06:30
Cars have been in and out of pitlane on their way to the grid.
Start of the F1 2026 Chinese Grand Prix
F1 Chinese GP as it happened
Lap-by-lap coverage of the 2026 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix
KEY MOMENTS
- Antonelli leads Mercedes 1-2 for maiden F1 win
- Both McLarens did not start
- Verstappen forced out with tech issues
- Stroll stoppage brings out safety car on lap 10
- Bortoleto, Albon non-starters with hydraulics issue
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.
2026 F1 Chinese Grand Prix Saturday schedule
Grand Prix - 7:00am - 9:00am GMT
15 Mar 2026
06:24
Are we in for another great duel between Ferrari and Mercedes today?
06:19
Kimi Antonelli starts from pole position for this second full length race of the season after carving his own bit of history by becoming the youngest-ever driver to top qualifying for a Grand Prix.
He starts at the head of an all-Mercedes front row, followed by an all-Ferrari second row and an all-McLaren third row
06:18
Pitlane start for Albon
After a difficult sprint Saturday, Williams has elected to change the set-up on Alex Albon's car, which means he will start today's race from pitlane.
06:17
McLaren update on Lando Norris' car
"Hi all, you may have seen some work ongoing on Lando's car.
"We had identified an issue on the electronics side, which is why we had removed the floor and checked a number of parts. We believe we have rectified the issue and the team are now in final preparations for the race."
06:06
Good morning...
...and Zǎoshang hǎo from Shanghai!
Welcome to live text commentary for Round 2 of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship, the Chinese Grand Prix from the Shanghai International Circuit