Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the Chinese Grand Prix ahead of McLaren driver Lando Norris and team-mate Sergio Pérez.

Starting from pole position after topping both qualifying and the sprint race on Saturday, the Dutchman controlled the race in commanding fashion despite two Safety Car periods being called in the space of five laps, which forced him to rebuild his sizeable lead each time.

Lining up alongside Verstappen on the front row of the grid, Sergio Pérez suffered from unfortunate timing of the Safety Cars and had to fight his way back from fourth after the second period to claim the final podium position, just running out of time to challenge McLaren’s Norris for second.

Verstappen said: “I think today went really well and I was very happy with everything. We had great pace in the whole race although, of course, with the deployment of the safety car, the gap that I had made was shortened and we then had to gain that back.

“Today the car was very well balanced, every time that we needed to be quick we were and it felt much more consistent to drive in comparison to the sprint, even for the restarts. Overall I’m really pleased with the performance that we had as a team.

“Every race is different in terms of emotions, but this one was particularly enjoyable because the whole weekend went so well, especially considering that it was a sprint weekend, which is always much more hectic. A weekend like this is as much as you can ever hope for.

“A win in Shanghai was definitely on my list, so to be here and to win in front of such an amazing crowd is very special and I’m pleased that the race is back on the calendar.”

In the end, Verstappen crossed line with an advantage of 14 seconds over Norris to secure his first win at the Shanghai International Circuit and his fourth victory five races so far in 2024.

Perez claimed third and the final podium place with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in fourth and fifth.

Mercedes’ George Russell took sixth ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in eighth.

A poor qualifying for Lewis Hamilton ended with a ninth place as an eventful race for Nico Hulkenberg and Haas ended with a point in tenth.

Alpine almost got their first point of the season with Esteban Ocon in eleventh, Williams’ Alex Albon finished in front of Pierre Gasly’s Alpine and Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu finished in fourteenth at his home Grand Prix.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll beat Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Williams’ Logan Sargeant as the final three.

RB endured their most difficult day of the season to date in China, with both Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda failing to finish the Grand Prix.

Tsunoda was hit by Hass driver Kevin Magnussen at the restart after the first Safety Car period on Lap 27, which put the Japanese driver out of the race and forced the second Safety Car deployment, whilst Ricciardo was also forced out after being hit on Lap 33.

The other driver not to finish was Valtteri Bottas for Kick Sauber.

Verstappen now leads Pérez by 25 points in the Drivers’ Championship standings ahead of the Miami Grand Prix on 5 May, while Oracle Red Bull Racing extended their advantage in the Constructors’ Standings over Ferrari to 44 points.