Antonelli takes historic maiden victory from Russell and Ferrari’s Hamilton in action-packed Chinese Grand Prix
- Meghana Sree
- Mar 15
- 7 min read
Kimi Antonelli became the second youngest F1 Grand Prix winner, converting a historic pole to his maiden win from George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion securing a long-awaited first podium with Ferrari in China.
The second round of the season and the first sprint weekend of the year began with excitement which continued into the Grand Prix, the drama starting early with four drivers, including both McLarens, unable to take the start.
Kimi Antonelli cruised to a historic maiden F1 victory ahead of George Russell, as Lewis Hamilton’s longstanding podium wait with Ferrari finally came to an end in Shanghai after treating us to thrilling wheel-to-wheel action with teammate Charles Leclerc.
Here’s how a dramatic 2026 Chinese Grand Prix unfolded at the Shanghai International Circuit, where Antonelli became the first Italian to win a Grand Prix in 20 years since Giancarlo Fisichella in Malaysia.
Race Report
A number of cars had initially opted to start from the pitlane, including both McLarens — Lando Norris after running into electronic issues and Oscar Piastri who was wheeled off the grid ahead of the formation lap.
Other drivers planning for pitlane starts were Alex Albon after Williams made changes to the car and Gabriel Bortoleto after a hydraulics issue. All four drivers soon ended up not taking the start at all, Piastri facing a second DNS in a row.
Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Nico Hülkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto chose to start on the hard compound, both Red Bulls were on softs and the rest of the field on mediums.
After the drama before the lights even went out, F1’s youngest ever polesitter Antonelli led 18 cars off the grid but the man he replaced at Mercedes powered through to the lead, Hamilton ahead of Antonelli as Charles Leclerc too passed the Mercedes of Russell and took third.
Chaos descended upon the track as Sergio Pérez made contact with Cadillac teammate Valtteri Bottas, and Lindblad had a spin, as did Isack Hadjar who caught out Oliver Bearman — the Red Bull car narrowly avoiding contact with Bearman and having to peel into the pits for damage check.
The following lap, Antonelli retook the lead from Hamilton, as Russell quickly cleared Leclerc too. By Lap 4, we were back to the starting order for the top four, while just behind them, the Alpine pair had made moves up the field — Gasly in fifth after starting seventh and Colapinto in sixth from 12th.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen had dropped down a number of positions at the race start and was now working on climbing back up from 10th, finding himself stuck behind his junior team drivers Lindblad in ninth and Liam Lawson in eighth.
Verstappen was clearly struggling in traffic, going wide after a snap of oversteer and managing worn soft tyres against his competitors all on mediums. Ahead of him, rookie Lindblad was hunting down his teammate Lawson for eighth, the Kiwi driver appealing over the radio for the team to review the situation. Lindblad soon passed Lawson, just as he, Verstappen and Sainz were called into the pits on Lap 10.
Up ahead, Hamilton reported deployment issues over the radio as Leclerc began to close in on his teammate.
Just as Lawson and Verstappen peeled out of the pits, Stroll careened off the track after facing a battery issue, bringing out a full Safety Car. The top five of Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc and Gasly all took the cheap pitstop while Colapinto on the hard tyre stayed out.
As the Safety Car period continued, Russell noted that the one-stop would be tricky to pull off. As Antonelli took us back to green flag racing on Lap 13, the race leader swiftly pulled away from Colapinto and Ocon.
Behind the top three, Hamilton pounced on Russell to take fourth as Leclerc too passed Russell who complained of no grip on his new hard tyres. The seven-time world champion now found himself half a second behind Antonelli, as Leclerc made up another place to slot into third.
Hamilton was now clearly eyeing the race lead, chasing that elusive first Grand Prix win in red.
On Lap 17, the top ten were Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc, Russell who had cleared Colapinto, Ocon, Bearman who had made moves after a pitstop, Lindblad, Gasly and Verstappen.
The following lap a momentary yellow flag was brought on to clear debris in the final sector. The midfield battle between Alpine and Haas began to gain steam once more, Ocon attacking Colapinto as Bearman joined the tussle to make it a three-way fight.
