The Formula 1 season is underway, and the world’s fastest caravan is taking us from Australia to China.
There, the season’s first spring will be on schedule. If you’ve been with Formula 1 from the start, you know that the majority of pre-season predictions came through. It will be a year dominated by Mercedes, and George Russell and Kimi Antonelli proved as much with their 1-2 finish in Melbourne.
What marked the start of the new calendar year were the new regulations put into action, and after what we saw in Australia, there is no general consensus on whether they’re for better or worse. What fans loved were the frequent overtakes early on.
Yet, after the race, many of us concluded that it all felt a tad bit artificial. To be fair, it is still too early to judge, especially considering that the Albert Park racetrack was not the best racecourse to make any final judgement. It is fair to assume that we will have a better conclusion once the F1 Chinese Grand Prix is behind us.
As we said, the China GP is the first sprint of the year, and it will be an intriguing outing for everyone involved. Here’s what we can expect from the weekend in China ahead.
Key storylines to follow
While it shouldn’t be the only thing talked about after the first race of the season, the new regulations are the most talked about topic. New cars were under a backlash after the Australian Grand Prix.
Not only that the fans were unsatisfied, but even the legendary Max Verstappen came out and publicly stated that he is not a fan of the new vehicles and the regulations that came with them.
Not only that, Formula 1 fans and drivers were against the new cars, even other organisations such as the IndyCar Series questioned the F1 decision to go in the direction they have. The worst part is that F1 decided to go full dark mode on the subject and even deleted negative comments on their social media platforms.
A positive review on the new cars is expected once the China Grand Prix is wrapped up, and Formula 1 is hoping that the intended idea will be seen in full light come the next race.
Knowing that we have new cars on the racetrack and that even the drivers are still getting used to them, makes having these Formula 1 expert picks and predictions by your side even more worthy.
In addition to the new regulations and different cars, this season we are going to have an old rivalry rejuvenated. We’ve seen in Melbourne that Mercedes has a clear advantage over the rest of the teams. The one team that is closely behind and has proven as much in both the preseason and in the first race is Ferrari.
Experts claim that with everything we saw in previous months, Mercedes does have a better car, and maybe better team of drivers, but that a better conclusion is to be had after the China GP as Albert Park was more advantageous to Mercedes than it was to Ferrari.
If Ferrari fails to step up their game after the first couple of races the chances are we are entering another era of Mercedes dominance which hasn’t been seen since the days of Lewis Hamilton.
While Mercedes and Ferrari are on a good track, the same cannot be said for Aston Martin Honda. They were very poor in Australia, and not much more is expected from the team in China either.
The partnership has not yet borne any fruit yet, and if the rumours coming from both camps are true, it will not be long before the partnership is no more. What will come of it remains to be seen, but the China GP will be a major test of how much the team can and cannot do.
In form and out of form teams/drivers
So far, the preseason storylines are coming true. The one name that has marked the F1 season so far and is the most in form diver is George Russell. Betting on the Grand Prix in China and being smart about it covers wagering on Mercedes and Russell alike.
Russell has all the talent in the world, and now, he finally has a car able to back him up properly. After the race in Australia, it was clear that Mercedes is ready for another championship in both the driver’s and the constructor’s race, as Kimi Antonelli is more than available partner for Russell.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have a team that has dominated last season. While McLaren is probably the second-best team at the moment in Formula 1, if the Melbourne GP is anything to go by, they are so far behind Mercedes that it feels as if they are one of the worst ones out there.
McLaren was left behind in both the qualifying races and at the primary one, and we just can’t see how they can parry Mercedes during the rest of the year considering their form. In that vein, they will have issues keeping Ferrari at bay, but more on that once the Chinese GP is over.
While all eyes will be set on Russell, Antonelli, Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, Piastri, and Lando Norris, we think that part of the spotlight belongs to Arvid Lindblad too. Whilst born and raised in England, his ties to India are undeniable with his British Indian mother.
This is the first time in history of the sport that a driver with Indian ancestry and background has managed to reach the highs that Lindblad has. Lindblad came home eighth in Melbourne, notching up four points for the Racing Bulls, and put himself on the map.
The young Englishman was calm, composed, drove with confidence, didn’t back down under pressure, and what’s best of all he showed the world that he can be fast too. Considering the massive fan base Formula 1 has in India, if Arvid Lindblad continues driving as he did so far, he could be the sport’s next big star.
