George Russell carried strong momentum into the 2026 F1 Chinese GP weekend. The Mercedes driver claimed victory in the season’s first Sprint after an intense early battle with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, while teammate Kimi Antonelli recovered from a difficult start and a time penalty to finish in the points.
Later in qualifying, Mercedes again showed its pace, but Russell’s pole hopes disappeared when a technical issue halted him in Q3. Antonelli capitalised on the opportunity, delivering a standout lap to secure his first Formula 1 pole position and become the youngest pole-sitter in the sport’s history ahead of the Grand Prix.
Before the start of the 2026 F1 Chinese GP
Ahead of the start McLaren seemed to have some technicals issues as Lando Norris did not make it out on the grid and Oscar Piastri went back into the box giving the assumption that both McLaren will start from the pit lane. Norris car had an electronics issue, while it was not clear as to why Piastri needed to head back into the Box, only assuming that the car of the Australian had the same problem. Another three are in the pit lane, while Albon and Bortoleto were out of the car, not going to start the 2026 F1 Chinese GP.
Start
While the Mercedes cars fought off the line, both Ferraris passed the young Italian as Lewis Hamilton took the lead, though Antonelli was able to regain P2 putting his Mercedes between the red Ferraris in turn 3. Max Verstappen had another start procedure problem as the Dutch dropped 6 positions.
Isack Hadjar spun before the back straight as he was engaged in a fierce battle with Ollie Bearman.
While teammates at the front fought for the first position, the Cadillac teammates had slight contact with each other, causing Valtteri Bottas to spin his car. As the start proceeded, both McLaren stayed in the box, not being able to start the 2026 F1 Chinese GP.
Mercedes back on top
Antonelli passed Hamilton, regaining the lead of the race, leaving the Brit in P2. Though he did not stay there long as Russell also overtook Hamilton putting both Mercedes back in the lead, as the Brit started to close up to the Italian, trying to gain the lead of the Race.
While Verstappen lost out on 6 Positions at the start, the Dutchman is back in P10, even though he left the track shortly due to oversteer in lap 5 while he tried to overtake Lindblad. Though the Dutchman seemed not to be able to overtake the Rookie on his soft tyres that didn’t work any more with the laps going down, while Hamilton complained about energy issues on the radio with Leclerc closing up on him.
Safety car as Lance Stroll is out of the 2026 F1 Chinese GP
While the Ferraris battles over the last podium position at the front, Liam Lawson and Lindblad fought over positions 8 and 9 as the Medium tyres started to lose his grip, giving Lindblad the upper hand. That left Racing Bulls no choice, but to bring Lawson into the pits putting him on Hard tyres, being closely followed by Verstappen.
Though the timing of the stops seemed to be critical as Lance Stroll went off track not being able to rejoin the 2026 F1 Chinese GP. It caused a Safety Car period. The first 5 cars and many more pitted, with Antonelli rejoining in P1 ahead of Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon.
Hamilton and Leclerc surge forward after Safety Car restart
As the race reached the end of lap 13 the Safety was due to leave the track again with Antonelli hoping for a clean restart. The Italian led the pack back to racing the start finish straight staying ahead of his contenders.
Meanwhile, Hamilton overtook Russell during the restart as the Ferrari went to claim another position, overtaking Ocon. With Leclerc, a bit further back, made it past Russell as well who seemed to have an issue as he reported to have no grip on the new tyres, while Hamilton made it up into P2 closing the gap between him and Antonelli.
The clear winners of that restart were both Ferrari drivers, as the second Ferrari of Leclerc made it up to P3, fighting for a 1-2 finish at the Chinese GP.
Bearman shines in midfield fight as Verstappen recovers positions
While the fight in front was heating up, further back Ollie Bearman used the restart to put himself into P6 being ahead of Pierre Gasly and Verstappen as Colapinto and Ocon stayed ahead of the young Brit, though both of them still needed to pit. Though Hamilton closed in on Antonelli in front, he seemed to lose pace as he asked for more power over his radio to gain the chance for a win.
Meanwhile, Ocon, Bearman and Colapinto fought for P5 with Gasly and Verstappen right behind them. Colapinto stayed ahead of them, as Bearman overtook Ocon and Verstappen gaining another position, putting his Red Bull ahead of Ocon and Gasly. While Russell complained about no grip right after the restart, the Brit seemed to regain some of that as he closed in on Leclerc again, fighting for P3.
