Kimi Antonelli heads into the 2026 F1 Chinese GP second in the Drivers’ Championship following a rollercoaster weekend at Albert Park a few days ago.
In FP3, the Italian had a big shunt as he lost the car on power out of turn 2. His mechanics did a remarkable job to get him out in Q1, although a crash for Max Verstappen during that segment gave them a vital bit of extra time.
After qualifying P2, a lack of battery power off the line saw him get away very badly, dropping to 7th at the end of lap 1. However, he did not panic and worked his way back through the field, passing Norris, Lindblad and Hadjar.
Pitting under the early VSC along with teammate George Russell was ultimately the winning strategy. He showed great pace from there to keep P2 and never looked under threat from the Ferraris.
In fact, he closed to within 3s of his British stablemate by the end. It had been over 8s at one stage. That was a hugely impressive season opener in the end.
Kimi Antonelli reflects on 2026 F1 Australian GP weekend ahead of Chinese round
Speaking in a print media session on Thursday about the wild experience in Melbourne last weekend that eventually saw a fourth career podium come his way, Antonelli is feeling confident ahead of the weekend in Shanghai.
“For sure it was a good way to start the year.
“Of course, the weekend didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped, obviously with the crash of FP3, but I had a really good confidence up until that moment.
“And then of course, the crash kind of, it’s like a big kick in the butt, and kind of lowers your confidence.
“But then going into qualifying, obviously the mechanics were incredible, and just tried to make the best out of it.
“And then the race, obviously with the bad start, with the issue we had as well, was not ideal because I lost a lot of time. But then the pace was strong and was able to come back. Unfortunately, not enough, but the pace in the race was good.
“And all in all, definitely gave me good confidence ahead of this weekend. Of course, it’s a completely different race track, very different energy.
“So it will be a lot different to what you experience in Melbourne. And yeah, and also completely different conditions.
“So yeah, let’s see, but very looking forward to it.”
Trying to navigate a tricky period with the new power units
If there is one word to describe F1 in 2026: change. With a 50/50 split between the ICE and electrical power, it has been a remarkable effort by all PU manufacturers to have been ready for Melbourne, even if Honda are massively struggling. Changes to the cars only added to the headaches for all eleven teams.
On top of that, Cadillac joined the grid as an eleventh team.
The crashes for Antonelli (FP3), Max Verstappen (Q1) and Oscar Piastri (pre-race) prove there is still plenty of learning to go with these cars and new power units. McLaren’s home hero and the Dutchman were particularly unlucky.
As is common at the start of new regulations, every team faces big challenges. Kimi Antonelli is confident Mercedes and all F1 teams will soon be on top of everything.
“Yeah, and that’s why it’s quite complicated, because obviously we’re still trying to learn the system, how the PU reacts and works.
“And sometimes the PU can do things that you don’t expect. You can get a bit more power than you would expect. Or an upshift can be a bit different.
“But obviously it can happen. And they’re part of the game.
“In my case, it was nothing PU-related. With Oscar, for example, it seemed like it was something on the power unit on exit. It can be in his case, for example, it was very unfortunate.
“But these things can happen, especially at the start of the regulation where every team is still trying to understand how the PU responds to every input.”
Lots of work getting put in
“That’s why there’s so much work going on on trying to make the PU behave consistently every time you go on track. Because also, as we have so much power on the electrical engine, it can lead to unfortunate situations.
“There’s a lot of work going on. And it’s not easy. But I think with time and a few more races, everything will be much more predictable and easy.”
Kimi Antonelli on the challenge of the first Sprint weekend in F1 2026
Once more this year, six rounds will feature Sprint weekends. The 2026 F1 Chinese GP will be first one Kimi Antonelli and the 21 other drivers tackle. Last year featured a special moment for the young Italian as he bagged his first pole in the Miami Sprint Qualifying.
In 2025 the ground effect cars were four seasons into that regulation cycle era, so it was a case of small tweaks and tuning for most drivers and teams.
This year, it’s an enormous challenge. A single practice session leaves teams with just an hour to work on perfecting their deployment and energy tactics, while trying to get a good car set-up as well. While Shanghai is not as thirsty on energy as Melbourne, it’s still a big task.
“Yeah, it’s very tricky, because obviously with the new regulations, it’s very complicated.
“At the end of the day, you’ve only got one FP1. And then you go into qualifying. So it’s really important to be on point.
“That’s why we’ve been trying to do a lot of simulators, in order to try and cover all the scenarios. But of course, tomorrow when we go on track, we will see.
“But it’s going to be tough on the schedule. It’s going to be tough for everyone on the team.
“On the PU side, trying to find immediately the best compromise. It’s not going to be easy.
“But yeah, we’ve tried to do our homework. We’ve tried to prepare the best way as possible for the weekend.”
