Chinese GP 2026: Antonelli beats Russell for his first F1 win

Kimi Antonelli won the Chinese Grand Prix from pole position, beating his Mercedes teammate George Russell by 5.515 seconds at the Shanghai International Circuit. It was the 19-year-old's first Formula 1 victory, in the second round of the 2026 season, and it makes him the second-youngest winner in the sport's history behind Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton finished third for his first Grand Prix podium with Ferrari.

How Antonelli won in Shanghai

Antonelli did not make the best getaway. Hamilton launched from third, went past both Mercedes and led the opening corners, while Charles Leclerc tried the outside at Turn 3 and was squeezed onto the kerb. Antonelli retook the lead at Turn 14 on lap 2 and was never headed again. Behind him, Isack Hadjar spun his Red Bull at Turn 13 on the first lap, and Verstappen, on softs, fell down the order after a slow start.

The only safety car came out around lap 10, when Lance Stroll's Aston Martin stopped at Turn 1 with a battery problem. Verstappen, Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz had pitted just before, so they missed the cheap stop. The leaders swapped mediums for hards under the safety car, and Antonelli needed no further visit. Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon, who had started on hards, stayed out and ran near the front at the restart.

Russell, who had won Saturday's sprint, could not get heat into his hards at the restart, ran wide at Turn 6 and dropped behind the Ferraris. He recovered, passed Leclerc for second on lap 30 and left the red cars behind, but never got close enough to attack. Antonelli's only scare was a lock-up into the Turn 14 hairpin a few laps from the end.

Only 15 of the 22 cars saw the chequered flag, and four never started. Both McLarens were stopped by electrical problems in the power unit, which team principal Andrea Stella called exceptional. Gabriel Bortoleto's Audi had a hydraulics issue, and Alexander Albon, due to start from the pit lane after a suspension change, never got going. Fernando Alonso retired with severe vibration in his Aston Martin, and Verstappen stopped with an ERS cooling problem while running sixth.

Antonelli vs Russell, Hamilton vs Leclerc

Mercedes. Russell looked the favourite for pole until his car stopped on his first Q3 out-lap and he reported he could not shift gears. Mercedes changed the steering wheel, he got one run in and ended up 0.222s behind Antonelli, which he called damage limitation. After Russell took both duels in the opener, their 2026 head-to-head stands at 1–1 in qualifying and 1–1 in races in our count.

Ferrari. The closest fight of the day happened inside one garage. Hamilton out-qualified Leclerc by barely a hundredth of a second, then the pair swapped places again and again. Leclerc ran deep at Turn 14 on lap 35 and lost third, took it back on lap 39, and Hamilton struck straight back at Turn 1. Leclerc finished 3.6 seconds behind and called the battle quite fun on the radio. On F1 Duels, Hamilton and Leclerc are level at 1–1 on both counts.

Haas. Oliver Bearman started tenth, had to dodge Hadjar's spinning Red Bull on lap 1, and finished fifth, best of the rest behind Mercedes and Ferrari. Ocon hit Colapinto at Turn 2, took a 10-second penalty and came home 14th. Bearman leads the Haas duel 2–0 in qualifying and 2–0 in races.

Two duels produced nothing on Sunday. Oscar Piastri had out-qualified Lando Norris by 0.058s for fifth, which puts him 2–0 up on Saturdays, but neither car took the start. Verstappen beat Hadjar by 0.119s in qualifying; his retirement was a mechanical failure, so the race does not count in our model, and Hadjar's eighth place earns him nothing in the duel.

What it means for the championship

Russell leaves Shanghai still leading the championship on 51 points, four ahead of Antonelli, with Leclerc on 34 and Hamilton on 33. Two rounds in, the title looks like a fight between two drivers in the same car, and the score between them is even. All the weekend's head-to-heads are on our Chinese GP duels page.