The 2026 Formula 1 season continues this weekend with the 56-lap Chinese Grand Prix.
Kimi Antonelli won out in qualifying, taking pole position after his Mercedes team-mate George Russell suffered a reliability issue when exiting the pits in Q3. However, Russell was able to return to the action, and put his Mercedes second on the grid.
Ferrari pair Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc start on the second row, and will hope to replicate their starts so far this term to jump into an early lead.
Continuing the two-by-two theme, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris complete the third row for McLaren. Pierre Gasly is seventh for Alpine, followed by Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, with Ollie Bearman rounding out the top 10 for Haas.
The race takes place under somewhat of a cloud, after F1 finally confirmed it will not race in either Bahrain or Saudi Arabia in April. This means that there will be a five-week break following the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of March, to the Miami Grand Prix in May. Given the proximity to the current conflict in Iran, there remain questions over future events, including the Azerbaijan, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi weekends.
Aston Martin is aiming to run the Chinese Grand Prix as a regular race this weekend, as opposed to how it ran the Australian race as a glorified test session, with multiple prolonged stops in the garage for both its drivers.
Grand Prix - 7:00am - 9:00am GMT
McLaren has confirmed its double non-start in the Chinese Grand Prix was due to issues related to its Mercedes power unit
Kimi Antonelli joked that a late-race incident gave him a “heart attack” before he navigated the final tours to secure a maiden Formula 1 victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen has once again attacked F1's new rules, in what is his most scathing attack yet.
Lewis Hamilton feels back to his best and has a return to the top step in his sights.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has hailed the close-quarters battling between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the Chinese Grand Prix as "good for F1".
| 2026 FORMULA 1 CONSTRUCTORS' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | |||
| Pos | Team | Wins | Points |
| 1 | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 2 | 98 |
| 2 | Scuderia Ferrari HP | 0 | 67 |
| 3 | McLaren Mastercard F1 Team | 0 | 18 |
| 4 | TGR Haas F1 Team | 0 | 17 |
| 5 | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 0 | 12 |
| 6 | Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team | 0 | 12 |
| 7 | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 0 | 10 |
| 8 | Audi Revolut F1 Team | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | Atlassian Williams F1 Team | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Cadillac F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 2026 FORMULA 1 DRIVERS' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | |||||
| Pos | Driver | Nat. | Team | Wins | Points |
| 1 | George Russell | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1 | 51 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | ITA | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1 | 47 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari HP | 0 | 34 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Scuderia Ferrari HP | 0 | 33 |
| 5 | Oliver Bearman | GBR | TGR Haas F1 Team | 0 | 17 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren Mastercard F1 Team | 0 | 15 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 0 | 9 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | NED | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 0 | 8 |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team | 0 | 8 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | GBR | Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Isack Hadjar | FRA | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 0 | 4 |
| 12 | Oscar Piastri | AUS | McLaren Mastercard F1 Team | 0 | 3 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Atlassian Williams F1 Team | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | Gabriel Bortoleto | BRA | Audi Revolut F1 Team | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | Franco Colapinto | ARG | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | TGR Haas F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | GER | Audi Revolut F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | THA | Atlassian Williams F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Cadillac F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Cadillac F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
And that brings us to the end of Crash.net's live text coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix - it has been an eventful one and arguably a more fitting indictment of what to expect from the regulations in 2026 than Australia was.
Next up in two weeks' time is the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka - always a pleasure - before an extended five-week gap to Miami following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races.
Until then, ciao amigos!
Elsewhere, glum faces at McLaren after both cars fail to start with different electrical issues. As Piastri jokingly pointed out, it is a long time since he has watched two full grands prix in a row.
Red Bull too will also worry about both form and reliability after the first two rounds, not least because it doesn't seem to be impacting Racing Bulls quite as much as they muddle around the top of the midfield comfortably.
Aston Martin? Less attention this weekend after a storm over the Australia weekend, but while the cars ran more reliably, neither made the finish and never looked quick - worse, Alonso pulled off because he couldn't put his hands through any more vibrations.
It is Honda's home round in Japan next, where its engine powered Verstappen to victory last year - what a difference a year and a change in regulation makes...
And a special shout out to Colapinto, who might have achieved more than tenth had he not been spun by Ocon.
Nevertheless, a great start that had him sixth early on and a genuinely dogged defence against drivers with newer tyres goes a long way to putting a pretty dismal 12 months as an Alpine driver behind him.
A first point since joining the team in place of Jack Doohan is his reward, while Alpine will celebrate having two cars in the points for the first time since 2024.
Sainz brings the experience to keep his head as spins, collisions and technical issues reign around him - didn't put a wheel wrong and was rewarded with ninth, which arguably flatters to deceive the general pace of the Williams right now.
Either way, the team is off the mark perhaps earlier than it might have expected based on form so far.
Elsewhere, Lawson notches up a second strong top ten finish of the year in seventh - quite the difference 12 months ago when his barely-started Red Bull Racing (and F1) career was right on the line.
