Riciardo wins the Chinese Grand Prix

Thanks to a safety car, Red Bull managed to pit Ricciardo and Verstappen with softer tyres and that made all the difference. The safety car was triggered when the two Toro Rosso cars collided which caused debris on the track. Thanks to the change in tyres, the Red Bulls pace was incredible and Ricciardo managed to out brake the Ferraris and Mercedes giving him the top spot in the race.

Verstappen however collided with Sebastian Vettel which caused him to receive a 10-second penalty. Even though he crossed the finish line in fourth place, the penalty meant that his position put him at fifth.

Valterri Bottas ended the race in second followed by Raikkonen. Hamilton finished fifth but received fourth place. Nico Hulkenberg drove a superb race putting him in sixth place and Fernando Alonso managed to get seventh by edging Vettel out.

Formula1.com race stats

• Ricciardo’s win was his sixth in F1 – all six of them have been scored from grid slots outside the top three. Starting from P6, he equals Michael Schumacher for the lowest winning grid slot in Shanghai
• It’s the first time in his career Ricciardo’s won and set fastest lap in the same race
• Red Bull hadn’t won in China since taking their maiden win there in 2009
• It’s the first time in the current turbo hybrid era that Mercedes have gone three races without a win. The Silver Arrows have only won one of the last six races
• On his 100th F1 start, Bottas scored his first China podium
• P8 was Vettel’s worst result in China since 2008 when he was ninth for Toro Rosso
• Lewis Hamilton broke the all-time record for consecutive points finishes, with his 28th top 10 finish in a row
• Brendon Hartley didn’t make it to the flag, but he made it far enough to be classified, making the race just the eighth in history to pass without a classified retirement (and the second Chinese Grand Prix, after 2016)

Here are the full standings from the race.

Note – Gasly and Verstappen received 10-second time penalties for causing collisions.