Gasly soon joined the fray to make it a four-car fight between the two teams, Verstappen having the perfect view of the battle and ready to capitalise on any moves ahead. On Lap 22, Bearman finally made the pass he’d been sizing up, taking fifth from Colapinto as Verstappen sailed past too — dropping the Argentine driver to seventh, Ocon to eighth and Gasly to 10th behind Hülkenberg.
Elsewhere, Russell was still chasing Leclerc for third, three seconds behind the Ferrari. But Leclerc was on a chase of his own for second, plucking second from Hamilton and re-creating the Ferrari vs Ferrari battle from Saturday’s sprint.
The seven-time world champion took the position back on Lap 27, but Leclerc nipped past once again through the Turns 1-2 'snail' complex. Russell then made his way past his former teammate as well, while up ahead, Antonelli’s dream weekend continued as he built a near seven-second gap.
Another momentary yellow flag was waved as Lindblad had a spin off Turn 14, but was crucially able to right his car and get going again, as we returned to the thrilling battle for the podium spots once more.
Russell soon cleared Leclerc, but the Ferrari driver remained hot on his heels, coming onto the radio to note: “Plan C could come into play.”
Further down, Colapinto finally came into the pits after 33 laps on the hards. Just as he trailed out of the pits, he met Ocon on track down the inside of Turn 2, the Haas driver trying to pass the Argentine on colder tyres but making contact and sending both cars spinning.
Both were able to rejoin the track, Ocon taking responsibility for the incident and receiving a 10-second time penalty, as separately, Alonso retired his Aston Martin.
Meanwhile, a costly lockup from Leclerc at the hairpin allowed Hamilton to retake third, as Russell cruised away into the distance, nearly six seconds between the Mercedes and the Ferrari.
Through Lap 38, the Ferraris continued going wheel-to-wheel for the final podium spot. Leclerc sailed past Hamilton on Lap 40, but the seven-time world champion nicked the position back through the first turn. Leclerc, evidently enjoying the scrap with his teammate and treating spectators too, radioed: “That is actually quite a fun battle, actually.”
With 15 laps to go, Russell attempted to close the gap to Antonelli but frustratingly for thr Briton, remained seven seconds behind, the Italian teenager now entering traffic with the backmarkers.
Meanwhile, the final points-paying position was being contested between Carlos Sainz, the sole running Williams, and Colapinto. However, on Lap 46, Verstappen was ordered to retire the car after losing power in the latest instalment of a nightmare weekend for the Dutchman, promoting the Alpine into the points.
With five laps to go, the top 10 saw Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Bearman who had made up five positions, Gasly, Lawson, Hadjar, Sainz and Colapinto.
A heart-in-throat moment on Lap 54 came for Antonelli at Turn 14 with a front-right lock-up as he nearly lost the car, no doubt getting the adrenaline pumping again with just three laps to go.
The 19-year-old then calmly brought home his maiden F1 victory, becoming the second youngest race winner in the sport’s history, only behind Verstappen.
Russell and Hamilton followed, the seven-time world champion finally securing a long-awaited podium in red after joining the Scuderia last year.
Find full results here.
Championship Standings
Russell continues to lead the Drivers' Championship, but now finds Antonelli just four points behind him after the Italian teenager's maiden win. In third and fourth, Leclerc and Hamilton respectively are separated by just one point, Leclerc a further 13 points behind Antonelli on 47 points.
Meanwhile, Bearman has been on a purple patch lately and finds himself fifth in the standings after yet another impressive points haul.
In the Constructors', Mercedes lead with 98 points while Ferrari are 31 behind. McLaren hang on to third for now despite the double DNS in China, though find Haas just one point behind them, the American outfit having leapfrogged ahead of Red Bull owing to Bearman's consistent results.
Meanwhile, Red Bull and their sister outfit Racing Bulls are tied on 12 points behind Haas, Alpine a further two points away; setting us up nicely for another exciting midfield battle that Red Bull somehow finds themselves uncharacteristically caught up in.
Up Next
We have a week’s break until the next round in Suzuka from 27th to 29th March, the Japanese Grand Prix being the last time we’ll have cars on track until 1st May in Miami, after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix have been called off due to conflict in the Middle East.
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