2019 Chinese Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Formula 1’s 1,000th World Championship race brought another Mercedes one-two at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton seized the lead at the start and controlled the afternoon at Shanghai International Circuit, while Ferrari‘s team orders and Alexander Albon‘s recovery added intrigue behind him.

Pole position
Driver	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Time	1:31.547
Fastest lap
Driver	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing
Time	1:34.742 on lap 55
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Second	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
Third	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
12 April 2019	Practice 1	10:00 – 11:30
12 April 2019	Practice 2	14:00 – 15:30
13 April 2019	Practice 3	11:00 – 12:00
13 April 2019	Qualifying	14:00 – 15:00
14 April 2019	Race	14:10

All times are local (UTC+08:00). The race time is the scheduled start.

Championship background

Valtteri Bottas arrived one point ahead of Lewis Hamilton after the opening two races. Ferrari had shown winning pace in Bahrain but lost the victory to reliability trouble, making Shanghai an important opportunity to turn its speed into a complete result.

Race entries

The regular 20-driver line-up remained unchanged, with no additional drivers taking part in practice. The weekend marked the 1,000th race counting towards the World Championship, a milestone stretching back to Silverstone Circuit in 1950.

Free Practice

Sebastian Vettel topped FP1 with a 1:33.911, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Ferrari started the weekend encouragingly as the teams assessed the circuit’s long corners and lengthy back straight.

Valtteri Bottas led FP2 with a 1:33.330, only 0.027 seconds ahead of Vettel. Max Verstappen was third, keeping Red Bull Racing close enough to complicate the leading teams’ calculations.

Bottas stayed fastest in FP3 with a 1:32.830, followed by Vettel and Leclerc. Alexander Albon suffered a heavy accident on the exit of the final corner, ending the session early and leaving Toro Rosso with extensive rebuilding work.

Free Practice 1 Classification

2019 Chinese Grand Prix FP1, 12 April 2019

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:33.911	19
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+0.207s	21
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.256s	21
4	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+0.423s	20
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	+0.742s	23
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	+1.328s	23
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing	+1.517s	23
8	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	+1.536s	24
9	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	+1.555s	25
10	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	+1.596s	24
11	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+1.606s	25
12	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	+1.680s	22
13	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+1.720s	24
14	23	Alexander Albon	Toro Rosso	+1.784s	26
15	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing	+1.818s	23
16	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren	+1.845s	24
17	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	+1.909s	24
18	88	Robert Kubica	Williams	+2.936s	27
19	63	George Russell	Williams	+3.708s	29
20	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	No time	2

Free Practice 2 Classification

2019 Chinese Grand Prix FP2, 12 April 2019

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:33.330	37
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+0.027s	33
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+0.221s	29
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+0.707s	32
5	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	+0.766s	31
6	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren	+0.811s	36
7	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.828s	13
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.966s	38
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	+1.006s	32
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing	+1.125s	32
11	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing	+1.221s	33
12	23	Alexander Albon	Toro Rosso	+1.304s	37
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	+1.364s	20
14	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	+1.449s	37
15	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	+1.454s	35
16	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+1.458s	34
17	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	+2.374s	32
18	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	+2.584s	40
19	88	Robert Kubica	Williams	+2.791s	38
20	63	George Russell	Williams	+2.899s	35

Free Practice 3 Classification

2019 Chinese Grand Prix FP3, 13 April 2019

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:32.830	11
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+0.392s	12
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.418s	10
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+0.859s	10
5	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	+1.144s	11
6	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing	+1.416s	14
7	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+1.617s	5
8	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren	+1.680s	9
9	23	Alexander Albon	Toro Rosso	+1.770s	11
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	+1.953s	10
11	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+2.108s	11
12	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	+2.248s	9
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	+2.312s	11
14	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	+2.393s	10
15	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing	+2.496s	8
16	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	+2.896s	12
17	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	+2.941s	14
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+3.168s	15
19	63	George Russell	Williams	+3.294s	10
20	88	Robert Kubica	Williams	+3.346s	11

Qualifying

Valtteri Bottas took pole with a 1:31.547, edging Lewis Hamilton by just 0.023 seconds. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc filled the second row, ahead of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly.

