Andrea Kimi Antonelli scored his first Formula 1 victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, leading a one-two for Mercedes.
The 19-year-old became the second-youngest driver to win a grand prix, leading his team mate George Russell home by five-and-a-half seconds.
Antonelli was untroubled for much of the race after Russell became temporarily stuck behind the battling Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. He eventually emerged from behind them and began to edge towards Antonelli.
Russell never looked likely to catch his team mate, but Antonelli survived a late drama when he locked up at the turn 14 hairpin on lap 53 and ran wide. “I gave myself a little bit of a heart attack towards the end with the flat spot,” an emotional Antonelli admitted afterwards.
Antonelli lost the lead to Hamilton at the start as the Ferrari pair made their customary quick getaways. However he regained the lead on the second lap and never looked likely to lose it from then on.
Russell dropped behind both Ferraris at the start but was back into second place by lap four. However his progress towards catching Antonelli was derailed by the appearance of the Safety Car, triggered by Lance Stroll’s retirement with a battery problem on lap 10.
The leading quartet pitted together and resumed in the same order. However several of their pursuers opted not to pit, so the race restarted with Antonelli leading followed by Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon, then Russell and Hamilton, with Arvid Lindblad ahead of Leclerc.
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Russell appeared to struggle to get his hard tyres up to temperature at the restart and briefly lost time behind Ocon. That allowed the Ferrari pair to pounce, with Hamilton and Leclerc passing him on consecutive laps.
Once they worked their way through the midfielders the Ferrari pair began disputing second place, while Russell could only look on, unable to make an impression on them. It took him until lap 30 to overtake, by which point his team mate was almost eight seconds up the road.
Leclerc appeared to have won the battle of the Ferraris, only to lock up and run wide, handing Hamilton a chance to pass. He seized it, and finally secured his first podium finish as a Ferrari driver.
Oliver Bearman survived a first-lap scare with Isack Hadjar to claim an excellent fifth place. The Haas driver had to take evasive action when Hadjar pirouetted in front of him at turn 13.
He emerged on top of a four-way scrap between the Haas and Alpine drivers. Pierre Gasly claimed sixth, while his team mate Franco Colapinto deserved more than a single point for 10th place. He was knocked into a spin when Esteban Ocon attempted an optimistic lunge on the inside of him at turn two. Ocon received a 10-second time penalty for the move.
Max Verstappen was on course for sixth place until his Red Bull failed on the 46th lap. He fell to almost last at the start when he got away poorly and lost more time when he pitted on the lap before the Safety Car came out.
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The Racing Bulls pair scrapped early in the race, but Liam Lawson emerged ahead after Arvid Lindblad spun. Lawson claimed seventh, while Lindblad was unable to repeat his points score from his debut.
Carlos Sainz Jnr drove well to salvage ninth place for Williams, despite also losing out by pitting before the Safety Car came out. He withstood pressure from Colapinto to claim Williams’ first two points of the season.
Neither McLaren started the race due to technical problems. Alexander Albon and Gabriel Bortoleto also failed to take the start, and with Fernando Alonso retiring due to vibrations, only 15 drivers finished.
2026 Chinese Grand Prix
- “I hope this lap was broadcasted”: Alonso lost five places in one lap at the restart
- 2026 Chinese Grand Prix interactive data: lap charts, times and tyres
- Antonelli admits he “relaxed too much” before mistake near end of race
- Russell was ‘waiting for Hamilton and Leclerc to collide’ in Chinese GP
- Stella explains “coincidental” faults behind McLaren’s “exceptional” double withdrawal
Published by
Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine