Ranking the top 5 Best and worst drivers of the 2025 F1 chinese Grand Prix

The Round 2 of the 2025 Formula 1 season is completed with the 2025 F1 Chinese Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris put on a Masterclass with their McLaren cars and won the Shanghai GP. This is their first Chinese Grand Prix after many years since Lewis Hamilton won for them in the 2011 season.

The Chinese GP was like an art of strategy and patience and the people who played the patience game got successful results. Let us look at the top 10 best and worst drivers of the recently concluded Chinese F1 race.

Ranking the Top 5 Best Drivers of the 2025 Chinese GP

1. Oscar Piastri

The obvious choice is the Australian driver oscar piastri who waited so long to taste victory again. The McLaren driver was the fastest in qualifying and started from pole position. McLaren did a one-stop pit strategy, which is quite risky and Oscar managed his tyres well throughout the race. He got rewarded for his patience and tyre management masterclass. 

2. Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver is still the best in the business as even with a slower car, Max managed to secure P3 in the sprint and P4 in the main race. Max Verstappen like challenges and even during the Chinese GP he had a bad start and lost two places, but he waited for his time and took the attack against Leclerc in the end and finished on P4. 

3. Esteban Ocon

The French driver was outstanding in both the qualifying and main race. He started from the P11 and took out Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, VCARB’s Yuki and Isack. He then followed a game of survival as he managed his tyres brilliantly and finished P7. With Lewis Hamiton and Leclerc getting disqualified he is now P5 which is the best result for the Haas team after many years. 

4. Oliver Bearman

The Young Rookie driver was the most successful junior driver at the Chinese GP. In a boring and tiring race, Bearman showed some glimpses of action when he attacked Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, and Hadjar for the top 10 positions. In the end, he finished in P10 with the two Ferraris being disqualified he is now P8.

5. Alexander Albon

Williams Racing driver Alex Albon also followed the one-stop Pit-stop strategy and held with his medium tyres for a long time during the race. It was spot-on from James Vowels and Albon as they played the long game and reaped the results. It was a double-points finish for Williams as Carlos Sainz joined him in P10 after the disqualification drama.

Ranking the top 5 worst drivers of the 2025 Chinese GP

5. Nico Hulkenberg

The German driver got a nice launch on the opening lap but failed completely while playing the long game against his rival teams VCARB, Williams and Haas. Tyre's management strategy completely failed and he lost positions and ended in P15.

4. Jack Doohan

The Alpine driver is in a high-risk zone as his stay depends on his performance in each race. His only way of surviving with the team is by scoring as many points as possible. The current situation is unfavourable for Doohan as he crashed in Australia and scored no points in China.

3. Liam Lawson

Red Bull’s recruit Liam Lawson is definitely not enjoying at the moment as his race results don't look promising. The New Zealander qualified in P20 which was a shocker and his race pace was also very poor compared with VCARB’s. He finished in P15 and there were speculations of him getting replaced with rel="dofollow noopener" target="_blank">Yuki Tsunoda.

2. Yuki Tsunoda

The Japanese driver again got unlucky with strategy and circumstances. After a wonderful effort in the Sprint race, Yuki Tsunoda didn't find pace in the main race. The double-stop strategy didn't work well, but even then Tsunoda was going quicker than his teammate and most mid-field drivers. Unfortunately, his front wing got broken and he was pushed to P19.

1. Isack Hadjar

The worst thing that happened was to the rookie Isack Hadjar. The French driver was outstanding in qualifying with a P7. But again VCARB’s pit stop strategy was a nightmare and lost positions after re-entering the track. He could only manage P11 after fighting hard with Jack Doohan and Carlos Sainz.

Also Read: F1 2025 Chinese Grand Prix Race Results: Oscar Piastri wins for McLaren in Shanghai