Mercedes, everything like in Australia: 1-2 in the China test

George Russell led the only free practice of the second F1 round ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli. Behind, there were changes.

The Chinese GP training seemed like a continuation of the Australian race held five days earlier: the two Mercedes, ahead. And with the same ordering of the names, George Russel and Kimi Antonelli.

There is no case: Mercedes-Benz’s dominance at the start of the new era of Formula 1 is abysmal. After Melbourne’s 1-2, the distance with the rest is maintained. There weren’t going to be any big changes in five days between one race and the next. The Englishman clocked 1m32s741 and was 120 thousandths ahead of the young Italian. The rest, in another story.

Of course, the rivals changed. After Ferrari showed itself as the second force in Australia, McLaren appeared in Shanghai. The priests of the Woking team left Melbourne bewildered by the difference that Mercedes achieved with the power unit. The English team is their oldest customer and Papaya director Andrea Stella said in Oceania: “We remain a little baffled by the difference we see in the data between the speed of our car and that of other cars using the same power unit. It clearly indicates that we should be doing a better job of understanding how to use the power unit with the complexities that have come with the 2026 regulations.” Perhaps a meeting between Australia and China helped Mercedes explain some secret to squeeze the engine better and increase battery regeneration.

The two MCL40s entered as escorts for the Silver Arrows, cwith Lando Norris in third place, 555 thousandths behind Russell and Oscar Piastri, fourth at 731. The two McLarens beat the Ferrari duo. The Italian team brought the Macarena rear wing to China, which rotates 360 degrees, to try to achieve more speed on the long Shanghai straight. In the rehearsal, at least, it didn’t work. Charles Leclerc was fifth at 858 thousandths and Lewis Hamilton was sixth at 1s388!

Once again Haas was the best of the rest, with Oliver Berman seventh, just ahead of Max Verstappen. Red Bull started far and lost in China. Isack Hadjar was 13th and was even behind Liam Lawson, 11th with cousin Racing Bulls. Inside the energy drink teams there was concern about the power unit problem that Arvid Lindblad suffered at the start of the round. The failure of English is added to that of Hadjar in Australia.

Among the difficult ones, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were able to do some laps and the Spaniard overtook the two Cadillacs. And the fat Williams suffered in China. The weight in slow curves where you have to pull takes its toll. To make matters worse, Carlos Sainz spent almost half the lap without being able to turn. Grove’s team were 16th and 17th, just behind Franco Colapinto.

The next start will be for the sprint classification. There will be no more testing time. The weekend begins to define itself early.