F1 Chinese GP as it happened

Sainz scores some much needed points for Williams with a measured drive to ninth, while Colapinto takes the final point of the day for tenth - his first since joining Alpine

Bearman takes an excellent fifth place finish for Haas, resisting a late charge from Alpine's Gasly in sixth.

Lawson takes more points with seventh, while Hadjar - despite his lap one spin - recovers to eighth.

Russell completes a Mercedes 1-2, as Hamilton beats Leclerc to cross the line in third place for his first Ferrari-coloured podium.

After a brief heart-stopping moment a couple of laps earlier, Antonelli comes round to start the final lap of what looks like being his maiden F1 race win

Hamilton appears to have the measure of Leclerc after engaging into some thrilling wheel-to-wheel action with his team-mate on multiple occasions in this race.

It was hard, it was clean... superb racing.

Better yet, if you're Hamilton fan, this will be his first podium as a Ferrari driver

Antonelli has had a moment into Turn 14 with just three laps to go

The Italian - who was ten seconds clear of Russell - snatches a brake into the hairpin and runs wide.

He collects it and regroups, the gap between them down to +7.3s

Nervy moments for the youngster

Closing stages, so here are the tight(ish) battles still going on

Bearman in fifth leads Gasly by three seconds

Lawson in seventh leads Hadjar by four seconds

Sainz in ninth leads Colapinto by just over a second

"My rears are gone" - Russell all-but-confirms he is going to settle for second. He is 17secs clear of Hamilton, who is now three seconds clear of Leclerc

Has Russell given up the chase on Antonelli? The Italian is now more than nine seconds clear of his team-mate as he comes into the closing stages ahead of a famous first win

Verstappen's exit means Bearman is now released into a very comfortable fifth place in what would be an excellent result given he was well outside the points on lap after running off track avoiding a spinning Hadjar.

Gasly is now up to sixth place, ahead of Lawson and Hadjar, the Frenchman recovering well from that spin.

Sainz now runs ninth and is putting Williams on course for some much desired points. 

Colapinto, despite being spun around by Ocon, is back in the top ten - a first point as an Alpine driver is back on the cards

The Red Bull coasts back to the pit-lane - it's the latest in a few tech issues that seem to be hampering the Red Bull-developed, Ford-badged power unit

Replays show the whole car - including the dashboard - goes dark. It's been a humbling day for last year's form drivers

It has been a truly exemplary performance by Antonelli in this race so far.

After an up and down rookie campaign and a fast, but error-prone start to 2026, Antonelli hasn't put a foot wrong today.

After recovering the lead early on from Hamilton, Antonelli has maintained a consistently good pace to just pull away when the field behind him started tripping over one another. 

Russell can make progress into his lead, but right now it isn't enough - this is Antonelli's to lose (sorry, commentators' curse)

He's been facing the wrong way in this race, but Lindblad is STILL on the tyres he started this race in. He is currently running 12th and seemingly praying for a safety car so he can come in to get some fresh red boots on his wagon

Update: And Lindblad finally pits... (lap 44)

"This is actually quite a fun battle!"

Leclerc is having fun out there, even though he is currently behind team-mate Hamilton. 

Incidentally, Hamilton is chasing down his first Ferrari podium here and he can sense an opportunity to get one over on Leclerc - he won't go down without a fight.

Keep it clean, boys!

Russell is still chipping away at Antonelli's lead - +6.3s is the margin between the two

He will need to up the pace a bit if he is to have a chance to overhaul his team-mate, but the pressure on the young Italian is mounting

Leclerc is back into third place with a pass into Turn 14... but Hamilton's bid to pass into Turn 1 on the following lap sees Leclerc run wide in defence.

Hamilton back into third. How close is the racing between the two Ferraris in this race?!

It's not helping them, but it is entertaining!

Alonso says he was losing feeling in his hands, which is the reason for his retirement

There has been plenty of talk about how the vibrations from the troubled Honda engine is causing problems for the drivers.

On this occasion it is the reason for a DNF - neither car has finished a full-length race yet this year

Meanwhile, further back...

Bearman is running a very comfortable fifth in the Haas - he has the measure of Verstappen behind him, who hasn't been able to within 2.5secs of the Briton upon getting himself back into sixth place.

Gasly - despite some yo-yo'ing - is seventh, with Lawson, Hadjar and Sainz in the Williams rounding out the top ten.

Still some offset strategies to play out here though

Russell is nibbling into Antonelli's lead, but it still stands at seven seconds

Ocon gets 10secs time penalty for causing a collision with Colapinto.

And just as Hamilton gets on the radio, Leclerc has made a mistake at Turn 14 and runs wide, allowing his team-mate back ahead into third place.

Leclerc tries to respond on the run to Turn 1, the pair go side-by-side closely yet again, Hamilton holds position