F1 update – Chinese GP

Round 2 of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship was held at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China for Chinese Grand Prix.

For the second race running Mercedes scored a 1 – 2 finish, but this it was Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli who secured his maiden Grand Prix victory heading home team mate George Russell, with third place going the way of Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton who scored his first Grand Prix podium for the team and his first Grand Prix podium finish since the Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2024.

Chinese GP – top 5:

• 1st: Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli – Mercedes
• 2nd: George Russell – Mercedes
• 3rd: Sir Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
• 4th: Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
• 5th: Oliver Bearman – Haas

Other highlights:

• Haas’s Oliver Bearman had a brilliant weekend to finish fifth.
• Alpine enjoyed a double points finish for the first time since the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix with Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto finishing sixth and tenth respectively.
• Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson drove a fine race to finish in seventh.
• Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar scored his first points finish for the team in eighth despite spinning on the opening lap of the race.
• Williams and Carlos Sainz scored their first points of the year in ninth.
• 4 drivers were destined not to start the race which were Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Williams’s Alex Albon and both McLaren’s on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the latter it’s the second race in a row that he would not start the race, Bortoleto and Albon failed to start thanks to a hydraulics failure, whislt both McLaren’s didn’t start the race because of electrical problems.
• Aston Martin would endure another torrid race as Lance Stroll would retire on lap 10 with a battery problems which bought out the safety car, whilst his team mate Fernando Alonso would retire on lap 33 owing to his car vibrating a lot.
• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen would retire on lap 46 owing to coolent leak.
• Haas’s Esteban Ocon collided with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto on lap 32, both were able to continue, which Ocon recieved a 10 second time penalty for causing the collision which he would serve on his final pit stop on his way to finishing fourteenth.

News:

• The F.I.A and Formula 1 announced the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix’s due to safety reasons near those countries.
• Following freight delays for the Australian Grand Prix, the F.I.A announced tweaked the curfew rules for the Chinese Grand Prix only.
• The first sprint race of the year took place which saw Mercedes driver George Russell take victory ahead of the Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Sir Lewis Hamilton who finished second and third respectively.
• F1 Academy had it’s first meeting of the year at the Shanghai International Circuit which Dutch backed Alpine driver Nina Gademan taking victory in race 1 ahead of Spain’s Natalia Granada with Austrian backed Audi driver Emma Felbermayr finishing third. Felbermayr would win race 2 heading home Britain’s backed Red Bull driver Alisha Palmowski who finished second with American backed Mercedes driver Payton Westcott finishing third.
• F1 won an Academy Award for best sound at the 98th Academy Awards.

The next round of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship will take place at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan for the Japanese Grand Prix on 27th to 29th March.

Here’s Aston and regular contributor Cameron Perkins with the latest from the world of Formula 1.