Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo have had a tough day out in this year’s Chinese Grand Prix after both had issues in the Formula 1 World Championship’s return to Shanghai.
 
In what his first outing at the Shanghai International Circuit, Piastri picked up some valuable championship points, while Ricciardo failed to finish the race he won in 2018 after making contact with Piastri.
 
Both drivers would have been confident heading into the race after Piastri qualified in P5 and Ricciardo in P12, however a dramatic race ended up with Piastri dropping to eighth and Ricciardo retiring as a result of contact with Lance Stroll.
 
Up until the incident with Stroll, Ricciardo had performed well by recovering from a slow start where he lost places and a difficult tyre strategy to move up into ninth place, before Stroll rear-ended him on the race’s first safety car restart.
 

Piastri, who was just ahead of Ricciardo at that point, was also caught up in the drama when the heavy contact caused Ricciardo to push into his rear.
 
The incident forced Ricciardo to eventually retire, while Piastri sustained damage to his diffuser and prevented him from making up any further ground.
 
The McLaren driver eventually settled for eighth ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, as his teammate Lando Norris finished the race in second place between the two Red Bull drivers.
 
Reigning champion Max Verstappen secured his fourth win of the 2024 season, beating Norris by 13 seconds, and Perez rounded out the podium a further six seconds behind the Brit.
 
Earlier on the weekend, Piastri managed to squeeze an extra point towards his total point score after finishing the first Sprint race of the year in seventh place – four places above of Ricciardo.
 
View the full results from the weekend.
 
The Formula 1 World Championship resumes next month in the United States with the Miami Grand Prix to take place on 5 May.