Author Archives: PressBox

Sergio Perez publicly accepted responsibility for a first-lap collision with Cadillac team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the Shanghai International Circuit, saying “that was all on me.” Perez said he misjudged a closing gap and called it “the worst feeling” after the closing door sent him into a spin; on team radio he later joked that he “needed a mushroom,” referencing Mario Kart and the effect of 2026 regulations and batteries on overtaking.

Reports described the contact as Perez’s front wheel striking Bottas’s sidepod at Turn 4, leaving a large piece missing from the left side of Bottas’s floor and briefly forcing Perez out of contention before an early safety car allowed him to rejoin the field.

The incident shaped the race outcome: Bottas recovered to finish 13th, Cadillac’s best result in its early campaign, and, along with Perez’s 15th-place classification as the last running car, marked the team’s first double finish in Formula 1 in only their second race. Perez later suffered power-unit problems that cost him roughly five seconds and then a further 15–20 seconds, contributing to his 15th place; Bottas said the Lap 1 collision nearly cost him his finishing position and described the result as a “proud one.” The double finish was aided by rivals’ DNFs and non-starts, and team principal Graeme Lowdon called the outcome a positive sign for Cadillac’s reliability. Despite the milestone and conciliatory public comments from both drivers, the intra-team contact raised concerns about Cadillac’s pace and potential internal friction: media analysis called the double finish a modest positive amid ongoing worries about reliability and lack of speed, and pundit Jolyon Palmer warned the incident would leave Cadillac “absolutely seething.” Cadillac has upgrades planned for the Japanese Grand Prix (April 27–29) and further work after the spring break ahead of the Miami race (May 1–3) to address performance deficits.

Esteban Ocon was given a 10-second time penalty — but no license penalty points — after race stewards judged him wholly responsible for a collision with Franco Colapinto at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. The clash happened shortly after Colapinto rejoined the race from the pit lane while the pair were fighting for the final points positions; Ocon’s inside move at Turn 2 clipped Colapinto’s front wing and sent both cars into a spin, with reports placing the contact on either lap 32 or lap 33. Applying the Driving Standards Guidelines, the stewards found Ocon’s front axle had not been ahead of Colapinto’s mirror at the apex and therefore he had no right to racing room.

The 10-second penalty dropped Ocon to 14th, while Colapinto recovered to finish 10th following Max Verstappen’s retirement. Colapinto said he was frustrated to have lost points because the contact damaged his car; Ocon accepted blame, apologized and said he had been “a bit over-optimistic” and had taken too many risks. Colapinto accepted Ocon’s apology as efforts were made to defuse tensions after the incident.

Bullet Sports Management, led by Jamie Campbell-Walter and acting for Colapinto, issued a public notice urging supporters not to send “hateful messages or death threats” to Ocon, his family or the Haas team and highlighted wider safety and conduct concerns about social media reactions to on-track incidents. The stewards’ decision not to add license points was noted as part of a softer enforcement approach this year, with coverage pointing to a similar outcome the previous day when Andrea Kimi Antonelli avoided points after a sprint collision; reminders were issued that accumulating 12 penalty points leads to an automatic ban.

Toto Wolff balanced a milestone celebration with delicate intra-team management after Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s maiden Grand Prix win in Shanghai. During the race Wolff was heard over the radio telling race engineer Peter Bonnington to get Antonelli to “stop with this nonsense,” a remark he later framed as a reaction to youth and inexperience rather than anger; he also joked that Antonelli was “too young” for Mercedes and stressed perspective by calling the result “one race win.” Wolff publicly defended the team’s long-term commitment to Antonelli — who joined Mercedes’ junior programme at 11 — and pushed back at critics, including former Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko, who suggested a smaller team might have been better for the youngster.

Antonelli converted pole — becoming Formula 1’s youngest-ever polesitter — into his first victory after briefly ceding the lead to Lewis Hamilton and reclaiming it on lap two. He built roughly a nine-second advantage entering the final three laps, then suffered a late lock-up and went off at the hairpin but recovered to cross the line about five seconds ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes completed a second consecutive one-two in Shanghai with Russell second and Hamilton third, Hamilton’s first podium for Ferrari. The result moved Antonelli to second in the drivers’ standings with 47 points, four behind Russell.

Wolff described the emerging Russell–Antonelli dynamic as manageable and said Mercedes will prioritize maturity, driver development and long-term stability rather than fostering internal confrontation. He pointed to Russell’s early-season form — wins in Melbourne and the Shanghai sprint — and called Russell a championship favourite, insisting the team will channel any rivalry constructively to avoid a repeat of the 2016 Hamilton–Rosberg animosity. Inside Mercedes the victory was hailed as sporting vindication of a risky signing two years earlier and an emotional high for Wolff, who called the shared podium one of the best moments of his career while cautioning it was too early to talk championships.

