore be pleased with the result and getting our second podium in two races to start the season. I made a good start and tried to take the lead from Oscar (Piastri). It was unfortunate to not be able to make the pass, and then to lose out to Lando, but fair play to Oscar as he defended well. Overall, the McLarens were just a little bit too quick for us. As much as we want our race to be with them, at the moment it isn’t. We therefore have to be happy that we were best of the rest today.

“It has been a really positive start our season. We finished P3 in Melbourne, P4 in the Sprint yesterday, and P3 again today. We have been consistent, and the car has felt good. We will keep working hard to make it faster and hopefully we can close the gap to the very front.”

Kimi Antonelli, 6th

“The race was pretty tough after I suffered floor damage on lap one. It looks like I hit some debris and that affected the performance quite heavily. I struggled with the rear in particular after that and that was something I wasn’t expecting. It definitely hindered my pace, but it was good learning to have to deal with that. I think we can still be happy that we were able to bring home some points in P8, even though that wasn’t what we were hoping for ahead of the race. I want to say a thank you to the fans for voting me driver of the day. I definitely wasn’t expecting it given how my race went but it’s great to see the support from the fans.

“Overall, I’m happy with how I, and the team as a whole, have started the year. I think one of the main points of learning for me has been Qualifying. If I can put it all together on a Saturday then we will be starting further forward, less likely to get involved in incidents, and can maximize the pace of the car. I’m excited to get to work ahead of the next triple-header and come back refreshed for the races in Japan, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“That was a solid afternoon’s work. A podium felt like the realistic best-case scenario for us ahead of the race and that is what we were able to achieve. We knew that the McLarens were going to be very strong, and that the Ferraris and Verstappen were also going to be a threat. I don’t often give 10 out of 10s as I think there is always room to improve but George was faultless today. He extracted the maximum from the car and for me, that was a 10 out of 10 drive. He has started this season incredibly well and is performing exactly as we knew he would as the senior driver.

“Kimi’s race was unfortunately compromised by floor damage he sustained on the first lap. He kept his head down though and fought really hard, despite the sizable performance deficit he was carrying, to come home a creditable P8. He didn’t complain throughout the race, just kept focused on the job, and that’s exactly what we want to see.

“Overall, it’s been a good start to the new season. The ambition is to win but we don’t feel any entitlement that we should. The car is not quite as fast as the McLaren as the moment, but the team are working hard to close that gap. For now, we are maximizing the performance we have and to leave China second in the Constructors’ Championship, having taken two podiums for the first two races, is satisfying.”

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

“We’re very pleased to get our second podium of the year with George. He lost one place in the first corner, which meant that McLaren could control the race and realistically, third was the best we could achieve today. There was still a threat to defend from behind with the Ferraris and Verstappen, but it was encouraging that we had the pace to keep them at arm’s length today.

“Kimi was unlucky to pick up debris damage to his underfloor on lap one when he likely ran over some bits of the Ferrari front wing. That really hurt his performance today. We’re nevertheless pleased that he could bring home some points, but it’s a shame as he would have had fun racing with Verstappen and the Ferraris had it not been for that damage.

“Overall, we’re pleased with how the first two races of the season have gone. The car is working well over a range of conditions and whilst we’ll always hope for more, the performance we’ve seen is encouraging as we can certainly improve from here. This is the most solid start to a season that we’ve had for three years. We have a big task ahead of us to catch McLaren but we’re not short of motivation and very excited for the season ahead.”

Red Bull

Max Verstappen, 4th

“Today the beginning of the race was quite tough on mediums. We set out to do our pace, which was a fair bit slower than the cars around us as we were working to try not to destroy our tires. On the medium tire, it was a tough beginning, but on the second stint the performance was a lot more promising and we were seeing a lot more pace in the car. The last 19 laps were more positive and better than expected as we were having equal lap times to the front-runners. We were handling the car better and had a lot more grip on the tires, so everything looked more hopeful, and it was more fun to drive. We can take a lot of lessons from this weekend and hopefully this means that we can see a better performance in Japan, especially on a circuit that I really enjoy driving at. We do still have a lot of work to do, as we are not where we want to be and our car is not that easy to drive, but at least the final stint was more promising and there is a lot that we can go back and analyze. Overall, it was nice racing in Shanghai: it is a great track and great city.”

