George Russell secured P2 at the 2026 F1 Chinese GP after an eventful race that saw him lose positions early before fighting back past the Ferrari duo.
His weekend got off to a promising start after topping Practice, taking the Sprint pole and then winning the Sprint Race. However, technical issues in Q3 of qualifying limited him to a P2 race start. At lights out, Russell dropped down to P4, but quickly regained strong pace to pass both Ferraris and move back up the order to P2.
Later in the Grand Prix, despite a pit-stop that cost him positions, he took advantage of a close Ferrari battle to finish second, finishing 5.515 seconds behind race winner and teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Russell: “P2 is a very solid result”
Speaking in the 2026 F1 Chinese GP post-race press conference, Russell congratulated Antonelli on his special maiden F1 win and reflected on the challenging race. The Mercedes driver particularly noted the difficulty of racing the both Ferrari drivers and the unfortunate pit stop timing, while still considering P2 a strong outcome.
“Yeah, really special day for Kimi, so huge congratulations to him. It’s obviously a day he’s going to remember forever,” he said. “Again, it was just the Ferraris made our life very difficult once again. Three races down and three of those times they’ve taken the lead from us.”
The Mercedes vs. Ferrari battle has been a key storyline in the opening stages of the 2026 F1 season, with Ferrari repeatedly overtaking the Silver Arrows on the opening lap despite Mercedes’ strong qualifying performance.
Russell continued: “But I felt in a pretty good place, so I got back into P2. Then, also the Safety Car timing, it was just a bit unfortunate, and coming out behind Colapinto and Ocon hindered my chances. But all things considered this weekend, after what happened in quali, P2 is a very solid result.”
Russell vs. the Ferrari duo
When further asked about what he learned about Ferraris pace in the 2026 F1 Chinese GP, after spending several laps close behind the battling duo, Russell shared:
“Well, I was just waiting for the two of them to collide and somehow they didn’t. It was some of the most aggressive racing I’ve seen for a while. If I wasn’t trying to win the race, I’d have been enjoying the battle, but obviously watching Kimi pull away during those points it was a little bit annoying.”
“But Ferrari definitely very quick. They’re quicker in the corners than us, slower than us on the straight, so it just made it a little bit challenging,” he highlighted, having made his overtakes on the Ferrari duo on the back straight of the Shanghai International Circuit.
“And when you’re trying to get past two of them at the same point, that wasn’t straightforward. But as it stands, we have the upper hand, but we can’t take that for granted because obviously we know some things are going to be changing in a couple of months. The upgrades are massive at the moment, so yeah, let’s see where it falls out.”
Mercedes pace at the Chinese GP
Russell concluded by explaining that catching Antonelli would have been difficult regardless of the time lost behind the Ferraris earlier. By the time he passed Charles Leclerc for P2, the gap to Antonelli had grown to 7.7 seconds, before ultimately crossing the line 5.515 seconds behind his teammate.
“I think it would have been very difficult to challenge Kimi, to be honest. He’s been very quick this weekend and when you’ve got two cars that are very similar pace, trying to get past on the same tyres is a little bit challenging. But obviously that time I lost with the Ferraris just gave me no chance. But as I said, I’m pleased just to be in P2 because it could have been a lot worse, and overall, it’s been a solid weekend.”
