Rate the race: 2025 Chinese Grand Prix

19 comments on “Rate the race: 2025 Chinese Grand Prix”

1. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   23rd March 2025, 8:39

   The race initially seemed to be a procession, but ultimately differing strategies gave some exciting racing throughout the field, especially further down.
2. 

   Tommy C (@tommy-c)
   23rd March 2025, 8:40

   Not a classic but some great racing here and there. Not as close at the front as I was hoping for or expecting. Great drive by Oscar. Never looked in doubt. Gave it a 6.
3. 

   BLS (@brightlampshade)
   23rd March 2025, 8:41

   Was a race of heavy tyre management, wasn’t terrible but was a poorer race than most.
4. 

   safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
   23rd March 2025, 8:47

   Well, at the front that race was dull as anything, certainly. Some decent midfield racing, Haas doing a great job with the strategy and Bearman doing some excellent overtakes bumps it up slightly. No one really knew what to do with the tyres because they hadn’t done any running in practice on the hards, but it didn’t make it interesting, everyone was just super conservative. I guess sprint weekends are here to stay but they really do not add anything in terms of entertainment, and then you have that knock-on effect on the races.

   I guess we should thank the stars that McLaren has two evenly matched drivers. Because I hope I’m wrong but this season has interesting championship, boring races, written all over it.
5. 

   Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
   23rd March 2025, 8:52

   Gone with a 6.
   Not great overall, just a few bits of interest.
6. 

   Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
   23rd March 2025, 9:06

   4/10. Extreme tire management races like this are never fun because you just end up with drivers not really racing, just driving to deltas maintaining pre=determined gaps to the car ahead to manage tires with very little competitive racing going on.

   Basically the only racing we saw today was cars on fresher tires passing cars on older tires and most (But not all) of those passes were relatively straightforward with no real battles going on.

   The Doohan/Hadjar battle was great and would have been the highlight of race the race but ended up been ruined by an utterly ridiculous overly harsh penalty and that for me took a point off the final score from me.
7. 

   erikje (@erikje)
   23rd March 2025, 9:21

   Went with a 1.

   Some will say that’s harsh, but personally I don’t care about anything beyond the top 5 and the “race” at the front was extremely dull. After the start absolutely nothing happened. The 1 stop killed it off before it began and it turned into a tyre management drive.
   1. 

      Ferdi
      23rd March 2025, 12:37

      It was again rather underwhelming indeed. Should be taken of the calendar.
   2. 

      David BR (@david-br)
      23rd March 2025, 13:41

      @erikje The first corners are distinctive but the straights are short snack breaks in length and really without rain it’s a tough watch. I like China being on the calendar, being a believer in international sports bringing different peoples together (sounds quaint today), but another circuit would be preferable.
8. 

   StefMeister (@stefmeister)
   23rd March 2025, 9:22

   Couldn’t decide if I wanted to go with a 5 or 6 but ultimately ended up going with a 5.

   When you have these races that are basically all about tyre management with everyone running to a set pace, Not really wanting to get too close to the car ahead or take any risky overtake attempt to not take too much life out of the tyres you just never end up with an especially good race in terms of there been much racing action or good overtaking.

   Additionally the reason I think I ended going with a 5 rather than a 6 is that a byproduct of heavy tyre management races like this is that drivers are so far under the pace that you just lose the visual spectacle because the cars just don’t look as alive as they do when they are been pushed a bit harder. And of course when drivers are pushing towards the limit the chances of mistakes been made is also reduced which also takes a potential element of interest away.

   I don’t mind some management because that has always been a part of the sport but I just don’t enjoy it so much when it’s the dominant factor and it feels like everyone is driving to a delta rather than actually pushing on and racing the cars around them.
   1. 

      debaser91
      23rd March 2025, 9:26

      I just rewatched the 2003 British GP (and somehow Fernando Alonso was in, what is now, a historic GP).

      Probably on lap time the current cars would win but those cars just looked so fast. The current cars might as well be trucks in comparison.
      1. 

         Gubstar
         24th March 2025, 10:46

         yeah the cars are too long nowadays. The shorter wheelbased cars will always look quicker even if they are not. the larger the car the slower they appear to the human eye. those cars also looked like they were on a knife edge the whole time, whereas the modern cars just look heavy and clumsy
9. 

   Diez Cilindros (@diezcilindros)
   23rd March 2025, 9:43

   People who is rating this race 6 or more…

   What does a race need to have (or have not) to fail the exam? A 3/10 I guess is pure race fixing? Awful stewarding? A nasty accident?

   I mean, in terms of racing this has been absolutely awful. And I think it’s been triggered by the spoil we got on Saturday morning, when we discover the massive graining.

   Man, I hate Sprints…
   1. 

      F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
      23rd March 2025, 9:54

      Why? The sprint race was the highlight of the weekend. Today’s weather conditions probably meant the tires were holding better than yesterday, so the mediums did okayish and the hards proved much more durable than expected, which produced a rather dull race. Hamilton and the Racing Bulls were the only drivers to execute the pre-planned 2-stopper and lost out as a result. I feel gutted for Tsunoda especially after another strategy error that cost him a solid points finish.
      1. 

         Doh
         23rd March 2025, 14:20

         They need to increase pit lane speeds again. They were reduced about a decade or so ago. Which just means longer pitstop times. They need to reduce pitlane time loss to increase strategy creativity. It’s so boring to watch races like this which are basically like watching Monaco GPs but on a full scale race track. You’ll always see many complaints about Monaco but not as much about tyres that produce Monaco style races
10. 

    Neil (@neilosjames)
    23rd March 2025, 11:33

    It had brief moments but was otherwise a difficult watch.

    I remember looking at the gaps at some point in the final third, forget what lap exactly. No one closer than 2 seconds to the car in front all the way down to Stroll (1.5 seconds behind), who I think was 13th or so and had relatively fresh mediums on. Not sure what lap it was, but at the time I thought that particular snapshot reasonably summed up the whole race.
11. 

    Paul (@frankjaeger)
    23rd March 2025, 12:19

    These tyres are too sensitive! They need to be able to push!
12. 

    David BR (@david-br)
    23rd March 2025, 12:33

    3. Possibly the first time I’ve rated the sprint higher and that was a 4.
13. 

    t1redmonkey (@t1redmonkey)
    23rd March 2025, 18:42

    Was a bit dull, I would say a 5 or 6 is fair. Still, I don’t think we need safety cars every race to artificially make the racing appear closer than it actually is. I personally prefer just having the races play out naturally without any interferences even if the end result is a slightly dull race at times.

Comments are closed.