Liam Lawson, 12th

“It was pretty tough out there, starting from the pitlane we tried something different, and it was a gamble to try and figure out the set-up of the car. We tried to do something aggressive, and it didn’t really work, it was quite a big step but we struggled with pace, and the car felt more tricky than Melbourne. Our pace in the Sprint yesterday was better. It is not something you can put into words, it is a very small window with this car and if you miss it, it is very penalizing. The more we drive, the more we try stuff and learn from it, unfortunately it didn’t go in the right direction today. I just need to drive this car faster. It’s nothing to do with external pressure, the Team have been extremely supportive. It is a unique track here, but we will reflect and learn from it going forward.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal

“That was a race of two halves from Max today, following up after a strong Sprint weekend here in Shanghai. We didn’t have the straight line speed today as you could see, the Ferrari was properly quick on the straight. Max delivered when he needed to and made a great pass on Charles to finish fourth. It was a tough day at the office for Liam, he was struggling at points and had some issues with balance. We have plenty to look at after today, we gave away too much in the first stint and we need to understand the limitations that were there. We were competitive in the second half of the race but we had given up too much ground at that point. Lots of lessons to takeaway and we know where we need to improve, but we still managed to come away with 12 points and have kept it close with the top competitors at these first two fly aways, and we’ll look to do more with Japan up next.”

Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton, Disqualified

“Tough day but a positive weekend overall and we’ve made some good progress since Melbourne. We tried some new set up changes for qualifying and the race that didn’t work out, but that’s a learning we can take with us moving forward.

“I got a good start off the line but started to struggle with pace as the race continued, so suggested swapping with Charles to try and maximize our opportunities as a team. The two-stop strategy helped find some good pace towards the final few laps but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to gain places.

“We’ll go through everything, take the learnings, and come back stronger. It’s a long road to the championship, and we’ll keep pushing.”

Charles Leclerc, Disqualified

“We had a really good race car today and the pace to fight with the guys in the front. Unfortunately, my front wing was damaged at the start. I took the inside line at turn 1, while Lewis was more to the outside and didn’t know I was there and I didn’t expect him to come back to the inside, so it was just an unfortunate incident.

“I lost quite a lot of downforce from the damage and we did a good job to make it to the end in that shape. We decided not to change the front wing during the pitstop, since that would mean losing 8 seconds and having to overtake a few cars to recover positions. I gave it my all to overtake George (Russell), but we struggled quite a bit in Turn 12 compared to him, which made it impossible to pass him.

“It could have been a better day for our team, but it’s positive to see that our race pace is there. The huge amount of support from the grandstands this weekend was great to see and put a smile on my face.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

“It was tough today with strange situations. On one side of the garage there was the damage to the front wing for Charles and on the other side it was actually more difficult for Lewis, after yesterday when his tire management was excellent, while today he struggled more. For him, the two-stop was definitely the right choice as tire degradation was quite significant and if the others had to pit it would have made sense. Now we will have to look into it, to understand why we struggled more than expected. Tire management was difficult for everyone with tires struggling and then coming back. It’s hard to read but we can take some positives, such as Charles’ very good pace despite the damage to his front wing. In these conditions we finished 20 seconds behind McLaren and ten behind Mercedes. We just need to do a better job to make sure we always exploit the car’s potential and we will focus on this immediately.”

Haas

Esteban Ocon, 5th

“Things were obviously looking difficult just a week ago in Melbourne, but we haven’t slept much since then and it’s all been worth it as we’ve discussed everything and where to unlock the performance from the car. We knew there was more performance to be had, obviously we’re keen to improve some more, but the signs for now are good. Honestly, it’s been an amazing turnaround from the team. I’m proud of everyone back in Maranello, Banbury and Kannapolis – everyone’s worked hard to find solutions. Well done to them and of course well done to Ollie too – double points, for us, is a massive thing. He was out of position yesterday but he came back with an alternative strategy today as well – he made it work and that’s great to see.”

Oliver Bearman, 8th

“It’s been a really good day, I’m super happy with the result – I didn’t expect points today. Everything I was doing with the car worked, and that’s a nice feeling to just have the groove and then to have some points to show for it. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting a one-stop race today but the tires were lasting much better than they were yesterday, the car was fantastic. The team have done a great job to turn things around from the struggles in the Sprint race. Huge credit to them for the job they’ve done today – everything was well executed.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“It’s been an amazing day. We reacted to our change of circumstances very well. Like I said before, the reaction after the Sprint yesterday to change the car set-up, it really worked for qualifying and the race. Communication and execution in the race today was really good. I think it’s the best reaction I could have asked for, everyone has just gotten on with the work after Melbourne. I wasn’t expecting to score seven points today, if somebody had told me would could have scored one point I’d have been happy. It’s an amazing result. I’m looking forward to working together as a team and improving this car.”

Williams

Alex Albon, 7th

“Considering the Sprint race, today was a huge step for us and it shows the progress we’ve made as a team. It shows us that we can fix issues that we have on our car, which is a huge improvement on where we were last year. We learnt a lot from yesterday to today, and we can use these learnings now for a lot of races that we go to for the rest of the year. It’s very valuable. This track has historically not really suited us, but we still got points! I’m very happy.”