Ferrari’s decision to let Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc race wheel-to-wheel late in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai — trading places, brushing wheels and briefly making contact — became the defining story of the weekend. The episode highlighted the balance between allowing drivers to race freely and the strategic cost in lost time and tire wear.

Team principal Fred Vasseur defended the pit wall’s neutrality as “good for F1,” saying it would have been “unfair” to impose team orders and arguing the approach was important for morale and driver development; he also warned the move “could also look completely stupid.”

Critics, including former world champion Jacques Villeneuve, said the duel destroyed tires and cost Ferrari roughly five seconds to the leader, while others such as Jamie Chadwick described the on-track action as “clean racing.”

On the opening lap of the Chinese Grand Prix at Turn 13, Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull RB22 snapped sideways and spun, forcing Oliver Bearman into the runoff to avoid a collision. Bearman described the moment as a potential “monster shunt,” saying he had about “one tenth of a second” to react and that he was “so lucky… to be standing here.” Hadjar said the rear of his car “snapped out” of him and that he had no time to correct it. Both drivers escaped the incident uninjured and were able to continue the race.

Bearman dropped to last place after going off but staged a recovery drive for Haas, executing a series of overtakes — including moves on Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen, Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hülkenberg, Arvid Lindblad, Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto — and at times reported being quicker than the Red Bulls and an Audi. A well-timed late safety car helped close the pack and consolidate his gains, and Bearman ultimately finished fifth.

Hadjar recovered to eighth and collected four championship points. Bearman’s result moved him to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship with 17 points and helped Haas rise to fourth in the constructors’ standings; it was also the second successive race this season in which his start had been compromised.

Max Verstappen launched a blistering public attack on Formula 1’s 2026 regulation overhaul after the Chinese Grand Prix, calling the package “a joke” and “fundamentally flawed” and likening the on-track product to “playing Mario Kart” and “Formula E on steroids.” The four-time world champion retired late in the Shanghai race because of an ERS cooling issue.

He said the mandated roughly 50/50 combustion/electric power split, increased battery harvesting and new boost-and-battery management — including an overtake button and other driver aids — had produced “artificial racing,” where cars briefly surge past rivals, run out of battery and are passed back.

Verstappen reiterated warnings first raised after simulator runs in 2023 and urged F1 and the FIA to change the rules quickly, while warning that teams benefiting from the current package would resist reforms. He also said fans who enjoy the new product “don’t understand racing,” at times framing those fans as not “real” supporters.

Lewis Hamilton framed his Chinese Grand Prix weekend as both a personal rebound and a technical reality check for Ferrari after taking third place in Shanghai and offering guarded assessments on the team’s ability to topple Mercedes. He described the race as “one of the most enjoyable” of his career after briefly leading at the start and ultimately finishing third — his first grand prix podium for Ferrari and the 203rd of his 20-year F1 career — having beaten teammate Charles Leclerc to secure the podium. He praised Ferrari’s progress and credited engineers’ work over the break, while also publicly congratulating Kimi Antonelli on his first win and noting that Mercedes drivers reasserted pace advantage during the race.

Technically and tactically, Hamilton gave a mixed but detailed appraisal of Ferrari’s competitiveness versus Mercedes. In qualifying he declared “Mercedes are beatable” after reducing his deficit to roughly 0.351 seconds on the grid, but he was more cautious about race prospects, calling it “highly unlikely” Ferrari could beat Mercedes to victory given an estimated 0.4–0.6s race-pace advantage that he linked to power‑unit performance and turbo efficiency. He said gusty winds had complicated his qualifying runs, and that tire wear, energy deployment and battery management under the 2026 regulations were decisive factors during on-track battles.

Hamilton vowed to use different tactics on Sunday to better manage energy and tire degradation, asked his team to explore alternative strategy options, and acknowledged Ferrari still needs a “huge upgrade” — roughly four to five tenths in race trim — to close the gap. He also highlighted the personal and technical work behind his form: he said he was “back to my best,” credited an intense winter training regime, a new trainer and a new engineer, and closer collaboration with Ferrari’s factory. On the sporting side, the result moved him to within one point of Leclerc in the drivers’ championship, while the weekend’s sprint and grand prix showed both the progress Ferrari has made and the remaining areas — power unit, energy and tire management — where Mercedes currently hold the edge.