Andrea Stella on the stage of China: “We are surprised” / Formula 1

Lando Norris still had to swallow a bitter pill in the Shanghai race: The McLaren hopeful braced himself for a small race on Friday afternoon, but fell back after the start signal due to a climb in the first corner and ended up crossing at the end. line in the sixth place. He then made adjustments to Sunday’s race at the Chinese GP.

Starting fourth on the grid, Norris put in a strong run, finishing in second place. The fact that he also benefited from safety car time did not dampen the joy in the Papai camp one bit. The team did not expect to finish on the podium, as Andrea Stella admitted on “Sky Sports F1”. “We’re a little surprised because we thought we had to do damage control here.”

“It was actually our best weekend so far, we took the pole in the sprint, and second place was probably possible in the sprint without the problem in the first corner. Then we competed again in GP qualifying and in the race on Sunday,” said the boss traditional race team team, cheering.

Norris was also lucky that the safety car phase was not short, agreed Stella. “Unfortunately, the timing was that Lando missed the entrance to the pit lane, where we feared that the safety car phase would be short. But luckily it was long enough and everything worked very well for us. This enabled us to get second place, and it’s fair to say that we were able to maintain it thanks to the car’s smooth ride and Lando’s excellent driving performance.”

And looking at Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri, who crossed the finish line in eighth place, the 53-year-old Italian said: “Oscar had a lot of damage to the car, with the water distributor, he lost a lot of power because of that. we are happy that he still managed to reach the points.”

China-GP, Shanghai International Circuit

01. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:40:52,554 h
02. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +13,773 sec
03. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, +19,160
04. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, +23,623
05. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, +33,983
06. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, +38,724
07. Fernando Alonso (E), Aston Martin, +43,414
08. Oscar Piastri (AUS), McLaren, +56.198
09. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, +57,986
10. Nico Hülkenberg (D), Haas, +1:00,476 min
11. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, +1:02,812
12. Alex Albon (T), Williams, +1:05,506
13. Pierre Gasly (F), Alpine, +1:09,223
14. Guanyu Zhou (RCH), Sauber, +1:11,689
15. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, +1:22,768
16. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, +1:27.553
17. Logan Sargeant (USA), Williams, +1:35,110
outside
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), Racing Bull, collision
Yuki Tsunoda (J), Racing Bulls, Collision
Valtteri Bottas (FIN), clean, engine

World Championship Position (after 5 out of 24 Grands Prix and 1 out of 6 Sprints)

the driver
01. Verstappen 110 points
02. Perez 85
03. Leclerc 76
04. Sainz 69
05. Norris 58
06. Plate 38
07. Russell 33
08. Alonso 31
09. Hamilton 19
10. Walk 9
11. Tsunoda 7
12. Oliver Bearman (GB) 6
13. Hulkenberg 4
14. Magnussen 1
15. Alboni 0
16. Okon 0
17. Zhou 0
18. Ricciardo 0
19. 0 gas
20. Bota 0
21. Sergeant 0

Builders Cup
01. Red Bull Racing 195 Punkte
02. Ferrari 151
03. McLaren 96
04. Mercedes 52
05. Aston Martin 40
06. Running Bull 7
07. Exactly 5
08. Williams 0
09. Alpine 0
10. Sauber 0