Hadjar too will feel some relief at getting points on the board for Red Bull - he was plum last and forced to pit early on when he spun on dirty tyres after running wide in his lap one battle with Bearman. A solid return back up the order on an otherwise bad weekend for Red Bull generally.
Only the second teenager to have ever won an F1 race, Antonelli's result - and performance all weekend - is full vindication for Mercedes' bold decision to promote him into Hamilton's hallowed seat in 2025.
It remains to be seen if he can build on it, but his recent trajectory, including some stellar performances towards the end of 2025, suggests this is just a natural outcome of how he has been driving...
On prospects of a title fight with Russell: "We are just at the beginning, we will keep pushing. George is an incredible driver, very strong on all aspects, so it will be tough to beat him. It is such a great opportunity to work with him, because I have been learning a lot from him.
"I am looking to the rest of the season. I always focus race-by-race and then we will see where we end up at the end of the year."
"I think there was one moment we did touch, but it was subtle. A kiss, so that's OK. But that is what this is about, tough racing and I really have to say a huge thank you to everyone at Ferrari for getting us in this position. I know it's not exactly where we want to be, we want to be where these guys are, but we have a great form to work off and we just need to be full gas.
"Firstly, a huge congratulations to Kimi, I am so so happy for you buddy, and I am so honoured to share this moment with him. He took my seat in this great team, so big congratulations to Mercedes, they are really pulling ahead at the moment, we have a lot of work to do to keep up.
"I had so much fun, we had a great start. We couldn't keep these guys behind but to stay in the fight was one of the most enjoyable races I have had in a long time, if ever.
"The fact the cars are the way they are this year, and that battle with Charles at the end was awesome. Great wheel-to-wheel battle, very fair and that is what we want."
| 2026 F1 Chinese Grand Prix - Race Results | ||||
| Pos | Driver | Nat. | Team | Laps |
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | ITA | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 56 Laps |
| 2 | George Russell | GBR | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | +5.515s |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Scuderia Ferrari HP | +25.267s |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari HP | +28.894s |
| 5 | Oliver Bearman | GBR | TGR Haas F1 Team | +57.268s |
| 6 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | BWT Alpine F1 Team | +59.647s |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team | +1m20.588s |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | FRA | Oracle Red Bull Racing | +1m27.247s |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Atlassian Williams Racing | +1 Lap |
| 10 | Franco Colapinto | ARG | BWT Alpine F1 Team | +1 Lap |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | GER | Audi Revolut F1 Team | +1 Lap |
| 12 | Arvid Lindblad | GBR | Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team | +1 Lap |
| 13 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Cadillac F1 Team | +1 Lap |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | TGR Haas F1 Team | +1 Lap |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Cadillac F1 Team | +1 Lap |
| Max Verstappen | NED | Oracle Red Bull Racing | DNF | |
| Fernando Alonso | ESP | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | DNF | |
| Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | DNF | |
| Oscar Piastri | AUS | McLaren Mastercard F1 Team | DNS | |
| Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren Mastercard F1 Team | DNS | |
| Gabriel Bortoleto | BRA | Audi Revolut F1 Team | DNS | |
| Alex Albon | THA | Atlassian Williams F1 Team | DNS | |
"Firstly, huge congratulations to Kimi, it is always very special to win your first race. He has been driving really amazingly this year, and this weekend especially. I am pleased to be on the podium with him, and also this guy (Hamilton) as well.
"It was a tough battle. We had bad starts again and the Ferraris shot past but at the end of the day, getting a 1-2 again is all we could ask for."
"I am about to cry to be honest! Thank you so much to my team, because they helped me to achieve this dream.
"I am super happy. I said yesterday that I wanted to put Italy back on top and we did today, even though I gave myself a bit of heart attack with the flat spot but it was a good race, a good race.
On 'race-winning' decision to defend from Russell rather than Ferraris at the start: "It was not an easy start, probably I took too much on the inside and gave too much room for the Ferrari, but the pace was good and we could bring it home."
Kimi Antonelli claims his first F1 victory at the Chinese GP, as Lewis Hamilton ends his wait for a Ferrari podium.
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Honda’s vibration issues contributed to Fernando Alonso’s Chinese GP retirement.
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Other standout performers were definitely Hamilton, who looked back to his battling best as he refused to give up in his battle with Leclerc - top job by both to put on some entertainment today
Bearman too, having been running down in 14th after an off on lap one avoiding a spinning Hadjar, the Haas driver to his chance with a stop under the safety car before - as he did in Mexico - showing maturity in picking through some tight battles to fifth
Gasly too impressed in sixth, though having run fifth early on, his struggles to get back through the order after the safety car demonstrate the fine job Bearman did in comparison
Exceptional performance by Antonelli.
Despite losing lead off the start to Hamilton, he regrouped and recovered to never let it go to the finish line.
Save for a late brief off, he had the measure of the pack and took his opportunity to pull clear when the chasers tripped over one another in the heat of battle.
He becomes the first Italian to win an F1 race since Giancarlo Fisichella won the 2006 Malaysian GP
Failures to finish
DNF - Verstappen (technical), Alonso (injury), Stroll (technical)
Technical DNS - Norris, Piastri, Albon, Bortoleto