The 2026 Formula 1 season continues this weekend with the Chinese Grand Prix, which marks the first of six sprint events this year.
F1's new era began just a few days ago at the Australian Grand Prix, as the series' radical new cars split opinion among drivers and fans.
Mercedes led the field across the weekend, with George Russell topping all three qualifying segments, before leading home a team 1-2 ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Russell leads the drivers' standings coming into this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, while Mercedes came away with full points in the constructors' championship in Australia.
This weekend's Chinese Grand Prix will see the teams' understanding of their new cars tested to the absolute limit, with the sprint format meaning they will have just one practice session to get on top of things before launching straight into sprint qualifying.
The Chinese Grand Prix is also set to offer a different view of what the new cars might be capable of, with the maximum allowed 9MJ of battery recharge allowed.
This, coupled with the layout of the track, sees F1 go from one of its most energy-hungry tracks to one of its least.
Mercedes underlined its supremacy on Friday in China as Russell led another dominant Silver Arrows 1-2 in qualifying for the sprint race.
Lando Norris was the nearest non-Mercedes driver in third, but the reigning world champion was over six tenths adrift of Russell's time, while Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were split by the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
Red Bull endured a tough sprint qualifying, with Max Verstappen only eighth and a whopping 1.7 seconds off the pace.
Aston Martin's problems were a major talking point in Australia, and there looks to be no immediate end in sight to these as it remains limited on batteries.
Sprint race - 3:00am-4:00am GMT
Qualifying - 7:00am-8:00am GMT
Thanks for joining our live coverage of what turned out to be a pretty exciting and action-packed qualifying day in Shanghai.
Things are set up pretty nicely for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, with lights out at 7am UK time. Make sure to join us bright and early as we build up to the second round of 2026 and bring you lap-by-lap coverage of the race.
See you then!
Andrea Stella has clarified his thoughts McLaren’s efforts to match Mercedes by saying his Formula 1 team is “not complaining” about any advantage the works outfit has.
Read the full story from Adam Cooper reporting in the Shanghai paddock ⬇️
MCLAREN BOSS CLARIFIES STANCE ON MERCEDES ENGINE KNOWLEDGE ADVANTAGE
Alex Albon made some pretty worrying claims about Williams after a miserable qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Read the full story ⬇️
WILLIAMS' PAINFUL F1 2026 WOES EXPLAINED
Check out Andrea Kimi Antonelli's pole lap at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix
McLaren is lacking grip compared to Mercedes at the Chinese Grand Prix, says Oscar Piastri, who jokes he is hoping for a "2023-spec" upgrade.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli admits he is still learning the “risk-reward” trade-off after securing a record-breaking Formula 1 pole at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also hit back at age critics.
Read the full story ⬇️
ANTONELLI STILL LEARNING 'RISK-REWARD' AS WOLFF CLAPS BACK AT CRITICS
Max Verstappen has little hope of a good race on Sunday at the Chinese Grand Prix
George Russell has explained the issues that plagued his qualifying session at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Russell and team principal Toto Wolff fear the worst when the Briton’s Mercedes crawled to a halt moments after joining the track in Q3, this after a front wing failure was reported as the flag fell in Q2.
Lewis Hamilton jokingly suggested Mercedes didn’t turn on its ‘party mode’ during qualifying at Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Read all his reaction to qualifying - including that quip - third here ⬇️
HAMILTON JOKES MERCEDES DIDN'T USE 'PARTY MODE' AS FERRARI HALVES GAP
Keep your eyes fixed on this blog and on Crash.net for all of the latest reaction from the Shanghai paddock.
And tomorrow is where we will turn our attention to.
The race kicks off at 07.00 UK time and we'll be here as always with the latest news, updates and views
Until then, it's ciao from me!
As for Red Bull, it looks adrift on all fronts, but after Verstappen's Q1 crash and Hadjar's DNF in Australia, then poor starts and incidents in the Chinese sprint, the team will just be hoping for a clean race tomorrow
Elsewhere, shout out to Pierre Gasly and Oliver Bearman, both of whom made Q3 for the second time this weekend as the outliers beyond the 'big four'...
Gasly in seventh represents a big improvement for Alpine from where they were muddling towards the end of 2025.
Bearman, meanwhile, is a point-scoring machine at the moment. Including last year, he has finished in the top ten in six of the last eight GPs - will he make it seven from nine tomorrow?
The full starting grid for Sunday's 2026 F1 Chinese Grand Prix
Certainly a closer qualifying in China than in Australia - six tenths covering the top six this time, including McLaren
Whether that would be the case had Russell not been mired in all sorts of issues at the start of Q3 we'll never know.