Carlos Sainz, 10th

“It’s been a strange and very tough weekend on my side. To be honest, I’m a bit puzzled because since I jumped in the car in testing in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, I was quick straight away, but I don’t know where the pace and that feeling with the car has gone. Today we got the strategy right but lacked the pace to move forward, and fuel saving didn’t help either. We have ten days now to analyze everything and put a plan in place to come back stronger in Japan. Head down and let’s keep pushing.”

James Vowles, Team Principal

“It’s great to walk away from the first two races of the championship with points on the board. I’m proud of how the team worked together to deliver a good car today considering the problems we had in the Sprint Race. With Carlos, he has won a race more recently than anyone else in this team and he knows how to do this; it’s our responsibility to make sure we keep working with him and adapting to get the best out of him.”

Alpine

Pierre Gasly, Disqualified

“It was a tricky race out there today and again, like last week, we finished 11th and just outside of the points. Unfortunately, after the race, a technical infringement meant we faced a DSQ. In terms of the actual race, though, I think the degradation probably caught most teams out by surprise in the race as it was much lower than expected and the one-stop proved doable. We extended our second stint after pitting early and took it to the checkered flag without any reward. In general, it has been a challenging weekend where we have not been as competitive as we would like. We will review these first two race weekends as a team to see what has gone well and what we have to work on. We’ve fallen short of scoring points twice and we know we have to improve that and I am sure we will. Japan is up next and we will aim to come back stronger there and put ourselves up the order.”

Jack Doohan, 15th

“It was good to complete a full race distance in the car this weekend. There were plenty of learnings to take from the race. Our pace was positive, especially towards the end of the race, and it was nice to be in among a few good battles. We showed some of our potential in racing conditions in keeping Isack [Hadjar] in the RB behind for more than 20 laps, especially considering their speed all weekend. It was unfortunate to receive the penalty that we did, and we will revisit it to ensure it does not happen again. Overall, we have made some positive steps forward as a team through testing and the first two races and, clearly, there are many areas for us to improve. We will keep our heads down for Japan in a few weeks and hope to bring in some points for the team.”

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal

“Today was a better day in comparison to Qualifying with both Pierre and Jack able to move forwards in the race. After the high degradation and graining we saw in the Sprint yesterday, the question was whether it was between a one or two-stop and, with the track improving, we quickly converged to a one-stop part way through the race and ran with the Hard tires to the end. Pierre did well making up three positions on the opening lap again [same as the Sprint] and ended up 11th at the flag but was unfortunately disqualified for a technical infringement after the race. Jack had comparable pace to those around him and put up some good fights. Ultimately, we lacked a little here and we need to understand why we weren’t as competitive at this track and see where we can improve for future races.”

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso, DNF

“We suffered with extremely high rear brake temperatures very early into our race today, so we were forced to retire the car. It was quite scary losing the brakes suddenly, so I’m grateful we were able to get the car back safely. We will analyze why this happened and look to improve for Japan. Hopefully our luck will improve for the upcoming triple header and we can fight for some points over the three weeks.”

Lance Stroll, 9th

“It was tough out there and unfortunately we fell outside the points with a P12 finish. I thought the race was coming to us but as it progressed it ended up being a one-stop race for most. It was nice to have some good battles out there though, but ultimately, we just aren’t quick enough, and we have a lot of work to do until we can finish in the points comfortably.”

Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer

“It was a challenging day for us here in Shanghai and points were out of reach. Lance was one of a few drivers to start on the Hard tires and managed them well for 36 laps before switching to the Mediums. In the end, both the Hard and Medium tires held up well today, allowing the majority of cars to stop only once and it was difficult for us to exploit a tire advantage in the final stint. Fernando’s race ended early because we saw some very high temperatures on the rear brakes and retired his car as a precaution. Our attention now turns to Suzuka in a couple of weeks’ time. We tried a lot of different experiments on our car set-up here in Shanghai and we will crunch the data back at base to be more competitive next time out.”

Racing Bulls

Isack Hadjar, 11th

“It’s a shame. I’m disappointed as points were definitely expected today. I had a nice start to the race that put us in a good position, but I think my first lap could have been better, to avoid a bit of the chaos. The car worked well all weekend and we had a really strong pace throughout the race. I was also able to stay behind the other cars and follow them closely on the same tires, so I’m happy with my drive. What happened today was out of my control, but I can’t help thinking what it would have been like with a one-stop strategy race. We’ll review everything with the team before going back racing in Japan.”

