George Russell, Kimi Antonelli and the rest qualified for the sprint in China
The Mercedes duo crushed everyone and will occupy the front row of the Shanghai short race. Behind, McLaren and Ferrari fight from afar. Red Bull missed the event.
Ferrari can put the rotating rear wing, McLaren can achieve a big jump in five days to become more competitive, Max Verstappen can change his simulator to play Mario Kart, many things can happen around, but when a Mercedes accelerates, it is ahead in these first stages of the 2026 Formula 1 season. On the opening day of the Chinese GP, the second date of the year, they had dominated the only practice session and then flew in the classification for the sprint, with George Russell ahead.
It doesn’t cost the W17 anything to get the times. They regenerate the battery like no one else, they turn faster than the rest, they fly on the straight. There is no chance of beating them at the beginning of the year. The Englishman, who has just won in Australia, took first place in the sprint by clocking 1m31s520, followed by Kimi Antonelli, his teammate, with 1m31s809. A summary that paints the distance of the Silver Arrows in full: they were the only ones who went under 92 seconds. Yes, the earthly ones scored from 1m32s up.
There are many who wonder what will happen from June 1st. From that day on, the FIA will carry out a double measurement on the compression ratio, at room temperature and when hot (at 130 degrees). The thing is that everyone points to the German power unit because it would exceed the hot compression ratio, with natural expansion elements, and would become 18.1 instead of 16.1. For now, the level demonstrated by the Brackley team’s cars is abysmal. Even with customer users of the Mercedes power unit.
Precisely the third in the qualy for the sprint was a customer of the German power unit, with Lando Norris. The champion was 621 thousandths behind. Perhaps the message from Andrea Stella, director of the winning team of the last two Constructors’ World Championships, after Australia reached the expected ear. The priest said that he was struck by the difference between the Mercedes and that, perhaps, they were not making the most of the power unit. Five days later, a papaya car cut in front of the two Ferraris. And Oscar Piastri, who comes from Melbourne’s unusual blow in the open pit laps before the grid, placed fifth.
Ferrari took fourth and sixth place, with Lewis Hamilton ahead of Charles Leclerc. The Maranello team had put the rotating wing in the only training session in China, with the idea of being able to take advantage on the long 1.2 kilometer straight. None of that happened and the team decided to return to Australia for the sprint qualy. In any case, the distance is very great. The Englishman, who last year won the short race in Shanghai (until now, the best he achieved since his arrival at Ferrari) was 641 thousandths behind, while the Monegasque was 1.008 seconds behind.
And Red Bull? He missed the appointment. Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar fought all day with an unruly RB22. The four-time champion finished eighth, behind Pierre Gasly, who had a great performance with Alpine. Hadjar, meanwhile, was tenth, behind Olvier Bearman, who reconfirmed the good performance shown in Australia.
This Saturday, at dawn in Latin America, the sprint will be held and then the qualification for Sunday’s competition. “The races have to be run,” said Juan Manuel Fangio, but if nothing strange happens, the Arrows will once again be at the top. Perhaps the most entertaining thing is the duel between McLaren and Ferrari for being the best on planet Earth.
