The second Grand Prix of this year’s Formula 1 season took place in Shanghai, China, on March 23, 2025. As one of the six circuits hosting a sprint weekend in 2025, the race weekend was packed with action—from a red flag already being waved during Free Practice on March 21 to Lewis Hamilton getting pole position during Sprint Qualifying and subsequently securing his first win as a Ferrari driver at the Sprint race, and Oscar Piastri winning the GP on March 23 from pole position, the weekend had it all.

Unsurprisingly, news media quickly picked up on the excitement surrounding the Chinese Grand Prix. Using data from the Trisolute News Dashboard, we examined which topics, drivers, and storylines gained the most traction in French mobile News Boxes throughout the weekend—from Friday’s practice session to Sunday’s race—and which publishers made it into the mobile News Boxes for these keywords.

It’s lights out, and away we go into the data!

Most relevant keywords during the GP weekend

During the weekend of the Chinese Grand Prix 2025, a total of 30 keywords related to the event generated rankings in French mobile News Boxes. In total, these keywords amassed 2 948 rankings from March 20 to the morning of March 24, covering media attention around the First Practice, Sprint Qualifying, Sprint Race, Qualifying, and the Grand Prix on Sunday.

• Unsurprisingly, the event’s location and title dominated the keyword landscape. The most-ranked keyword was “gp chine” (GP China) with 830 rankings, followed by “chine” (582), and “grand prix de chine” (Chinese Grand Prix) (176). Altogether, keywords containing “chine” appeared 16 times in the list, generating a total of 2 130 rankings, which accounts for 72% of the total rankings. The host country therefore seemed to be a central element in the media coverage of the event.
• Lewis Hamilton emerged as the most visible driver in French coverage of the weekend. His name appeared in seven keywords, collectively generating 306 rankings. His presence aligns with his Sprint Qualifying win, victory in the Sprint race, and subsequent disqualification from the main Grand Prix on Sunday—a storyline that naturally drew attention. Keywords like “lewis hamilton pole position” (24), “sprint lewis hamilton” (20), and “chine lewis hamilton” (70) suggest a sustained interest across different phases of the weekend.
• Despite winning the Qualifying as well as the Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri appeared in only four keywords with a combined 74 rankings, far behind Hamilton. His mentions were mostly through surname-only keywords like “piastri” (30) or combined event references like “gp de chine piastri” (16). This relatively low visibility indicates that his victory may not have been as widely emphasized in French media as Hamilton’s dramatic disqualification and Sprint performance.
• The Sprint race format garnered notable attention, appearing in five keywords with a total of 190 rankings. Terms like “sprint” (112), “sprint chine” (24), and “sprint hamilton” (12) show that fans and media were actively engaging with this aspect of the weekend. The overlap with Hamilton’s name in several of these keywords also reinforces his strong narrative connection to this format.
• The abbreviation “f1” outperformed the full French term “formule 1”—a pattern seen in many markets. The keyword “f1” alone recorded 196 rankings, compared to “formule 1” with 84. In total, keywords containing “f1” appeared seven times, summing up to 522 rankings.
• Pierre Gasly is the only French driver to appear among the ranked keywords, generating 44 rankings. This visibility likely stems from two factors: his disqualification from the race, which drew some attention, and his French nationality, which naturally increases his presence in the local media. Interestingly, other disqualified drivers such as Charles Leclerc did not appear in the keyword set, nor did Esteban Ocon, who finished an impressive 5th place, or Isack Hadjar, despite his French-Algerian background and growing profile in the sport. This suggests that Gasly’s narrative—possibly shaped by the combination of incident and nationality—was more prominently picked up by French media than those of his fellow French-speaking drivers.
• McLaren, race-winner Piastri’s team and winning constructor for this GP appeared twice (30 and 20 rankings), while Ferrari was only mentioned in a single keyword with 12 rankings. The absence of Red Bull or Verstappen suggests a selective focus in French media.
• Keywords like “classement f1” (94 rankings) and “chine pole” (12) indicate some interest in qualifying and results, but overall, the coverage was more driven by driver-centric stories than by general classifications or race outcomes.

