After canceling the Chinese Grand Prix for four years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the race returns to Shanghai, one of the largest and most influential cities in China, considered the cultural, economic, and financial center.
The previous race in Japan was, as always, outrageous and was won by none other than Max Verstappen, who faced a rare DNF in the Australian GP.
It was a completely dominant weekend for the three-time world champion, who is eyeing his fourth consecutive world title in 2024.
Even after dominating 3 out of 4 races in 2024, there may be some factors that can pull Verstappen’s run in the Chinese GP, as was the case in the Australian GP.
Read more:Chinese Grand Prix Start Time: When Will The Qualifying and F1 Races Begin?
Let’s learn more about such factors that can reduce the efficiency of Verstappen’s performance for the 2024 Chinese GP.
Factors That Can Affect Verstappen’s Race
In Australia, Verstappen struggled with a brake issue right from the start of the GP, with a rear brake essentially locking on before overheating and catching fire.
Verstappen attempted to push through the issue but had to slow down as the smoke intensified, forcing him to pit.
As of now, it seems like Red Bull immediately fixed the problem, resulting in them losing 25 points. Therefore, this factor might be eliminated from this list.
However, the newly introduced sprint weekends starting from Chinese GP have been introduced for which Verstappen and the other 19 drivers don’t seem happy with this
The Chinese GP has been chosen to run the first of six sprint weekends of the year, meaning drivers will have just 60 minutes to come to terms with the track before going all out in the Sprint qualifying session on Friday afternoon.
“I think it’s not great, let’s say like that, to do that,” Verstappen said in the post-race conference after the Japanese GP.
“When you have been away from a track for quite a while, I think you never know what you’re going to experience, right? So it would have been better to have a normal race weekend there.
Max Verstappen Post Race Interview | F1 2024 Japanese GP https://t.co/dXuJ9AlhRX via @YouTube
— DaliaAnghel (@DaliaAnghel) April 7, 2024
“On the other hand, it probably spices things up a bit more, and that’s maybe what they would like to see, but yeah, purely from a driving perspective, performance perspective of the sport, I think it’s not the smartest thing to do, coming out from Verstappen mouth.
He also stated he loved to race on the Chinese track and said “Hopefully we can hit the ground running as well as we can, and hopefully we don’t need to fine-tune too many things on the car.” this was because he thinks the condition of the track could affect cars performance which will indirectly result in reducing the efficiency of Verstappen.
Other than this no factor shall affect his team and him as he thinks the driver and car should have a strong bond that can tackle the obstacles together to win the races eliminating all the factors.
Gaurang is a writer at the SportsOrbit covering articles related to F1,Gaurang was 14 when he cared more about playing football than studying. But when COVID hit and he had to stay home, he discovered Formula 1. It immediately caught his interest. Since then, he’s been really into Formula 1, watching every race and learning all about it. He still loves football, but now he’s also a big fan of Formula 1, especially Lewis Hamilton. Even though he loves racing, he still looks up to Cristiano Ronaldo as his idol.