Lewis Hamilton clashes with Ferrari engineer AGAIN and is made to swap locations with Charles Leclerc in depressing Chinese Grand Prix – as Oscar Piastri wins it

Serenity at the front for Oscar Piastri. Victory from pole in China for the Australian. And another day of turbulence in paradise for Lewis Hamilton.

Lando Norris finished second, extending his world championship lead to eight after two rounds, with George Russell third for Mercedes. 

But it was Piastri who planted his title credentials in the Shanghai asphalt with a 10-second victory margin.

His emphatic win following his first career pole means that he even if McLaren maintain their dominance there is far from any guarantee that the No 4 car driven by Norris that will prevail.

As for Hamilton, it was another tricky day. 

Perhaps it was an improvement on his fortunes in Melbourne a week before, when he finished 10th. But not much. Again, he clashed with his race engineer Riccardo Adami, and had to make way to let his team-mate Charles Leclerc through.

This is not the optimum scenario when you are hailed as the GOAT and have been signed on £60million-a-year. We are not talking here about a sophomore but a seven-time world champion.

Having to switch was even more wounding for Hamilton because Leclerc’s front wing was flapping about, perhaps even grazing the ground (after the two touched on lap one – Leclerc’s fault). In a sport where a millimetre is potentially an aerodynamic eureka moment, this was surely a handicap for the Monegasque.

Long before lap 20 of 57 when Hamilton and his pit wall were debating whether their trophy recruit should move aside, it was obvious that Leclerc had the greater pace.

Hamilton knew it, saying: ‘I think I’m going to let Charles through because I’m struggling.’

Adami replied: ‘We are swapping cars at Turn 14.’

Hamilton: ‘I’ll let Charles through when he’s closer.’

Hamilton, again: ‘I’m closing up a little bit (on Russell ahead of him).’

Adami: ‘Can we swap this lap.’

Hamilton: ‘I’ll tell you when we can swap.’

Hamilton let Leclerc through at the start of lap 21. Leclerc, unimpressed by being held up, said: ‘This is a shame. The pace is there.’

Leclerc went on to finish fifth, Hamilton sixth (23 and 25 seconds behind Piastri), both having been passed by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who finished fourth. 

Hamilton was off the pace in this curate’s egg of a weekend for him. He won the sprint on Saturday and we wondered then if that would be a flash in the pan or a sign of sustained success to come. We must await a definitive judgment on that, but this latest instalment over the full race distance was hardly the dreamland Hamilton would have hoped for.

Hamilton is calling for patience in any assessment of his Ferrari move, pointing out that contending with a new engine, new environment and new methods, takes time. Indeed, after taking his sprint victory, he criticised those who pointed out the obvious, namely that Melbourne was a flop, for ‘yapping’ and being uniformed.

Well, perhaps those observers were judging him by the stratospheric standards he has set for himself in a career that has yielded every record in the sport.

In Melbourne he complained that Adami was force feeding him too much information. Here, the opposite. ‘Give me some feedback, guys’ he implored Adami. ‘Come on, I need some feedback on where I am losing (time).’

‘Exit of 13,’ Adami informed him.

‘You told me that already,’ Hamilton snapped back.

Ferrari are not where they need to be. In the hoopla over Hamilton joining, all the PR and photoshoots, have their eyes focused where they needed to be? On the slim evidence of the season’s beginnings the answer is ‘no’.

As for Piastri, an excellent drive. Having taken pole, he needed to maintain his advantage off the line and that would allow him to throw the dirty air into the visors of those behind him and let them fret about their front tyre wear.

There is nothing else to say about his race, other than he led pretty much every lap. It was clinical, efficient and, therefore, happily uneventful.

Norris suffered brake problems but nursed his car home. He passed Russell at the start and mid-race out of the final corner with the help of DRS, returning the move his fellow Brit had visited upon him after their one stops.

In the end Norris’s wobbly weekend ended at least saw him eight points ahead of Verstappen at the top of the table. His race was an improvement on his sprint performance (eighth) and scrappy qualifying (third).

‘The car was really lovely,’ said Piastri, a reminder of what might have been Norris’s to celebrate had he not flunked crucial moments.

There was not even a compensatory extra point for Hamilton, despite him setting the fastest lap. That bonus has been done away with this season. Regardless, there is unmistakably plenty of work to do in the red corner.