Traffic and positioning before the final Q3 runs prevented several drivers from beginning another lap before the clock expired. Albon missed qualifying after his practice accident and would start from the pit lane, while Antonio Giovinazzi also failed to record a time. Both were permitted to race by the stewards.

Qualifying Classification

2019 Chinese Grand Prix Qualifying, 13 April 2019

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:32.658	1:31.728	1:31.547	16
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:33.115	1:31.637	1:31.570	16
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:33.557	1:32.232	1:31.848	17
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:32.712	1:32.324	1:31.865	16
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:33.274	1:32.369	1:32.089	14
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing	1:33.863	1:32.948	1:32.930	14
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1:33.709	1:33.214	1:32.958	18
8	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1:33.644	1:32.968	1:32.962	15
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:34.036	1:33.150	No time	16
10	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:33.752	1:33.156	No time	15
11	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:33.783	1:33.236	—	12
12	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	1:34.026	1:33.299	—	12
13	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:34.125	1:33.419	—	12
14	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren	1:33.686	1:33.523	—	12
15	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:34.148	1:33.967	—	12
16	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	1:34.292	—	—	6
17	63	George Russell	Williams	1:35.253	—	—	9
18	88	Robert Kubica	Williams	1:35.281	—	—	9
—	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	No time	—	—	2
—	23	Alexander Albon	Toro Rosso	No time	—	—	0

Antonio Giovinazzi failed to set a time during qualifying and was permitted to race at the stewards’ discretion.

Alexander Albon did not take part in qualifying after crashing in FP3 and was permitted to race at the stewards’ discretion. He was required to start from the pit lane after changing his survival cell. He also received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.

What happened in the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix?

Lewis Hamilton made a cleaner start than Valtteri Bottas and led into the first corner. From there he controlled the race, giving Mercedes its third consecutive one-two and moving to the top of the championship.

An opening-lap collision involving Daniil Kvyat and both McLaren drivers disrupted the midfield. The stewards held Kvyat responsible and imposed a drive-through penalty. Lando Norris and Kvyat eventually retired, while Carlos Sainz continued after losing substantial ground.

Charles Leclerc initially ran ahead of Sebastian Vettel, but Ferrari instructed him to let his team-mate through. The hoped-for improvement in the team’s position did not materialise, and the subsequent strategy left Leclerc vulnerable to Max Verstappen.

Verstappen challenged Vettel during the pit-stop phase but could not complete the pass. He did, however, finish ahead of Leclerc in fourth. Ferrari ended with Vettel third and Leclerc fifth, still searching for a way to break Mercedes‘ early-season run.

Mercedes executed a double pit stop without surrendering control of the race. Hamilton remained clear of Bottas, while Pierre Gasly ran a largely separate contest in sixth. A late stop for fresh tyres allowed Gasly to set fastest lap and claim the bonus point.

Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh to score his first points for Renault. Sergio Perez and Kimi Räikkönen followed, while Albon completed an excellent recovery from the pit lane to tenth. Nico Hülkenberg retired with a power-unit problem in the other Renault.

Hamilton’s second win of the season put him six points ahead of Bottas. The milestone race had produced a familiar winning team, but Albon’s recovery and Ricciardo’s first Renault points supplied encouraging stories elsewhere in the field.

2019 Chinese Grand Prix race results

The 2019 Chinese Grand Prix was held on 14 April 2019, with a scheduled start of 14:10 local time.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	56	1:32:06.350	25
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	56	+6.552s	18
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	56	+13.744s	15
4	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	56	+27.627s	12
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	56	+31.276s	10
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing	56	+89.307s	9
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	55	+1 lap	6
8	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	55	+1 lap	4
9	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing	55	+1 lap	2
10	23	Alexander Albon	Toro Rosso	55	+1 lap	1
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	55	+1 lap	0
12	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	55	+1 lap	0
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	55	+1 lap	0
14	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren	55	+1 lap	0
15	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	55	+1 lap	0
16	63	George Russell	Williams	54	+2 laps	0
17	88	Robert Kubica	Williams	54	+2 laps	0
18	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	50	Collision damage	0
Ret	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	41	Collision damage	0
Ret	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	16	Power unit	0

Pierre Gasly earned the additional point for fastest lap.