Even so, we know Ferrari has a quicker car in race trim and they're poised right behind the Mercedes' on the grid this time... it's all rather mouth-watering, really.
In case you were wondering, Antonelli is 19-years and 201 days old.
His pole position feat succeeds Sebastian Vettel, who was 21-years and 72 days old when he became youngest pole sitter upon qualifying first for the 2008 Italian GP.
Incidentally, Antonelli was born on the day Vettel made his F1 debut during FP1 for the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix.
Feeling old yet?
"It was actually a really tough qualifying, the wind is so gusty, so putting a lap together was challenging. Charles put in great laps, these guys put in great laps, so I am really happy to be up here with these guys because they have been so rapid so far this season.
"We did some good work, the engineers did some great work over the break, and we have been able to get closer to these guys. That's a real positive to take forwards."
On Sunday's GP: "It will be a challenge but I am sure we will have some fun, I'm looking forward to it. We learned a lot in the sprint race, so if tomorrow is not as windy as this, then we'll try and break the gap to these two somehow."
"It was definitely damage limitation. In Q2 the front-wing broke so I was wrapping my head around that, then in Q3 the car stopped on track, the car wouldn't restart and then we couldn't change gear. I am really happy to be standing here because at the start of the last lap I had no battery, no tyre temp.
"The team did a great job to get us in this position, it could have been worse. Well done to this guy (Antonelli).
Ahead of Sunday's GP: "We need to take care of the guys in red, they were super fast off the line and I'm sure Lewis will be dicey at the start of the race. I think for us, we want to keep it clean, have a good race and put on a good race for the fans."
"It was a clean session, so I am really happy. George had an issue in Q3 so it would been cool to see if he had two sets, but it was a really good session, clean, no mistakes - looking forward to the race tomorrow.
"I saw he had an issue but I tried to keep my focus, stay calm and try to deliver a quick lap.
| 2026 F1 Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying Results | ||||||
| Pos | Driver | Nat. | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | ITA | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1m33.305s | 1m32.443s | 1m32.064s |
| 2 | George Russell | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1m33.262s | 1m32.523s | 1m32.286s |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Scuderia Ferrari HP | 1m33.522s | 1m32.567s | 1m32.415s |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari HP | 1m33.175s | 1m32.486s | 1m32.428s |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | AUS | McLaren Mastercard F1 Team | 1m33.590s | 1m33.130s | 1m32.550s |
| 6 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren Mastercard F1 Team | 1m33.535s | 1m32.910s | 1m32.608s |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1m33.788s | 1m33.003s | 1m32.873s |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | NED | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1m33.417s | 1m33.098s | 1m33.002s |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | FRA | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1m33.632s | 1m33.352s | 1m33.121s |
| 10 | Oliver Bearman | GBR | TGR Haas F1 Team | 1m33.687s | 1m33.197s | 1m33.292s |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | GER | Audi Revolut F1 Team | 1m34.116s | 1m33.354s | |
| 12 | Franco Colapinto | ARG | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1m33.634s | 1m33.357s | |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | TGR Haas F1 Team | 1m33.974s | 1m33.538s | |
| 14 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team | 1m34.139s | 1m33.765s | |
| 15 | Arvid Lindblad | GBR | Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team | 1m33.906s | 1m33.784s | |
| 16 | Gabriel Bortoleto | BRA | Audi Revolut F1 Team | 1m33.549s | 1m33.965s | |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Atlassian Williams Racing | 1m34.317s | ||
| 18 | Alex Albon | THA | Atlassian Williams F1 Team | 1m34.772s | ||
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | 1m35.203s | ||
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Cadillac F1 Team | 1m35.436s | ||
| 21 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | 1m35.995s | ||
| 22 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Cadillac F1 Team | 1m35.906s | ||
Read the full report from an exciting qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix ⬇️
While one might view that as a missed opportunity for Ferrari in the context of Russell's issues, they can take heart from the fact they won't have a Red Bull or McLaren in the way on the run to Turn 1.
Better yet, Hamilton in third is in a very strong position to get that first Ferrari GP podium on Sunday
A big result for Mercedes, who can be satisfied that they could get Russell out there and back around to complete a 1-2 on the grid.
Raises some gripes about reliability ahead of tomorrow's race, but the outcome couldn't be much better considering the stressful build up
But the big news is Antonelli - Mercedes' investment in the youngster is really paying off now it has the car that can capitalise on his evident talents
POLE for Kimi Antonelli!
It's a first pole for the Mercedes driver, making him the youngest ever pole sitter in F1 history
He's also the first Italian to achieve the feat since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2009 Belgian GP in a Force India