The F1 season continues with this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, and we’ll have it covered at SB Nation
Last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix delivered a chaotic start to the 2025 Formula 1 season, as Lando Norris held off Max Verstappen, and the elements, to begin the season with a victory.
While heart rates have finally returned to normal for all involved, they are set to go racing again in Shanghai at this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, the second half of a season-opening doubleheader.
The Chinese Grand Prix returned to the schedule last year after years of absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic and offered one of the 2024 season’s most memorable moments as Zhou Guanyu was finally able to race at home.
Max Verstappen did the double last year, winning both the F1 Sprint as well as the Chinese Grand Prix. But he arrives in Shanghai sitting second in the Drivers’ Championship standings, seven points behind Norris.
This is also the first time since the week of the Spanish Grand Prix back in 2022 that Verstappen was not leading in the standings. That year Charles Leclerc got off to an incredible start, with two wins and a P2 in the first three races. Verstappen failed to score in both the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix as well as the Australian Grand Prix, and even with his win in the inaugural Miami Grand Prix he arrived at the Spanish Grand Prix sitting second behind Leclerc.
However, Verstappen won that race in Barcelona and would not look back, securing his second Drivers’ Championship that season.
What does Shanghai have in store for the grid? We’ll be covering it all week long here at SB Nation.
