F1 2026: Chinese Grand Prix Recap

Kimi Antonelli wins eventful Chinese Grand Prix on a canter

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli picked up his first-ever Formula One win as the young Italian drove a calm and composed race in Shanghai to convert his pole position to a victory to win the Chinese Grand Prix 2026. Antonelli also became second youngest race winner in the sports’ history behind Max Verstappen, with the 19-year old rounding out a strong weekend where he had created history by becoming F1’s youngest pole sitter but he converted the one that counted most as he led a Mercedes 1-2 at a chaotic race in China. George Russell finished second to make it a double podium for Mercedes while Lewis Hamilton picked up his first-ever podium for Ferrari, finishing third after an incredible race from the Ferrari driver who was involved in an intense battle with his teammate, Charles Leclerc, for most of the race. 

It was quite the race in Shanghai which had plenty of action on track but also action off track as the race saw only a total of 15 cars see the chequered flag with a total of 7 cars unable to finish the race with four of them not even starting the race, including both McLarens, who suffered their first DNS since 2005. Even before the race started, we had a couple of cars having their races cut short. The McLarens of Lando Norris didn’t leave the garage due to an electronic issue while his teammate Oscar Piastri was pushed into the garage from the grid while Gabriel Borotoleto’s Audi and Alex Albon’s Williams weren’t able to make the grid either.

An absolutely chaotic race start saw Lewis Hamilton storm off the line to take the lead of the race with Charles Leclerc pushing Antonelli as well to move up to P3 ahead of George Russell. A host of cars had a strong start with Pierre Gasly moving up to P5, Franco Colapinto moving up to P6 while Fernando Alonso was up to P10 in the opening few corners. While some drivers were making up places, the Red Bulls were struggling with Isack Hadjar spun into the gravel on Turn 1 while trying to fight for track position with Oliver Bearman and was asked by his team to head to the garage immediately. The Cadillacs also had a horrible start with Sergio Pérez coming together with his teammate, Valtteri Bottas spun the Mexican around. 

Antonelli retook the lead from Hamilton the following lap as the Mercedes cars began to show their straight-line power on lap 2 and Russell breezed past Hamilton as well heading into turn 1 on the same lap itself as Mercedes regained their 1-2 position. Verstappen and Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson were the first ones into the pits on lap 10 with the Williams of Carlos Sainz following them. Verstappen rejoined in 15th place with the race seeing its first Safety Car as Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin stopped on the track. The cars dove into the pits for their stops and Antonelli kept his lead when he came out while the non-stoppers in Colapinto and Esteban Ocon stayed out and moved up to second and third place respectively. The Safety Car ended on lap 13 and Antonelli left those behind him while Hamilton picked off Russell heading out of turn 6 with Russell being caught out by the Alpine and Haas ahead of him. Hamilton was up to P3 in no time, easing past Ocon and while Hamilton was attacking at the front, his teammate, Charles Leclerc got past George Russell on lap 15 to move up to P5. The Ferraris continued to impress as Leclerc cleared Ocon and Colapinto to move up to the podium places and was right behind his teammate, albeit almost three seconds behind Hamilton. 

After having a start to forget and horrible opening stage of the race, Verstappen finally found some rhythm on the Safety Car restart and was up to P6 by lap 23 as the Dutchman was making his way back through the field. Ahead of him it was the Mercedes – Ferrari clash going on with Bearman running in fifth being yet to pit. The race saw an incredible scrap starting from lap 24 as Leclerc pushed Hamilton to take second place and left Hamilton vulnerable to a charging Russell behind him but the seven-time world champion showed all his experience and race craft to keep the Mercedes behind and in the following couple of laps, there was an incredible clash between Leclerc and Hamilton as they swapped places heading in and out of each corner and it was Hamilton’s car eventually losing pace on lap 27 which saw Leclerc hold on to second place while Russell moved up to third as well, going past Hamilton heading into turn 14 to move into the podium places. Leclerc got Russell back to hold on to second place before Russell got back to second place on turn 14 itself again as he moved back up to P2 for the first time since the start of the race. 

While the three behind him were involved in a spectacular sequence of overtaking and swapping of places, Antonelli was undisturbed at the top, moving further and further away from the pack. Esteban Ocon came together with Franco Colapinto heading out of turn 3 with the Haas crashing into the Alpine going on his inside, which ended up dropping both drivers to the back of the grid. Hamilton moved back to third place on lap 36 as Leclerc locked up at turn 14 to go wide which saw Hamilton accept the open spot given to him. Leclerc came hard at Hamilton instantly but the veteran British driver kept himself ahead of his teammate with some mature defensive driving.

After four laps in third place, Hamilton finally lost the place as Leclerc got past him at turn 14 but Hamilton was back up to third place as he overtook his teammate at turn 1, moving back to the third place. A couple of laps later Red Bull asked Verstappen to retire his car on lap 46 after an impressive stint from Verstappen which had him running in P6 but the Red Bull car suffered a mechanical issue that ended his race. The final couple of laps saw Antonelli suffer one small lock up on lap 54 with three laps to go but that was about it as the 19-year old eased to a comfortable win with Russell finishing second behind his teammate and was more than six seconds behind Antonelli. For Hamilton, it was a special race as he finished third, picking up his maiden podium with Ferrari and also a record 10th podium finish in Shanghai. Leclerc was unable to challenge Hamilton in the final stages of the race with Ollie Bearman finishing fifth ahead of Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar, Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto who rounded out the points places. 

After a double header to kick off the season, the Formula One grid will move to Japan for the Japanese Grand Prix 2026 which will take place in two weeks’ time on March 29, 2026 and it will also be a much needed break for some of the teams to sort out their mechanical and technical issues before they hit the track again with only 15 cars finishing the race in Shanghai out of 22.