Image copyright: Getty Images
2024 FIA Formula One World Championship
2024 Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai International Circuit
Shanghai, China
Sunday, 21 April 2024
Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen will be targeting his maiden
Chinese Grand Prix victory in the fifth round of the season on Sunday, April 21.
The reigning three-time world champion has already opened up a 13-point lead over team-mate Sergio Perez at the top of the drivers' standings after winning three of the opening four races.
Verstappen missed out on the chance to equal his record of 10 consecutive wins when he was forced to retire from the Australian Grand Prix on lap 3 due to brake failure.
Image copyright: Getty Images
But the Dutchman quickly put that setback behind him as he returned to the top of the podium in the Japanese Grand Prix after finishing 12.535 seconds ahead of Perez, making it a third one-two for Red Bull this year.
Verstappen has only managed one podium finish in five attempts on the Shanghai International Circuit, which came in 2017 when he claimed a P3.
Formula One returns to China for the first time in five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the race has been chosen as the first of six sprint events for 2024, a decision that has been questioned by the 26-year-old driver.
"Yeah, it's very smart to do that," Verstappen sarcastically said. "I think it's not great to do that because when you have been away from a track for quite a while, I think you never know what you're going to experience, so it would have been better to have a normal race weekend there.
"On the other hand, it probably spices things up a bit more, and that's maybe what they would like to see. But purely from a driving and performance perspective of the sport, I think it's not the smartest thing to do.
"We'll see what we get there. I always loved driving there, so hopefully we can hit the ground running as well as we can, and hopefully we don't need to fine-tune too many things on the car."
2024 Japanese Grand Prix results:
Winner: Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing
Second Place: Sergio Perez - Red Bull Racing
Third Place: Carlos Sainz Jr. - Ferrari
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