Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo's promising weekend in China was foiled by rival Lance Stroll, when the Canadian ran into the back of him during Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

World champion Max Verstappen stood tall in Shanghai, surviving two safety car restarts to beat McLaren's Lando Norris in second and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez in third.

Ricciardo, driving for Red Bull's sister team RB, was running ninth when he was collected by Stroll in lap 26 as the field was preparing to restart after the first of two safety cars on Sunday.

As cars in the midfield were entering the second-last corner — a hairpin — getting ready to race, Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso slammed on his brakes to make the turn.

This caused a concertina effect which led to cars behind, including Ricciardo, to quickly slam on their brakes.

But Stroll, running 10th, saw the slowing cars ahead of him too late and slammed into the rear of Ricciardo.

Stroll was handed a 10-second penalty, despite complaining to his team on the radio about crashing into Ricciardo, while the Australian was forced to retire due to car damage.

"It's a restart, so we don't know what the leader is going to do, so you have to be as vigilant as ever," Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1.

"How hard he's hit me, pretty much put half of his car under mine — it wasn't a small judgement, he was miles off. For that, for me, there's no excuse.

"What's frustrating is I watched his onboard [camera], he's not even looking at me.

"You can see his helmet, he's looking at the apex of the corner.

"I don't know why he's not looking at the car in front."

The footage was shown to the podium finishers as they were waiting the trophy presentation.

"Oh my God, no way," Verstappen said as he covered his mouth in disbelief.

Fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri was also damaged in the collision, with Ricciardo forced into the rear of the McLaren.

Piastri was able to hold on to eighth place, while his teammate secured and impressive second-place.

Max Verstappen made it four wins from the opening five races this season, winning his maiden Chinese Grand Prix.

The Dutchman had a massive lead, with teammate Sergio Perez comfortably in second, when a pair of safety cars forced the team into an earlier pit stop than they had planned,

The early stops kept Verstappen in the lead but Perez fell to fourth, with the Mexican only able to climb back to third.

"It felt amazing, it was so enjoyable to drive on every single [tyre] compound," he said.

"The car was on rails, I could do whatever I wanted to do with it."

The victory completed a stellar weekend for the Dutchman, who also won the sprint race on Saturday.