Kimi Antonelli wins Chinese Grand Prix after McLaren double DNS chaos

Kimi Antonelli put in a flawless race to claim his maiden grand prix win at the Chinese Grand Prix ahead of George Russell, while Lewis Hamilton finally claimed his first podium as a Ferrari driver.

At McLaren, it was a disaster as neither Lando Norris nor Oscar Piastri started the race due to power unit issues with their MCL40s.

Kimi Antonelli leads a Mercedes 1-2 ahead of Lewis Hamilton

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Chaos struck before the Chinese Grand Prix had even begun, with only 18 drivers lining up on the grid after a string of late technical issues and set-up changes. Williams announced a pit lane start for Alex Albon, having made set-up changes to his FW48, and McLaren found an issue on Lando Norris’ MCL40 as the team tried to fire it up ahead of the race.

“We had identified an issue on Lando’s car,” McLaren revealed. The team continued to work on the problem, but Norris never left the pit lane. McLaren’s woes were compounded as Oscar Piastri was pushed off the grid minutes before the formation lap. A double McLaren DNS!

Gabriel Bortoleto was also pushed off the grid and into the Audi garage, his race over before it began. Albon also climbed out of his Williams, with Piastri and Norris also abandoning their cars.

Kimi Antonelli lined up on pole position ahead of George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, two open pit boxes, Pierre Gasly fifth in the order but in the seventh pit box and Max Verstappen.

Mercedes made a good start from the front row, but Ferrari was better as Hamilton stormed into P1 ahead of Antonelli, Leclerc and Russell. Isack Hadjar was fighting just about everyone, including Oliver Bearman. Around went Hadjar, and all by himself. He pitted for new tyres having flat-spotted his first set. Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez also had a coming together, not ideal for Cadillac.

Antonelli powered past Hamilton down the back straight to lead into the hairpin, while Russell overtook Leclerc. It was Mercedes-Ferrari-Mercedes-Ferrari as the leading four pulled away from Gasly in sixth. His teammate Franco Colapinto was up to sixth after a great start.

Russell pulled a similar move to Antonelli’s on Hamilton to make it a Mercedes 1-2 on Lap 4. Verstappen was up to 10th after being bogged on the line and losing several places; however, he found himself stuck in a Red Bull PU train led by Liam Lawson, with Arvid Lindblad behind him and then Verstappen. Lindblad attacked Lawson for position but locked up, allowing the New Zealander back up into P8. Lawson and Verstappen pitted on Lap 10, both swapping onto the hard Pirellis.

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The Safety Car was out on Lap 10 as Lance Stroll went spinning at Turn 1. Antonelli and Russell pitted, Ferrari also pulling in and Gasly. The drivers who started on the hard tyres didn’t pit. The running order in the top 10 at the restart on Lap 14: Antonelli, Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, Russell, Hamilton, Lindblad, Leclerc, Nico Hulkenberg, Gasly and Bearman. Verstappen was down in 13th place.

Antonelli pulled away from Colapinto who was under attack from Ocon, who in turn had Russell and Hamilton on his rear wing. Hamilton overtook Russell for fourth before he challenged Ocon and moved up to third. Leclerc also got the jump on Russell. Hamilton made short work on Colapinto, three passes in two laps. Leclerc was also on a charge, up to P3 having passed Ocon and Colapinto. Russell reported no grip.

Further back, Lindblad and Bearman went wheel-to-wheel, with the Haas driver eventually getting ahead. Gasly passed Hulkenberg, and Verstappen overtook Carlos Sainz, Lawson and Hulkenberg to run P10. Laps 19–21 produced an intense Alpine v Haas battle into the hairpin, Colapinto doing a sterling job to keep Ocon at bay with Bearman holding off Gasly.

Verstappen joined the fight with Gasly noted for moving under braking during his battle with the Red Bull driver. Gasly wasn’t happy with Verstappen, who ran him wide with a bit of contact, reporting it “wasn’t fair”. Stewards ruled no further investigation.

Losing tenths to Antonelli in the battle for the lead, Hamilton reported he needed “more power”. Russell, meanwhile, gained on Leclerc but the Ferrari kept him at bay as he also had the overtake boost available as he ran less than a second behind Hamilton. Lap 25, Leclerc overtook Hamilton, who fought back a lap later into Turn 14. But Leclerc was ahead at the start of Lap 27.

The Ferrari teammates continued to trade positions, which opened the door for Russell, who was through on Hamilton and then Leclerc. And all the while, Antonelli up in P1 put distance between himself and the squabbling trio.

The hard tyre runners began to pit on Lap 32, Ocon stopped and then Colapinto with the Haas driver attacking the Alpine driver as he came out of the pits. Contact, and both spun. Ocon was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision.

The Ferrari battle resumed on Lap 36, Hamilton taking second off Leclerc and Leclerc fighting back. Again, it played it Mercedes’ hands as Russell in second place pulled five seconds clear. Leclerc came within inches of rear-ending Hamilton into the penultimate corner. Leclerc was back up into P3 on Lap 40, passing Hamilton into the hairpin before the Briton came back at him.

Into the final 10 laps, Antonelli’s advantage over Russell was 7.6s as both Mercedes drivers struggled to get through the traffic. Verstappen’s race, though, was over as he was told to “retire” his RB22.

Hamilton broke free of Leclerc while the fight for the final points-paying positions heated up as Colapinto closed in on Sainz for ninth place. That was the closest battle on the track. Hulkenberg in P11 was 14s down on that fight.

Heading towards the chequered flag, Antonelli had a lock up at the hairpin and went flying off the circuit. His nine second lead reduced to seven as his tyres wore. “Let’s get this thing home,” his race engineer Peter Bonnington urged him.

Antonelli took the chequered flag five seconds ahead of Russell to record Mercedes’ second 1-2 in a grand prix in F1 2026, with Hamilton third for his first-ever Ferrari podium.

Leclerc was fourth ahead of Bearman and Gasly while Lawson, Hadjar, Sainz and Colapinto completed the top 10. It was Williams’ first points of the season and Colapinto’s first as an Alpine driver.

Chinese GP Result

1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
2 George Russell Mercedes +5.5
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +25.2
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +28.8
5 Oliver Bearman Haas +57.2
6 Pierre Gasly Alpine +59.6
7 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +80.5
8 Isack Hadjar Red Bull +87.2
9 Carlos Sainz Williams +1 Lap
10 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 Lap
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1 Lap
12 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1 Lap
13 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac +1 Lap
14 Sergio Perez Cadillac +1 Lap
15 Esteban Ocon Haas +1 Lap

Did not finish

Max Verstappen Red Bull Lap 46
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Lap 34
Lance Stroll Aston Martin Lap 10

Did not start

Oscar Piastri McLaren
Lando Norris McLaren
Alex Albon Williams
Gabriel Bortoleto Audi

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