Yuki Tsunoda, 16th

“Very disappointed, I was definitely expecting more. How I ended up in this race is definitely not the way I wanted. We didn’t have as much pace as the Sprint race, we’ll have to analyze that. Strategy is something we have to revise what happened there as well. I can understand the thoughts behind it, but I guess the main learning is how we can prevent those situations for the future. The front wing damage was a bit frustrating, maybe it was debris, we will investigate, but some things are a bit unfortunate. At least I scored points in Sprint race, which is important, we have good pace in the car so, let’s stay positive. Next race is Suzuka and my motivation is naturally coming from inside already.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“A frustrating Sunday here in Shanghai. It’s the second race in the row where we don’t come out with the points that we felt we could have had based on how fast the car and the drivers were this weekend; so for sure a lot of hard work ahead of us to improve in these areas to ensure we are stronger in the future. Nonetheless, there is still a huge amount of positives to take from this weekend, the pace was outstanding, the guys have been aiming high all weekend with both cars in Q3 and a fantastic Sprint race with Yuki scoring our first points of the season with P6. We have a fast car, with fast drivers, having fought with the big guys for most of the weekend. We will of course be investigating exactly why Yuki’s front wing broke in the closing stages but after this double-header, we can now regroup back in Faenza and Milton Keynes, assess our race execution and return stronger for the next round in Japan, a home race for Yuki and our PU supplier Honda.”

Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg, 15th

“It’s been a character-building day for us. Unfortunately, right after the start I went wide in turn one and then almost lost the car in turn three, when I went off track through the gravel. I lost a couple of positions in that moment but, more frustratingly, I picked up substantial damage to the floor of my car which significantly affected the aero balance. I think our performance wasn’t too bad pace-wise, considering the damage we carried. The positive takeaway from today is that we finished the race and got mileage to gain some experience with the new car. It’s still early days, and I am already looking forward to go again in Suzuka in two weeks’ time.”

Gabriel Bortoleto, 14th

“Today was definitely not an ideal race; after Lap 1, it was all about recovering and getting as much information as possible about the car. Although our position wasn’t favorable, it was good to be able to continue and finish the race as it was my first full dry race. I took it as a chance to learn more about tire management and our pace, understanding how we stand compared to the others. It’s difficult to say where we could have been with a cleaner race; I obviously wanted this weekend to be more positive. It is what it is, now we move on and get back to the factory to analyze our learnings from these first two races and prepare for Suzuka. I am really looking forward to racing there; I practiced it a lot on the sim, and I am keen to finally drive on the real one.”

Beat Zehnder, Director Signature Programs & Operations

“It’s unfortunate that our race was effectively decided on the first lap. Nico had a big snap in turn three and nearly spun: he was able to save it but ended up running over the kerb and gravel. Telemetry showed he lost a major amount of aerodynamic performance immediately afterwards and that made it a very challenging race for him: to Nico’s credit, he brought the car to the end despite such difficult conditions. Gabriel’s race was also compromised in the opening stages: he was battling Bearman when he lost downforce and spun, losing considerable time and requiring an early stop for new tires. From there, it was always going to be difficult to make it back. On a positive note, Gabriel’s pace in the final stint on hard tires was strong, matching our direct competitors. The encouraging takeaway is that both cars completed the race, our overall pace throughout the weekend was encouraging and the operations went smoothly, even with the added challenge of yesterday’s incident in the Sprint. There’s still plenty of work to be done, of course: the field is tight, and every marginal improvement counts on track. Whichever team brings those tenths first will gain the advantage, so we must keep pushing hard.”

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“One of the key points of this GP was finding out how the Hard performed at this track. Clearly, data gathered over the first two days here, especially from the Sprint, gave the teams indications of how to change the car set-up in order to protect the front axle as much as possible, as it was the one most susceptible to graining. Track evolution meant it decreased on the Mediums compared to what was seen in the short race, even if for some teams, the wear was still significant. For its part, the Hard displayed only limited graining and more significantly, it performed very consistently including over very long stints, even allowing drivers to attack in the closing stages, as was the case with Verstappen for example. When evaluating C2 behavior, one should bear in mind that it is the compound that has undergone the biggest changes of any in the 2025 range and therefore was something of an unknown quantity for all the teams.

All things considered, it was quite an interesting weekend on a track, or specifically on a track surface, that produced very significant performance gains. For example, even today, the fastest race lap was 2”741 quicker than last year’s set on a very similar lap to last year, with Hamilton on lap 41 today and Alonso on lap 45 last year. With the first double-header now done and dusted, Formula 1 takes a short break before tackling a triple-header on tracks that are very different to each other, even if they all hold the promise of exciting racing, starting with the round in Suzuka over the first weekend in April.”