As you may have noticed in the subheading, this weekend marks round two of 22 races rather than 24 for the 2026 season.
Formula 1 has officially cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia rounds in April due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
As a journalist, I fully acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.
This publication, however, will remain focused solely on sport.
That said, it is worth remembering that, as history has often shown, sport and politics frequently run side by side.
"While this was a difficult decision to take, it is unfortunately the right one at this stage considering the current situation in the Middle East.”
F1 president and chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali
Shanghai has been part of the Formula 1 calendar since 2004 and aside from its Covid-era absence, it is a circuit that had consistently delivered.
Its combination of long straights and technical corners place equal emphasis on control as much as outright pace.
The opening corner sets the tone: a fast approach that tightens into a near 360-degree right-hander.
It is also home to six wins for Lewis Hamilton, and an official race lap record of 1:32.238 set by Michael Schumacher for Ferrari in 2004, which still stands.
This weekend, though, will be remembered as an emotional one that broke history.
“One of the best moments I have had in F1.”
Toto Wolff, Team Principal, CEO, and co-owner of Mercedes
1:33:15.607
Teenager Kimi Antonelli claimed his maiden Formula 1 win.
At 19 years and 6 months, the Italian led George Russell home in Mercedes’ second 1-2 of the season at the Chinese Grand Prix, a day after becoming the youngest pole-sitter in the sport’s history.
He lost the lead briefly at the start to Lewis Hamilton, took it back early, and from there dictated the race.
Only Max Verstappen, who won for the first time aged 18 at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, has taken the chequered flag at a younger age than Antonelli.
A small lock-up late on was the only blemish, but by then the gap was big enough.
“He will make mistakes and will have great days like today and all of that is going to add to hopefully being a World Champion one day.
But we should not be carried away with World Championship [talk], it is no good for him and not good for expectations of anyone.”
Toto Wolff
At the finish, he crossed the line more than five second clear of Russell.
The podium was completed by Lewis Hamilton, finally achieving his first podium for Ferrari.
“He is a good driver, of course, but experience is very important and I think George is a super driver with a lot of experience. It is difficult to beat him.”
Marco, Antonelli’s father
Wolff’s decision to fast-track Antonelli into Formula 1 did not come without criticism.
At the time of his signing, many questioned whether he was being pushed too quickly through the ranks, having skipped Formula 3 entirely to move into Formula 2 in 2024 before stepping up to Mercedes in 2025.
Doubts over his age and inexperience were widespread.
One year on, those doubts have been emphatically answered.
“He is too young. We should not put him in a Mercedes. Put him in a smaller team. He needs the experience. Look at the mistakes he makes.
Here we go, Kimi. Victory.”
As Antonelli crossed the line, Toto Wolff read out these criticisms over the team radio.
33:38.998
Russell, last week’s race winner, claimed victory in the season’s first Sprint, narrowly beating Charles Leclerc by 0.674 seconds and Hamilton by 2.554 seconds.
The 2025 World Champion, Lando Norris, took fourth place, earning his only five points of the weekend.
7
This weekend saw an unusually high number of “Not Classified” drivers.
Verstappen started from eighth but fell down the order during the race.
After 45 laps, Red Bull retired the car, citing Energy Recovery System cooling issues.
“Yeah, I mean a lot to learn from.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull driver
Unsurprisingly, both Aston Martins were also retired, with Fernando Alonso lasting until lap 32 and Lance Stroll coming into the pits as early as lap nine.
“On lap 20 to 35, I was struggling a bit to feel my hands and my feet.”
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin driver
The two-time world champion had previously expressed high hopes for Aston Martin’s 2026 engine and chassis reset, as well as Adrian Newey’s first car for the British team.
Stroll, meanwhile retired due to a battery failure, which brought out an early safety car.
Shockingly, both McLaren drivers were off before the race even began, with separate, unfortunate issues striking each car.
The pair had qualified together on the third row, Oscar Piastri in fifth and Norris in sixth.
But as the rest of the field were lining up to commence the race, Norris and car were sat in the garage and it became apparent that he would not make the start.
Piastri’s car also returned to the garage prior to the formation lap, marking his second consecutive non-start.
“It is quite exceptional and uncharacteristic that you have two terminal problems pretty much at the same time on the same component, which in this case is on the electrical side of the power unit.”
Gabriel Bortoleto was also sidelined by terminal technical issues with his Audi car.
Alex Albon was another fallen soldier.
Initially due to start from the pit lane after Williams changed the car’s setup under parc fermé conditions, a hydraulics issue ultimately prevented him from participating.
“There is not much to take away from today as on the laps to grid we identified a hydraulic problem that resulted in me not being able to start the race.
We were hoping we might be able to get back on track at some point to get some laps in and shake down the car again before Japan, but unfortunately we couldn’t fix the problem in time.”
Alex Albon, Williams driver
10
Most drivers made only one pit stop during the race, with the exceptions of Isaac Hadjar and Haas driver Esteban Ocon, who each stopped twice.
The lap 10 safety car influenced many teams’ strategies, with a number of drivers taking advantage of the period to make their mandatory stops.
2.29
Ferrari recorded the DHL Fastest Pit Stop, turning Lewis Hamilton around in an incredible 2.29 seconds before executing a double-stack for teammate Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull Racing were close behind, with Liam Lawson serviced in 2.34 seconds, while Alpine completed Franco Colapinto’s stop in 2.54 seconds.
1:35.275
Antonelli secured the DHL Fastest Lap of the race on lap 52, driving at an average speed of 205.967 km/h.
8
Carlos Sainz made the most significant climb of the day, starting from 17th and finishing ninth.
Liam Lawson impressed with a seven-place gain, moving from 14th to seventh, while Ollie Bearman advanced from 10th to fifth.
Their progress was aided not only by strong race pace and overtaking skill but also by the numerous retirements and non-starters that shook up the order.
4
Four drivers have joined the point scoring end of the table.
Lawson finished seventh, earning six points and bringing the Racing Bulls’ season tally to 12.
Isaac Hadjar claimed his first finish of the season, taking eighth place for four points.
Sainz secured his first points of 2026, also marking Williams’ first points of the season and Franco Colapinto, for Alpine, grabbed the last point of the table in tenth.
230,000
Just two weeks into the season and we have a second venue attendance record broken.
This year, Shanghai attracted its highest-ever number of fans, surpassing the previous record set nearly two decades ago.
On opening day, over 27,000 foreign arrivals were recorded, a single-day record.
Post-race data cited by People’s Daily also revealed that ticket revenue for this year’s Grand Prix increased by more than 30% compared to previous years.
98
Mercedes maintain their position at the top of the Constructors’ Championship, now on 98 points, 31 ahead of Ferrari.
McLaren remain in third with 18 points.
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