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The grid for the F1 Chinese GP sprint is set with Lando Norris at the front of the grid and Lewis Hamilton alongside him. The British duo is followed by Fernando Alonso in P3 in his Aston Martin and Max Verstappen in P4 in his Red Bull.
While rain played a major role in setting the grid for the sprint, the rest of the race weekend is expected to be a lot more straightforward in terms of weather. The chances of rain are minuscule, and that could help teams who got compromised in the wet weather conditions of the F1 Chinese GP sprint shootout.
In what would be the first sprint shootout of the season, what can we expect? Let's take a look.
#1 Lando Norris wins the F1 Chinese GP sprint
Well, this one is a very bold call but we're going ahead with it. Red Bull and Ferrari should have the edge in terms of long-run pace and performance. The McLaren also struggles a lot on the straight. Having said that, Lando should have the advantage over Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in terms of car performance.
What we're banking on is Lando Norris making a big enough gap that the Red Bull and Ferrari duo doesn't catch up with the McLaren driver.
#2 Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso get shuffled down the order
With the race expected to be dry, it's going to be tough for the Mercedes and Aston Martin cars to be competitive enough to challenge for the win. On the contrary, the duo will keep an eye on the cars behind. Both Red Bull and Ferrari are a step ahead in the dry, and the drivers tend to be more precise.
While a P2 and P3 start for Lewis and Fernando is certainly impressive, it is going to be hard for the duo to hold on to these positions during the F1 Chinese GP sprint.
#3 The sprint is going to be action-packed
With drivers starting the race out of position, there is going to be a certain level of urgency that some of the drivers are going to have compared to others. Max Verstappen in P4 is starting the race on the dirty side of the grid, while his teammate and the Ferrari drivers are right behind.
All these four drivers are out of position, and the F1 Chinese GP sprint is going to be all about making up places early so that the long-run pace can be exploited in free air. Overall the short sprint is going to be a fun and action-packed adventure.
#4 Teams are going to experiment with different tire compounds
The most intriguing part of running in the F1 Chinese GP P1 was the fact that almost all three tires seemed durable enough. Multiple drivers ran a soft tire for long stints, and the tires held up incredibly. Other drivers used the medium and the hard in a similar manner, and one could see that the tires were holding up in general.
The sprint is going to make things very interesting on this front, as it opens up variable strategies that can be implemented. We could see drivers starting the race on either of the compounds to make this work and this could bring a major variability factor into the proceedings.
#5 Sergio Perez doesn't make it to top 5
Sergio Perez starts the race in P6 and that could work against him. The Red Bull driver will start the race on the dirty side of the grid and that could impact his start of the race. With fast cars including the Ferrari duo and Max Verstappen alongside him, it would be unlikely to see Sergio Perez make up multiple places and end the race inside the top 5.
