Piastri top, Lawson flop: The winners and losers of the Chinese Grand Prix

Winner: Oscar Piastri

With a convincing victory in China, Oscar Piastri proved he can be a serious threat to title favourite Lando Norris this season. The young Australian's win was never in danger, a week after he slipped off the track in Melbourne from a promising position. Now, he had the final laugh, on a day when Piastri showed maturity and was actually the fastest McLaren driver of the day. That bodes well for the coming weeks.

Loser: Ferrari

Who would have expected that after Lewis Hamilton's excellent victory in the Sprint, Ferrari would not be play a key role at all on Sunday? In hightsight, the perhaps wrong two-stop strategy for Lewis Hamilton and the broken front wing of Charles Leclerc did not help the Scuderia drivers, but in general, the SF-25 lacked pace. In the end, Ferrari did end up scoring 18 points with both drivers, until they lost them again, as both Leclerc and Hamilton were disqualified.

Winner: George Russell

Had the race lasted one lap longer, George Russell would probably have passed Lando Norris, who was struggling with his brakes. The Mercedes driver was nevertheless delighted with his third place finish and rightly so: the Briton was the best behind the faster McLarens, well ahead of Max Verstappen in the Red Bull and two Ferraris.

Loser: Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen had the same prediction all weekend, and in the Grand Prix it turned out to be true: Red Bull fell short and was the fourth quickest team on the grid. It was thanks to Verstappen that they can put a fourth place finish on the board, mainly thanks to excellent tyre management by the Dutchman during the second part of the race. On the other hand, their second driver, Liam Lawson was far behind, hobbling along. If Red Bull do not want to deal with an extremely embarrassing season, something needs to change soon.

Winner: Haas F1

After a mediocre test in Bahrain, Haas F1 were the slowest team in the Australian Grand Prix, but they managed to bounce back in China. Esteban Ocon (seventh) and Oliver Bearman (10th) finished in the points when the chequered flag was waved, and they gained two additional places after the two Ferraris were disqualified. It is a handsome turnaround for the Americans after several weeks full of woes. The next few weeks will tell: Was Australia or China the exception? Either way, for Haas, the first, important points are on the board.

Loser: Liam Lawson

After barely two Grands Prix under his belt at Red Bull Racing, the first rumours are already in the air about Lawson's possibly having to leave the team. With that, then, you are the biggest loser of the weekend. No matter how difficult it may be to handle the RB21, it surely cannot be as bad as the New Zealander makes it out to be. Two Haas cars finished well ahead of Lawson, something that cannot happen. If New Zealander gets another chance in Japan - and the emphasis is on the word 'if' - he really must do better. There are no other options available to him.