Top 5 publishers

Top 5 publishers on the Chinese GP weekend in French mobile News Boxes

1. L’Équipe (lequipe.fr)
   As the most visible publisher during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, L’Équipe accounted for 19.84% of total visibility across the analyzed keywords. Its visibility closely followed the key sessions of the weekend: the first major spike occurred on March 21 following Free Practice 1 (6:00), then rose significantly after Sprint Qualifying (13:00) and again later that evening (18:00). On March 22, visibility climbed steadily after the Sprint (05:00), peaked again after the main Qualifying session (09:00–10:00), and remained consistently high throughout the night. During the Grand Prix itself on March 23, visibility briefly dipped but then surged again from 11:00, reaching a strong peak between 20:00 and 21:00. L’Équipe’s highest visibility was recorded in the early hours of March 24 (01:00 and between 03:00 and 08:00).
   The keyword “gp chine” was the most frequently ranked for L’Équipe (191 rankings, representing 23% of total rankings for that keyword). The most visible article was “Lewis Hamilton remporte sa première victoire avec Ferrari sur la course sprint du GP de Chine” (Lewis Hamilton takes his first win with Ferrari in the Chinese GP sprint race), capturing attention with Hamilton’s first win as a Ferrari driver.
2. Eurosport (eurosport.fr)
   Eurosport followed as the second most visible publisher, achieving 10.92% of total visibility. It saw initial peaks around March 21, particularly after Sprint Qualifying (13:00), and then again during the early hours of March 22 (01:00–05:00), just before and during the Sprint. After a dip in visibility, interest returned late on March 23, ahead of the Grand Prix. Notably, visibility climbed from 7.27% at 23:00 to 25% at 01:00, and peaked at 50% by 05:00 on March 24—an increase of 42.73 percentage points in just six hours.
   The keyword “gp chine” again proved dominant, generating 167 rankings (20% of total for that keyword). Eurosport’s top-performing article was “GP Chine | Lewis Hamilton après sa pole position pour la course sprint : “Je suis un peu sous le choc”” (Chinese GP | Lewis Hamilton after sprint pole position: “I’m a bit in shock”), reflecting the excitement around Hamilton’s pole for the Sprint.
3. Ouest-France (ouest-france.fr)
   Ouest-France ranked third with 7.87% of total visibility. While its performance was more modest across most of the weekend, it experienced a massive and sudden surge in visibility on March 22 between 20:00 and 23:00—right after the Sprint and Qualifying, and just ahead of the Grand Prix the following morning. Visibility jumped from 0% at 16:00 to 27% at 20:00, peaking at 50% by 23:00 before rapidly declining back to 0% by 04:00. A smaller bump occurred at 07:00 on March 23.
   Its top keyword was again “gp chine” with 83 rankings (10% of total rankings for that keyword). The most visible article was “F1. Le classement du championnat du monde des pilotes après le Grand Prix de Chine” (F1: Drivers’ World Championship standings after the Chinese Grand Prix), showing strong performance with post-race interest in the championship standings.
4. Le Figaro (lefigaro.fr)
   Le Figaro secured 6.40% of total visibility and showed a very early focus in its coverage. Peaks occurred overnight and in the early hours of March 21 (02:00, 06:00—between FP1 and Sprint Qualifying—and 09:00). After this, visibility dropped significantly, with only minor peaks on March 22 (13:00 and 16:00) and a final uptick around 03:00–04:00 on March 24.
   The keyword “chine” was the most relevant for Le Figaro, generating 94 rankings (16% of total rankings for that keyword). The outlet’s most visible article was “Formule 1 : Lewis Hamilton partira en tête de la course sprint en Chine” (Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton will start from pole in the Chinese sprint race), reflecting early interest in Hamilton’s performance in Sprint Qualifying.
5. Motorsport.com (motorsport.com)
   Rounding out the top five, Motorsport.com achieved 5.74% of total visibility. It recorded visibility spikes around key moments, starting with peaks in the early hours of March 22 (02:00 and 04:00) around the Sprint, followed by additional increases later that day at 15:00 and 22:00. On March 23, visibility rose again during the early morning hours (01:00–02:00, 04:00–05:00) before the race, followed by smaller peaks during and after the GP (09:00 and 11:00). A final spike came early on March 24 (01:00–02:00).
   The keyword “gp chine” brought in 123 rankings (15% of the total for that keyword). Motorsport.com’s most visible article was “Leclerc, Hamilton et Gasly disqualifiés du Grand Prix de Chine” (Leclerc, Hamilton and Gasly disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix), covering one of the biggest post-race headlines and highlighting the value of timely follow-up reporting.

Key takeaways

You’re interested in more F1-related News Dashboard analyses? Then check out one of these:

• An in-depth analysis of how UK publishers captured visibility around the final race of the 2024 F1 season at the Abu Dhabi GP
• A mini-analysis on the F1 75 launch event on February 18 for UK publishers (LinkedIn)
• The Australian GP 2025 for UK publishers (LinkedIn)
• The Australian GP 2025 for Australian publishers

Too much F1? How about some other sports then?

• An analysis of the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship for UK publishers
• An analysis of the Ski Alpin races on January 11 and 12, 2025, for Swiss publishers (in German)
• A deep dive into which US publishers dominated the mobile News Boxes for Super Bowl LIX
• An analysis of which Australian news publishers achieved the highest visibility for Australian Open-related keywords

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