F1 Chinese GP 2026, Race: Antonelli ahead of Hamilton, McLarens already retired! – LIVE

F1 Shanghai, race hub: all the useful links

To best follow the live coverage of the race, the highlight of the F1 Chinese GP, here are all the useful links for the weekend in Shanghai, the second round of the 2026 World Championship:

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• TV times – The weekend schedule
• Weather – What the weather is like in Shanghai
• Preview – The themes of the weekend
• LIVE – The session report
• Starting grid – The lineup at the start
• Results – The race classification
• Last year – How it went in 2025
• Calendar – All the F1 2026 rounds
• Driver Standings – After Melbourne
• Constructor Standings – After Melbourne

F1, the live report of the Chinese GP race

08.22 – Moment of great chaos in the pits, with Mercedes and Ferrari performing double stacks with both drivers. Good job by the Stuttgart pit crew, who managed to maintain position over the Ferrari drivers!

08.21 – Attention, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin stops at Turn 2 and it’s a Safety Car! All drivers are called to the pits for a “free” tire change.

08.20 – Lap 10/56 and this is the classification situation:

08.19 – The tenth lap begins and Lawson and Verstappen stop in the pits to change tires. Lindblad and Bearman move up, having already taken positions from Liam and Max respectively at Turn 14.

08.18 – Verstappen, on the other hand, has dropped back a bit from the two “little cousins,” reporting over the radio that the “tires are now dead.” Max, we remind you, started on Softs and is the only one on the red Pirellis at this stage.

08.17 – Lindblad attacks teammate Lawson for eighth place, but locks the front right and goes deep at the Turn 14 hairpin, allowing the New Zealander to pass him back with a switchback.

08.15 – Someone who doesn’t seem to worry much about tires is Max Verstappen, who has already climbed back to tenth position and is attacking the Racing Bulls of his not-so-great-friend Arvid Lindblad. The first attack, however, is unsuccessful, with the four-time world champion going very wide into the asphalt runoff outside Turn 1.

08.14 – Now the race seems a bit neutralized, at least in the top positions: it’s not that the Mercedes are pulling away, quite the opposite, and at this stage it seems everyone is worried about not stressing the tires too much (unlike what we saw yesterday in the explosive opening laps of the Sprint).

08.13 – The broadcast also shows some replays of the start, with contact between the two Cadillacs of Perez and Bottas at Turn 3: the Mexican was on the inside but there was no room and he spun after contact with his teammate.

08.11 – The first classification update, as we are on the 5th of the 56 scheduled laps.

08.09 – Russell’s overtake on Hamilton was also easy, with the two Mercedes thus reclaiming the two positions they had at the start. So the classification situation we had before the start has been restored.

08.08 – Kimi Antonelli puts the Mercedes super engine into action and takes first place, easily, on the long straight of the third sector. Russell does the same now, overtaking Leclerc on the pit straight.

08.07 – So: Hamilton, Antonelli, Leclerc, Russell, Gasly, Colapinto, Lawson, Lindblad, Ocon, and Sainz in the top 10 positions. Bearman also lost ground after the duel with Hadjar (who returned to the pits to change flat-spotted tires) and is 13th.

08.05 – Max Verstappen had a terrible start, already down in 14th position! There’s a good fight between Hadjar and Bearman for sixth position, but then the Frenchman spins at Turn 13 and ruins his excellent start!

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08.04 – The five lights go out and… The 2026 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix begins! Another excellent start for Lewis Hamilton, who takes first place! However, the starts for Antonelli and Russell were good, as they are in second and fourth positions, with Leclerc in third. The two McLarens, Bortoleto, and Albon are not on track, so we already have four retirements!

08.02 – Just for the record: the two McLarens did not participate in the formation lap, and neither Bortoleto nor Albon appear to be on track. But it could also be a problem with the live timing system.

08.00 – Away we go, the formation lap begins where the drivers will have to be very careful to recharge their batteries properly so as not to be caught unprepared at the start and especially during the first lap.

07.58 – According to Pirelli, it will still be a one-stop race, with Medium-Hard or Soft-Hard, but a two-stop tactic is not ruled out, especially if there is a lot of graining. In that case, Soft-Hard-Hard or Medium-Hard-Hard:

07.56 – Four minutes to the start of the formation lap and here we have the starting grid and tires: new Mediums for everyone, except for Norris, Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Ocon, Lindblad, Bortoleto, Alonso, Stroll, and Albon who are opting for Hards; and Verstappen, Hadjar, and Bottas who instead choose Softs (used for the two Red Bull drivers).