2026 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix predictions
After what we witnessed in Melbourne, predicting what will transpire in Shanghai International Circuit seems like a piece of cake prediction. The chances are that George Russell is going to have another dominant performance.
Yet, as we said, earlier on, this racetrack might be more suitable to what Ferrari puts on the table. So, if you’re in for some backing of dark horses, you could put Charles Leclerc and even Lewis Hamilton to the mix of potential winners at the China Grand Prix.
It was clear that most of Russell’s advantage in Australia, he got from the high speed sections at Albert Park. There are not as many such parts at the racetrack in Shanghai, which might put Ferrari in a slight advantage over Mercedes come race day.
For fans who are in for some good old nostalgia, giving Lewis Hamilton a chance at his first win with Ferrari shouldn’t be out of the question, considering both his experience, previous results on this track, and the fact that unlike last year, Ferrari now has a competitive vehicle.
What’s even more impressive regarding Lewis is that he showed that despite his advancing age he might still have an edge over his teammate Charles Leclerc.
As far as teams go it is clear already (yes, after only one race) that the upcoming season is going to belong to Mercedes. The Chinese Grand Prix will be no different. Russell will be the name that will steal the headlines, but what we saw in Melbourne was a young Kimi Antonelli making a name for himself too.
The young Italian driver went toe to toe with his teammate George Russell until the moment he had a crash at FP3, and was a tad bit more reserved after that, but still poised enough to finish second.
These two will take all the necessary points to make Mercedes win the constructor’s title , and if Kimi has a few races going his way, he could be the race winner more often than not.
The first such opportunity is coming his way in Shanghai this coming weekend.
Who could surprise/disappoint the fans in China?
Formula 1 has become the sport where so much effort is put into designing the vehicles and training the drivers that real surprises do not come too often. Yet, each race, we have a few drivers or entire teams who kick far above their weight.
One team that could continue doing so this season is Alpine. They took a point in Melbourne and will be wanting more in China. According to the sources from the team, the Albert park wasn’t an ideal race for their vehicle, so they could do even better in China.
Racetracks with fast speed nature do not suit their chassis at all, and the one in Shanghai will be an ideal opportunity for Alpine to show all the strengths of their car.
At the same time, when we expect more from Alpine, we could see their driver Franco Colapinto disappoint a lot. During the race in Melbourne, it was evident that he is the poorer of the two drivers between him and his colleague Pierre Gasly. Now, when the circuit is going to favour the Alpine’s vehicle, we could see the disparity between the two drivers getting even bigger.
On the team’s side, Alpine was far from the worst performers in Australia…
What is happening with Aston Martin Honda is under the spotlight, but that shouldn’t take anything from just how poor Williams was too. While the early season predictions saw Williams leading the middle of the pack, it remains to be seen just how they will be able to elevate themselves from the poor start to the season they’ve had.
Shanghai is Piastri’s circuit for a response
It was not a good weekend for Oscar Piastri in Australia. The early and unfortunate issues, before the race even started, had him missing the race entirely. At the same time, his teammate Lando Norris did enough to finish fifth. At the moment, McLaren has some issues with their cars, and little to no time to truly fix the issues.
The funny part is that they are using the same Mercedes power unit that was good enough for Russell and Antonelli to dominate. Also, according to Andrea Stella, Mercedes have some advantages that have their cars being quicker through corners too.
Recognising the issues is one thing, now it’s the time for rectification, if there’s to be any chance of McLaren getting into the race for constructor’s title.
While the time is slowly running out with each passing ace, the higher ups at McLaren are adamant that to sort their issues out will be a matter of not one but a couple of more races. For now, the priority will be to work with what they got, and to put Oscar Piastri in a position to race in the first place.
The Australian driver had one of the worst homecomings, by losing the control over his vehicle during the sighting lap. The malfunction was due to cold tires and an unexpected surge of torque on the kerb.
What’s even worse from losing a car, having the driver not competing, and missing out on valuable points, is the fact that McLaren now has only one set of data available to make amends to their cars.
They will have to do with what they got, and as we said, the first task will be to get Piastri into the cockpit and racing at his full power. The good news is that he is mentally resilient, and it is possible that we see the best version of himself in China.
With everything above said, you can already start gearing up for a racing adventure in China with the Shanghai Grand Prix being on schedule next.
