Max Verstappen won the first sprint race of the season at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday morning. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was second, with Sergio Perez third in the other Red Bull.
Hamilton passed polesitter Lando Norris at the start of the race, with Norris tumbling down the order as he ran wide. That promoted Fernando Alonso to second.
Verstappen, who started fourth, grabbed third at the start and then set about catching Alonso after initially struggling for pace. When he reeled in the Aston Martin, he was able to make a comfortable move with DRS.
Hamilton, who hasn’t won a race of any description since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, tried to hang on but couldn’t. A lock-up into the hairpin wiped out his advantage, and Verstappen duly came through.
The Dutchman then streaked clear as attention turned to the battle for third. Alonso mounted a valiant defence against the two Ferraris, Perez and Norris, but his race unravelled when he made contact with Carlos Sainz.
The Spaniard picked up a puncture in the collision, and Perez took full advantage. Charles Leclerc then wrestled his way past his teammate to grab fourth.
Nico Rosberg says 14-podium driver needs a win
Speaking live on Sky Sports F1 straight after the race, Nico Rosberg argued that Norris was too error-prone. The 24-year-old didn’t get a clean start, and then carried too much speed into the first sequence as he tried to hang it round the outside of Hamilton.
That led to a snap of oversteer which took him off the circuit. Instead of slotting into second, he wound up seventh.
In the eyes of 2016 world champion Rosberg, that moment showed the importance of Norris getting his first victory. After 108 races, he currently holds the record for the most podiums without a win (14).
The British driver, who earns £310k-a-week from his McLaren contract according to Spotrac, will gain some ‘self-belief’ when he stands on the top step of the podium. And those are the fine margins that can be decisive.
Rosberg said: “That’s exactly where you need that first win to just give you that 1% more self-confidence and self-belief. Maybe that can make the difference. There is that one mistake too many with Lando.”
Is Lando Norris a future world champion?
In the space of two days, we’ve seen the potential of Norris and the work he still has to do. He raked in the plaudits for his exceptional qualifying performance on Friday, with Damon Hill calling it ‘pure talent’.
But, in the view of BBC pundit Sam Bird, he’ll be ‘kicking himself’ after a ‘dreadful’ start to Saturday’s sprint. Rosberg suggested he could get his first Grand Prix victory in Shanghai this weekend, but based on the pace Verstappen showed after passing Hamilton, that will be a mighty task.
In the short term, Norris is gunning for that first victory to free himself of the unfortunate record. But in the long term, he wants to become world champion.
During a recent interview, F1 legend Sebastian Vettel was asked to predict the next title winner not named Verstappen or Hamilton. Rather than Norris, he selected fellow Briton George Russell.
In this sport, much depends, of course, on being in the right place at the right time. Norris may receive an offer from Red Bull further down the line, and that could be a career-defining move given McLaren’s limitations.
The post ‘One mistake too many’: Nico Rosberg says £310k-a-week F1 driver needs a win for his own‘self-confidence’ appeared first on F1 Oversteer.