Chinese Grand Prix: Kimi Antonelli a Formula 1 winner, Mercedes unbeatable, Lewis Hamilton on podium

Sunday, 15 March 2026 at 09:38

Kimi Antonelli followed up his first Formula 1 pole position with a maiden victory in the top flight after winning the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix.

Antonelli, the youngest ever F1 polesitter had a decent start but not as good as the Ferrari with Lewis Hamilton passing him for the lead on Lap 1 while Charles Leclerc passed George Russell.

There wasn't much YoYo racing like we saw in Melbourne as it appeared that Mercedes were fed-up with Ferrari's starts, turned up the wick on their power units and soon Antonelli and Russell were past the Red Cars and in the lead.

The Mercedes led the Ferrari up till Lap 10 when Lance Stroll got stranded on the side of the track prompting a Safety Car.

LAP 10/56

🟡 SAFETY CAR 🟡

Lance Stroll has come to a stop at Turn 1 in his Aston Martin #F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/9qRDUg8J5L
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 15, 2026

The top four, on Medium tyres, dived into the pits, double stacking, while some of the midfielders who had started on Hards stayed out.

Antonelli kept his lead but Russell dropped to fourth with the un-pitting Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon in his way with Hamilton behind.

But then Russell inexplicably dropped down the order before radioing that he didn't have grip.

From there on, the order started stabilizing with Antonelli's lead never in danger while rivals fought behind him as Russell climbed up the order again and passed both Ferraris for second helped by the bickering between Hamilton and Leclerc, the only entertainment during the race.

LAP 27/56

What. A. Battle! 🤯

Hamilton retakes P2 but Leclerc gets back through, and how Russell passes Hamilton 🔀#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/0E5QO5sNZf
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 15, 2026

In the end, a mistake by Leclerc allowed Hamilton through as the top four order started stabilizing with the gaps opening up.

Antonelli took the chequered flag with Russell behind him in second confirming Mercedes' dominance in 2026 as they managed a one-two despite several setbacks during the race.

It was a well-deserved victory for the 19-year-old Antonelli who kept his head down despite early Ferrari challenges and then managed the gap beautifully to his teammate while also managing traffic overtaking the Formula 1.5 cars in his way.

LAP 53/56

Careful Kimi! 💨

Antonelli locks up into Turn 14 and runs wide, but he continues on in the lead #F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/5Ivjjyqp11
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 15, 2026

He did suffer that lockup on Lap 54, but he did not lose much and a few calming words from Race Engineer Peter Bonnington (Bono) were enough for him to bring his W17 home.

Hamilton went on to take third securing his first podium with Ferrari on what could be seen as his best weekend for the Scuderia since he joined them last season.

Behind the top three

Leclerc led the following pack as despite fighting hard with his teammate, in the end he could not prevail.

It was a lively midfield fight over the course of the race and in the end, it was Ollie Bearman who emerged at the top as he delivered a tenacious drive in the Haas making the best of his Ferrari power unit especially at the start.

That was a complete contrast to Esteban Ocon in the sister Haas who was down in 14th in the end after a clumsy contact with Alpine's Franco Colapinto who was having a decent race up till that point.

Contact between Ocon and Colapinto 😮

Here's the replay of the contact between them at the first corner ⏯️👇#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/4I0hh0TVai
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 15, 2026

Colapinto, however, survived to finish tenth and take the final point on a day when Alpine achieved a double-points finish with Pierre Gasly, solid this weekend, taking sixth at the flag.

Liam Lawson took seventh in the Racing Bulls ahead of Red Bull Racing's Isack Hadjar who was eighth in the only RB22 that finished the race.

Max Verstappen capped off a miserable weekend in Shanghai with a retirement while running in sixth place.

The Dutchman started the race from eighth, dropped to 13 at the start, and then started making his way up the order and was unlucky as he pitted for fresh tyres just before the Safety Car came out.

Despite that, the four-time F1 Champion kept pushing until reaching sixth but then his RB22 decided to call it a day on Lap 46, as the team called him in to retire.

LAP 46/56

Verstappen is slowing and he's told to retire the car in the pit lane! 😢#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/f7Da1TDgOG
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 15, 2026

Against all the odds and with the all the retirements and the did-not-starts in the race, Carlos Sainz managed to finish ninth ahead of Colapinto.

It was a disastrous day for reigning F1 Champions McLaren as neither Lando Norris nor Oscar Piastri could start the race.

Norris' car had an issue with his power unit which meant he could not make it to the grid while Piastri suffered from a similar issue once he reached the grid and was rolled back into the pits.

Alex Albon was going to start from the pitlane after changing the setup on his FW48, but then a hydraulic issue meant he couldn't take the start which was also the situation for Gabriel Bortoleto who did not start the race.

While both Cadillac cars reached the finish line, both Aston Martin didn't with Stroll retiring on Lap 10 while Fernando Alonso managed to race up until Lap 35 before being called into the pits to retire his AMR26.

What the top three said

Antonelli couldn't hold back tears after becoming the second youngest F1 driver to win a race.

He said: "I’m speechless. I’m about to cry to be honest. Thank you so much to my team. They helped me to achieve this dream."

After calming down, he went on: "I said yesterday I really wanted to bring Italy back on top and we did it today

"Even though I gave myself a little bit of a heart attack towards the end with a bit of a flat spot, but it was a good race.

"We are just at the beginning, we keep pushing," he went on. "George is an incredible driver, very strong on all aspects, so it's going to take a lot to beat him.

"But it's a great opportunity to be working with him as well because I have been learning a lot from him.

"Looking forward to the rest of the season now. I always focus race by race so we'll see where we end up at the end of the year," Antonelli concluded.

Russell added: "Huge congratulations to Kimi because it’s always very special to win your first race, and he’s been driving really amazing this year and this weekend especially.

"I’m pleased to be standing on the podium with him, and also with this guy (Hamilton) as well.

"It was a tough battle. We both had really bad starts again and the Ferraris shot past, but at the end of the day, getting a one-two again is all we could ask for."

Kimi 🤗 Lewis

Hugs all round for the first-time race winner! 🏆#F1 #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/IGRvtHnMrl
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 15, 2026

As for Hamilton, who found his way back to the podium, he commented: "Firstly, I have to say a huge congratulations to Kimi. I’m so, so happy for you buddy, and I’m so honoured to be able to share this moment with him.

"He took my seat at this great team, so a big congratulations to Mercedes. They’re really pulling ahead at the moment, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to try to keep up.

"I had so much fun," the Briton said of his race. "We had a great start. I wasn’t able to keep these guys behind, but to stay in the fight, it was one of the most enjoyable races that I’ve had in a long, long time, if ever.

"The fact that the cars are the way they are this year… that battle with Charles at the end was awesome. Great wheel-to-wheel battle, very fair, and just what we want. We’ve got to keep pushing.

"I think there was one moment we did touch but it was subtle, just a kiss, so it’s ok. But that’s what it’s about, it’s about tough racing.

"I’ve got to say a huge thank you to everyone at Ferrari for getting us into this position. I know it’s not exactly where we want to be, we want to be up front where these guys are.

"But we’ve got a great platform to work off and we’ve just got to go full gas," the seven-time F1 Champion concluded.