Andrea Kimi Antonelli came of age at the Chinese Grand Prix, leading a Mercedes 1-2 to score his maiden Formula 1 race victory in superb style.
The teenager recovered from being overtaken by Lewis Hamilton at the start and survived the scare of an early Safety Car to take his first win in commanding fashion.
George Russell, who also fell behind the Ferraris off the line, overcame the scarlet cars to finish second.
Lewis Hamilton, at long last, scored his first podium as a Ferrari driver, seeing off Charles Leclerc after a thrilling battle between the two.
Max Verstappen’s woes continued with a late PU-related retirement, with Carlos Sainz managing to score Williams’ first points of the season.
But the day belonged to Antonelli, becoming the first Italian driver to win a Grand Prix for two decades.
The Ferrari wave continues at lights out
There was drama before the start, as both McLarens sensationally suffered technical gremlins when fired up to make their way to the grid, and failed to take the start.
They were joined by the Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto and Alex Albon’s Williams, leaving there with a grid of 18 to take the start.
At the start, it was the predictable Ferrari wave, as Hamilton opted to go left around the outside of Antonelli, and swept through into the lead. Leclerc was side-by-side and touched the Mercedes going into Turn 3, and was held off, as Russell dropped to fourth.
There was drama further back as Bearman and Hadjar jostled for position. Both went off line, and as Hadjar dove down the inside one corner later, the Red Bull spun, sending Bearman off the circuit. The Frenchman was forced to box.
It was chaotic further back, too, as the Cadillacs collided at Turn 3. Sergio Perez went looking for a gap that most certainly did not exist,
The Alpines were now up to fifth and sixth, with Lawson and Lindblad now in the top 10, as Hamilton consolidated his lead, as Fernando Alonso was amazingly up to 10th in the beleaguered Aston Martin.
Lap 3, and Hamilton was being reeled in by his Mercedes successor, and on the back straight, Antonelli duly breezed by in the lead, with no chance of redress for the Ferrari.
Into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 4, Russell got ahead of Leclerc, and was then able to take Hamilton for second, reinstating the status quo from the start.
Verstappen, still appearing to struggle profusely with his oversteering Red Bull, went on at Turn 1 as he attempted to pass Lindblad, losing a second in the process, the Dutchman stuck in 10th place.
After being involved in an unwanted battle for position with his teammate Lindblad, Lawson boxed on Lap 10 with Verstappen, who had just been overtaken for 10th by Bearman.
What might have been a decent early time to stop was totally nullified for Verstappen when Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin crawled to a halt at Turn 2, bringing out the Safety Car.
Both Ferraris swamp Russell
The Mercedes and Ferrari duos double-stacked, with Antonelli re-emerging in the lead, with Colapinto now second, with Ocon third. Russell rejoined fourth, with Hamilton fifth and Leclerc seventh.
Racing resumed on Lap 14, with Antonelli opening up an immediate 0.5s lead, as Colapinto and Ocon looked racey immediately. Russell was caught watching Ocon, going wide and letting Hamilton through.
The Ferrari swiftly dispatched Ocon for third at Turn 14, and at Turn 1, Leclerc also took Russell, the Ferraris evidently bringing their tyres up to temperature better than Mercedes.
Bearman and Lindblad were going at it for seventh place, the Haas being pushed wide by Lindblad at Turn 14, but the Brit retained his place over the other.
Russell got ahead of Colapinto for fourth, as Gasly and Verstappen dropped Nico Hulkenberg out of the points.
Colapinto was giving a fine account of himself in fifth, cleverly keeping himself in front of the charging Haases behind him. With no DRS, the cars behind were less of a train, but more a marauding gaggle, as Verstappen and Gasly were also in on the act.
Bearman eventually wore Colapinto down, and moved into fifth, as Verstappen moved ahead of Gasly, who complained of being pushed off the road by the Red Bull. Verstappen then got past Colapinto for sixth, with Hulkenberg now ahead of Gasly in ninth.
The top four remained the same until Lap 24, when Leclerc got by Hamilton, who attempted to retake the position at Turn 1, reeling in Russell.
Closeness between the two was only bettered in excitement by what was to follow between the Ferraris.
Hamilton and Leclerc became engaged in a thrilling tussle for second. Going into Lap 27, Leclerc occupied second, but into Turn 1, Hamilton moved to the outside, putting Leclerc under extreme pressure. Leclerc held the position until midway through the lap, when Hamilton darted inside at Turn 7 to retake second.
All the while, Russell’s tyres were now getting a bit of a pounding as he tried in vain to find his way past.
Eventually, Russell did indeed make it through into second three laps later, with Hamilton now appearing to be struggling with graining. All this left Antonelli 8.1s ahead on Lap 32, firmly past the halfway point.
There was a big moment in the midfield, as Ocon and Colapinto collided at Turn 2, the Haas punting into the Alpine, which had just re-emerged from his overdue first stop. Both pirrouetted, both survived, with Ocon taking the blame to his team.
Late excursion does not halt Antonelli charge as he takes F1 Chinese GP victory
Just as Hamilton began complaining of having no power as he exited the final corner, he found himself back in third a lap later, as Leclerc went wide at Turn 14, and once again, the pair raced each other hard into 1, 2 and 3, Hamilton maintaining the position for now.
Antonelli’s lead was now down to just under seven seconds from Russell, with Bearman holding onto fifth place, with Verstappen 2.4s behind in sixth.
After complaining the traffic was “so bad,” Antonelli managed to increase his lead to over seven seconds again as Russell encountered the same backmarkers, with more difficulty.
For Verstappen, it was all over 10 laps from home. The Red Bull’s power unit appeared to have encountered an issue which saw him start coasting to the end of the lap. He would manage to crawl into the pits and retirement, releasing Colapinto back into the points, and elevating Carlos Sainz to ninth.
With six laps to go, Antonelli held a nine-second lead over Russell, with Hamilton now three seconds ahead of Leclerc in third.
It was seven seconds with three laps to go, though, as Antonelli, his tyres now beginning to give up the ghost, locked up at Turn 14 and went wide. He did not repeat the error a lap later, as race engineer Peter Bonnington urged him to “get this thing home.”
And that is exactly what he did, and the boy became a man. Antonelli took his maiden victory, with Russell second, and Hamilton third.
Leclerc took fourth, ahead of Bearman, Gasly, Lawson, Hadjar, Sainz and Colapinto.
READ MORE – F1 2026 Chinese Grand Prix – Race Results
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