Lando Norris was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

2019 Chinese Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time of Day	Time	Avg. Speed
1	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing	55	15:45:26	1:34.742	207.126
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	37	15:15:12	1:34.836	206.921
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	45	15:28:28	1:34.860	206.869
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	38	15:16:43	1:34.872	206.842
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	47	15:31:05	1:35.892	204.642
6	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	45	15:28:15	1:36.143	204.108
7	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	46	15:31:31	1:36.678	202.978
8	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	37	15:16:33	1:36.873	202.570
9	63	George Russell	Williams	51	15:41:03	1:37.283	201.716
10	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	35	15:13:21	1:37.471	201.327
11	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren	44	15:28:26	1:37.502	201.263
12	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing	27	14:59:33	1:37.812	200.625
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	27	14:59:59	1:37.975	200.291
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	32	15:08:32	1:38.048	200.142
15	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	37	15:17:39	1:38.346	199.536
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	38	15:17:36	1:38.632	198.957
17	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	37	15:15:58	1:38.702	198.816
18	23	Alexander Albon	Toro Rosso	22	14:51:20	1:38.901	198.416
19	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	14	14:37:47	1:39.677	196.871
20	88	Robert Kubica	Williams	28	15:02:22	1:39.772	196.684

Only drivers with a recorded lap time appear in this table. Time of Day is local time; average speeds are in km/h.

2019 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings for drivers and teams after the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix.

2019 Post-Race F1 Drivers’ Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes	68
2	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes	62
3	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	39
4	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Ferrari	37
5	Charles Leclerc	MON	Ferrari	36
6	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Red Bull Racing	13
7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	12
8	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren	8
9	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas	8
10	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	Renault	6
11	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Renault	6
12	Sergio Perez	MEX	Racing Point	5
13	Alexander Albon	THA	Toro Rosso	3
14	Lance Stroll	CAN	Racing Point	2
15	Daniil Kvyat	RUS	Toro Rosso	1
16	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing	0
17	Romain Grosjean	FRA	Haas	0
18	Carlos Sainz	ESP	McLaren	0
19	George Russell	GBR	Williams	0
20	Robert Kubica	POL	Williams	0

2019 Post-Race F1 Constructors’ Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	Mercedes	130
2	Ferrari	73
3	Red Bull Racing	52
4	Renault	12
5	Alfa Romeo Racing	12
6	Haas	8
7	McLaren	8
8	Racing Point	7
9	Toro Rosso	4
10	Williams	0

2019 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	2019 Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park Circuit , Melbourne	17 March
2	2019 Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	31 March
3	2019 Chinese Grand Prix	Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai	14 April
4	2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix	Baku City Circuit, Baku	28 April
5	2019 Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló	12 May
6	2019 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco , Monte Carlo	26 May
7	2019 Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve , Montréal	9 June
8	2019 French Grand Prix	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet	23 June
9	2019 Austrian Grand Prix	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	30 June
10	2019 British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit , Silverstone	14 July
11	2019 German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring, Hockenheim	28 July
12	2019 Hungarian Grand Prix	Hungaroring , Mogyoród	4 August
13	2019 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	1 September
14	2019 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza , Monza	8 September
15	2019 Singapore Grand Prix	Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore	22 September
16	2019 Russian Grand Prix	Sochi Autodrom, Sochi	29 September
17	2019 Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka	13 October
18	2019 Mexican Grand Prix	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	27 October
19	2019 United States Grand Prix	Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas	3 November
20	2019 Brazilian Grand Prix	Autódromo José Carlos Pace , São Paulo	17 November
21	2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi	1 December