Piastri’s first pole, Ferrari’s double disqualification, and a Williams leading the race (even if only briefly): discover the best Chinese GP stats!
Piastri’s maiden pole position
Oscar Piastri secured his first career pole position, becoming the 107th driver in Formula 1 history to start from the front and the first Australian to do so since Daniel Ricciardo in Mexico 2018. A remarkable achievement, crowned with a race victory, which delivered McLaren’s 50th one-two finish in the sport’s history.
The positive statistics for the Woking team don’t end there. With this victory, McLaren secured their third consecutive win, a feat last achieved in the Hungary-Belgium-Italy tripleheader of 2012. Additionally, Piastri extended his points-scoring streak to 28 consecutive race weekends, the longest active run on the grid.
Record-breaking Albon: Williams leads a race again
Alex Albon qualified in tenth place, securing Williams’ best result in China since 2017. However, the most significant moment came during the race: the Thai driver led the Grand Prix on his birthday, becoming only the ninth driver in history to do so. Furthermore, Williams led a race for the first time since Silverstone 2015 (with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas). The positive statistics don’t stop there—after just two races, the Grove-based team has already matched its total points tally from 2024, with 17 points.
Ferrari in chaos: first double disqualification in history
A Sunday to forget for Ferrari. For the first time in history, both cars were disqualified from a Grand Prix. A rare occurrence in Formula 1: the last double disqualification of a team dates back to the 2019 Japanese GP (Renault, with Ricciardo and Hulkenberg). This disastrous weekend also led to another significant statistic: for the first time since the 2009 Spanish GP, no Ferrari driver is in the top eight of the championship standings.
Lewis Hamilton has now accumulated a disqualification with every team he has raced for: McLaren (Australia 2009), Mercedes (Austin 2023), and Ferrari (China 2025). Despite the negative weekend, Hamilton made history by securing pole position in the sprint race. At 40 years old, he became the first driver in his forties to start from the front since 1994, when Nigel Mansell did so in Adelaide.
Mercedes reaches 300, Racing Bulls and Haas at their best
George Russell secured third place, allowing Mercedes to reach 300 podiums in its Formula 1 history. For the British driver, it was also his second consecutive podium, a feat not achieved since 2022 (Netherlands and Italy). With 57 points in the Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes has had its best start to a season since 2021.
After the disaster in Melbourne, Isack Hadjar surprised everyone with a seventh-place qualifying result, the best for Racing Bulls in China in the last 12 years. His teammate Esteban Ocon then finished the race in fifth place, securing Haas’ best-ever result at the Shanghai circuit.
Red Bull: the curse of the second driver continues
Max Verstappen finished in the top five for the 20th consecutive race, a streak during which his teammates (Perez and Lawson) have never managed to achieve the same. Meanwhile, Lawson continues to struggle in qualifying, with a record of P18, P20, and P20, marking the worst start to a season for a Red Bull driver.
Antonelli and Bearman: two teenagers in the points. Fewer overtakes.
Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman finished sixth and eighth respectively, marking another historic milestone: it’s only the second time in F1 history that two teenagers have scored points in the same race, following Monza 2017 (Stroll seventh, Verstappen tenth). Finally, the Chinese GP saw only 29 overtakes, the lowest number recorded at Shanghai in the past ten years.
Photo: McLaren, Atlassian Williams Racing, Scuderia Ferrari Multimedia, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team