The 2025 Formula 1 season kicked off last week with a thriller in the rain, and Lando Norris of McLaren narrowly edged out Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing to win the Australian Grand Prix. Now the Formula 1 schedule sends those two title contenders to Shanghai for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. Verstappen won the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix after a four-year hiatus because of COVID, but Lewis Hamilton will be hoping to make some new memories on the Shanghai International Circuit with Ferrari after winning the race six times with Mercedes. Norris is the +100 favorite in the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix odds, while his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri is listed at +300. That pair is followed by Verstappen at +330, while Hamilton is listed at +2000 alongside his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and former Mercedes teammate George Russell.

The lights go out at 3 a.m. ET on Sunday, and SportsLine's proven computer projection model simulated the Chinese GP 2025 10,000 times, creating a surprising leaderboard.

Developed by daily Fantasy pro and SportsLine predictive data engineer Mike McClure, this proprietary Formula 1 prediction model takes into account a slew of factors, including track history and recent results.

The model has been scorching hot when it comes to picking Formula 1 race events dating back to 2021. It nailed both of Charles Leclerc's wins in 2022, and at the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix, the model was strongly backing Verstappen as its top pick. The result: Verstappen dominated the field and ran away with a surprising victory. 

It followed that up by calling Verstappen's win at the Rolex Emilia Romagna GP in April and nailed Verstappen to win in Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, the United States, Mexico and Abu Dhabi. It also called all 19 of Verstappen's wins during the 2023 season and nailed each of his first seven wins in 2024. 

It also predicted Lando Norris's 2024 wins in the Netherlands (+200), Singapore (+190) and Abu Dhabi (+250) and nailed Norris to win for a +185 payout to begin the 2025 season. Anyone who followed the model's lead on those plays has seen HUGE returns!

The Shanghai International Circuit is a 16-turn, 3.388-mile track that opened in 2004 and has hosted the Chinese Grand Prix in every year that it has been held since. Nobody besides Hamilton (six wins) has ever won the race more than twice, and Mercedes has been the winningest manufacturer (also six wins). Ferrari has four wins in Shanghai, while McLaren and Red Bull both have won the Chinese Grand Prix three times.

Now, the model has dialed in on the 2025 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix and just released its coveted picks and leaderboard projections. 

We can tell you the model is predicting a top-two finish for Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen that would pay out -105. The model called the same prop last weekend, and Verstappen hit for a +150 payout, finishing less than a second behind Norris in a rain-soaked Australian Grand Prix. 

Verstappen and Red Bull are facing more serious challenges than they have in recent years, but he's still the four-time defending world champion and was also the winner at last year's Chinese Grand Prix. Red Bull displayed that it still has the pace to compete last week, and this could be one of the last opportunities to get Verstappen top two at close to even money.

The model has also made its win prediction and is also targeting one significant underdog to make a charge up the leaderboard! Anyone who backs this driver could hit it BIG. You ABSOLUTELY need to see who he is before locking in any Formula 1 Chinese GP picks of your own.

So who wins the 2025 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, and which SERIOUS longshot could be in contention? ... Join SportsLine right now to see the full projected Chinese GP leaderboard, all from the model that 26 of Verstappen's 30 wins since the start of 2023 and called Norris' wins in the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix, Singapore Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the 2025 Australian Grand Prix!