Kimi Antonelli took a lights to flag win at the Shanghai International Circuit to win the Chinese Grand Prix for his first ever victory.
Antonelli led home Mercedes teammate George Russell to become the first Italian since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix to win a Formula One Grand Prix and the result puts the two drivers level on points at the top of the fledgling 2026 Drivers’ Championship standings.
The podium was completed by Lewis Hamilton, who took his first podium in a Grand Prix for Ferrari following a race long battle with teammate Charles Leclerc, with Ollie Bearman continuing his strong start to the season in fifth for Haas.
Pierre Gasly’s sixth place represented a return to form for Alpine ahead of a resurgent Liam Lawson in the RB, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar recovering to eighth following a spin on lap one ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz in ninth and Franco Colapinto, who scored his first points since the US GP of 2024 in tenth for Alpine.
Max Verstappen retired on lap 47 with a Power Unit failure from sixth, having recovered from a poor start in an underwhelming Red Bull.
Of 22 cars, only 18 took to the start as Alex Albon for Williams, Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi and both McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were unable to start due to technical problems, with Piastri still having not completed a Grand Prix lap this season following a crash on his reconnaissance lap last week.
As has become a theme in 2026, the fast starting Ferraris leapt towards the front as polesitter Antonelli moved to cover off teammate Russell, allowing Hamilton to swoop for the lead as Leclerc attacked Antonelli for second – the Italian holding out and re-taking the lead from Hamilton soon after.
Russell was able to deal with the Ferraris by the end of lap 4 to take second place as the race settled down, before Lance Stroll’s retirement with another Honda engine issue in his Aston Martin sparked a Safety Car on lap 11.
Antonelli was able to retain his lead having pitted for hard tyres as Russell dropped behind Esteban Ocon and Colapinto, who had stayed out, and a tough race was compounded when the Brit lost out to former teammate Hamilton and Leclerc in short order following the restart, to drop to sixth.
The three frontrunners were able to pass Ocon and a particularly stubborn Colapinto, who proved a roadblock to the two Haas’, teammate Gasly and Verstappen before Bearman opened the floodgates on lap 22 with a move into the hairpin at Turn 15, Gasly and Verstappen following shortly after as the tyre advantage told.
That gave way to a mid race scrap between Leclerc and Hamilton that saw a Scuderia battle see-saw until a lockup for Leclerc on lap 38, with the Ferraris side by side through turns one and two on numerous occasions as a frustrated Russell watched on behind in fourth.
Russell would be past them by lap 30 but could do nothing about teammate Antonelli ahead as he was forced to settle for second.
Further back it was another mature drive from Ollie Bearman as the Brit, in his second season, was fifth having had to avoid a spinning Hadjar on lap one, which saw him drop back to 12th.
Bearman recovered in part due to the Safety Car allowing him to pit, but the pace was strong and prior to Verstappen’s retirement he had kept the Dutchman at arm’s length.
This was in stark contrast to experienced teammate Esteban Ocon, who was compromised due to that very Safety Car as he started on the Hard tyres compared to Bearman’s mediums, but the Frenchman wasted a chance to score strong points by needlessly running into the back of Colapinto as the Argentine exited the pits.
Ocon was already placed on notice by Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu prior to the start of the season, and a torrid start to 2026 will not have helped the former Alpine driver.
His former team this week delivered on the promise shown in testing, as Gasly followed up his seventh place qualifying with sixth in the race, notwithstanding the McLarens failing to start he kept pace with Verstappen’s Red Bull and were it not for a delay in the pits, he had the pace for fifth place.
The previously maligned Colapinto put in a similarly mature performance in holding off drivers on fresher tyres for 10 laps prior to Bearman’s pass on lap 22, and would have been likely to finish inside the top eight were it not for Ocon’s brain fade on lap 33.
While Cadillac were able to get both cars to the finish, both Aston Martins were forced to retire as Stroll stopped with an engine issue on lap 11, while Alonso could only last 32 laps before the now infamous vibrations left his hands numb.
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