Antonelli stretches lead as Ferrari and Russell battle behind
At the front, Antonelli, once again, put some time between him and Hamilton, as the Ferrari driver got under pressure from his teammate behind him. As Leclerc overtook Hamilton at turn 16 with Russell being right behind them, the Mercedes could not use this window to overtake his old teammate, staying in P4 with an almost 15-second gap between him and Bearman in P5.
While Hamilton regained P2 by overtaking teammate Leclerc that was late on the brakes, the Monégasque driver regained P2 right after as Antonelli built his advantage in front, putting 7 seconds between him and Leclerc. Though, Hamilton did not stay in P3 as Russell overtook his old teammate and went up right between the Ferraris.
Meanwhile, Lindblad spun himself at the hairpin. As Russell tried to overtake Leclerc, Gasly fought his place back up to P7, right behind Verstappen.
Russell passes Leclerc to lead the chase behind Antonelli
Though Russell complained on the radio that the Ferraris were “fast in all the right places” he managed to overtake Leclerc and went up into P2 and starting his hunt on Antonelli that leads that race with 8 seconds between the Mercedes teammates. With Russell ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton, the teammates in red fought again for the position on the podium while Antonelli put in the fastest lap of the 2026 F1 Chinese GP staying almost 8 seconds ahead of his teammate, though Russell took that fastest lap off from his teammate.
Contact between Ocon and Colapinto sparks investigation
As Colapinto rejoined from his pit stop, there was contact between him and Ocon spinning both of them could rejoin, the race being put under investigation with Ocon claiming it as his fault on the radio. He got a 10-second penalty for it.
And the next car is out of the race as Fernando Alonso left his car not going to join the 2026 F1 Chinese GP.
Meanwhile, Leclerc locked up in the hairpin giving Hamilton the advantage to regain third position, though the gap between the Ferrari’s and Russell ahead opened up to over 5 seconds, while Bearman was almost 19 seconds behind Leclerc. As Ocon already claimed on his radio, the contact between him and Colapinto left the Frenchman with a 10-second penalty.
Ferrari scrap continues while Antonelli keeps Russell at bay
While Antonelli led the 2026 F1 Chinese GP comfortably with 17 laps left to go, the Ferraris dropped back further as Leclerc got past his teammate back up into third place, leaving Hamilton again in the position to fight back the position.
Which he did in the final hairpin as Hamilton regained the position, though Leclerc stayed close behind. Causing another battle between the teammates as it already happened multiple times in this race. Meanwhile, the gap between Antonelli and Russell dropped to a 6.4 with 15 laps to go as Antonelli regained some speed trying to win his first F1 Grand Prix.
The battle of the Ferraris seemed to calm down as Hamilton put some time between him and his teammate, as Antonelli in front made the gap bigger as he approached the back of the grid.
Red Bull retires Verstappen as Antonelli leads comfortably
While Antonelli was stuck in traffic, it was clear that if he wins the 2026 F1 Chinese GP, he would not only become the youngest championship leader in F1 history but also the first Italian to win a Grand Prix since 2026. While Carlos Sainz in P10 tried to fight for a point for Williams, Gasly got by Verstappen as the Dutch man got told by Red Bull to retire his car. Slowing down on track, Verstappen let drivers behind pass as he tried to make his way back into the pit lane to avoid another Safety Car.
It meant Verstappen the seventh car to not finish the 2026 F1 Chinese GP. Meanwhile, the gap at the front got bigger by the lap, with Antonelli now 9 seconds between him and his teammate. With Russell being as comfortable in P2, as the gap between him and Hamilton was 16 seconds while Leclerc was behind another 3 seconds.
Late lock-ups as Antonelli holds Russell at bay
With only 6 laps left to go, Russell complained about losing his rear tires on the radio the Brit targeted to bring home P2. While Leclerc suffered from another lock up into the hairpin, further widening the gap between him and Hamilton, leading to a first podium for Hamilton with Ferrari at a Grand Prix. As Antonelli locked up into turn 14 leaving the track slightly giving Russell 2 seconds back, though the gap remains at 7.4 seconds with only three laps to go.
Closing moments at the 2026 F1 Chinese GP
While Russell, Hamilton and Leclerc fought the 56 laps of the Chinese GP Kimi Antonelli led the race comfortably for almost the whole distance. Bringing the 19-year Italian to win his first Formula 1 Grand Prix from pole, being the second-youngest driver in Formula 1 history to win a Grand Prix.
Kimi Antonelli was the first Italian since Giancarlo Fisichella in 2006 to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix. George Russell coming home in second, making it a 1-2 for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton closing the podium to claim his first podium finish with Ferrari in a Grand Prix.
