Ferrari cites Mercedes power deficit as Norris and Verstappen help prevent grid penalties – round-up

Henry Valantine 13 Mar 2026 9:00 PM

George Russell stands at the pit wall in Shanghai.

George Russell features among the F1 news highlights from China.

Friday’s fast-paced F1 news has landed, as the drivers had to hit the ground running for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Only one practice session took place before the drivers and teams were thrown in at the deep end for Sprint qualifying – here’s how the day unfolded.

George Russell dominant for Chinese GP Sprint pole

Mercedes looks the team to beat once again in China, and having topped every session so far, George Russell made it a Sprint pole in Shanghai.

Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri rounded out the top five – but Kimi Antonelli avoided an impeding penalty on Norris which would have directly benefitted the McLaren driver. More on that shortly…

How Norris and Verstappen helped prevent grid penalties

Both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen complained about potentially being impeded in SQ2, with Kimi Antonelli and Pierre Gasly getting in each driver’s way respectively.

However, after investigations, no action was taken against either, with the FIA stewards noting the words of both Norris and Verstappen as mitigating factors.

For Antonelli in particular, had Norris not told the stewards he was on a ‘pushing warm-up lap’, the Mercedes driver may have been in line for a grid penalty. Nice to see a bit of sportsmanship on the grid.

Ferrari rotating rear wing arrival ‘a little premature’

While singing the praises of Ferrari for bringing its innovative rear wing solution to China at least two races earlier than planned, the team opted to switch to its previous setup for Sprint qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton admitted that, in hindsight, bringing the part was “a little premature”, as there is much to learn moving forwards.

Ferrari ‘losing a lot of time’ to Mercedes in straight lines

Sticking with the Scuderia, both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton revealed a significant straight-line speed deficit when compared to the Mercedes duo.

Hamilton explained there is much to do at Maranello to bring the car level on power with his former employer, despite the SF-26 being highly competitive through the corners.

Leclerc agrees, believing the Silver Arrows are ‘a step ahead’ when it comes to qualifying trim.

Alonso: Honda power unit spares a concern in China

While Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer, Mike Krack, would not be drawn on whether or not the team had any spare batteries for the weekend, Fernando Alonso acknowledged any problems would create an issue.

He said “we don’t have any more stock on the power unit” for the rest of the weekend in China, but PlanetF1.com understands there is some capacity within the team to counter reliability issues in Shanghai.

Mercedes