George Russell won the first Formula 1 Sprint Race of 2026, seeing off an early challenge from Lewis Hamilton and a late Safety Car in Shanghai.
The Mercedes driver once again fell behind a Ferrari at the start, and was engaged in a multiple-lap tussle with Hamilton for the lead, but eventually told with his W17’s superiority.
Hamilton was victim of a double-stack during the Safety Car, leaving him to finish third behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Lando Norris was fourth, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli fifth after an eventful race for the second Mercedes man.
Hamilton rolls back the years with early Russell battle
At the start, Russell got away cleanly, with Antonelli falling back once again. Hamilton got a stonking getaway and got into second, with Norris second.
Antonelli was down in seventh, and his start was exacerbated by making contact with Hadjar, the only driver on Softs.
Leclerc, also starting well, dispatched Norris for third as Hamilton streaked past Russell into the lead.
Further back, Arvid Lindblad was pitched into a spin, finding himself at the very back.
Along the back straight, Russell had enough grunt and energy to retake the lead, but going into Turn 1 on Lap 2, Hamilton swept past on the outside and back into the lead.
Leclerc began to inch closer to the leading duo, all three leaving Norris behind. Russell tried again at Turn 14 as he had done previously, but this time Hamilton covered him off.
He did not survive a second time around, however, as Russell did indeed get through on Lap 3, but the same retaliation occurred. Hamilton, around the outside at Turn 1, breezed by, hung it out as Russell looked to take the place back at Turn 2.
The Mercedes did not get back through until Lap 5, when he completed the Turn 14 manoeuvre again, and this time, Hamilton did not have enough in the tank – or, indeed, the battery – to get back through, and spent Lap 6 resisting Leclerc, as Russell opened up a 1.2s gap into Lap 7.
Further back, Antonelli worked his way back through and did battle with Piastri, taking the Australian for fifth, and then took Norris for fourth on Lap 8, the same lap he was to discover he was handed a 10-second time penalty for punting into Hadjar at the start.
With Hamilton’s front-left graining, Leclerc got into second on the inside of Hamilton at Turn 1 on Lap 8, but Hamilton was back through a lap later, the pair getting so close and surely prompting a few nervous-induced beads of sweat on Fred Vasseur’s forehead on the Ferrari pit wall.
Leclerc was displeased with his team-mate’s racing, as Antonelli got in on the act, and began to reel Hamilton in as Leclerc indeed got back past.
Russell unchallenged to win F1 Chinese GP Sprint, despite Safety Car
For Max Verstappen, the race was even more of a damage limitation job than it had already been, the Dutchman lying 13th after bogging down at the start.
There were some encouraging signs for Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll 18th and 19th respectively, ahead of both Cadillacs and Lindblad, who was unable to make up time, and duly retired on Lap 12 after his first lap excursion.
Antonelli got Hamilton at Turn 14, with Norris just a second behind the Ferrari, who was still third due to Antonelli’s penalty.
Any lingering possibility of a mundane end to the race was put on hold when Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi stopped at Turn 1. The Safety Car was out, seconds after Antonelli dove down the inside of Leclerc at Turn 14 for second.
There was immediately a flurry of pitting and double-stacking, with Antonelli opting to take his 10 seconds, dropping him to seventh.
Hamilton lost out, coming out fourth behind Norris, with Liam Lawson, who had already been having a quietly impressive drive, fifth. Piastri was another loser, emerging eighth behind Antonelli and Oliver Bearman. Verstappen, who had been racing teammate Hadjar, was now 14th, with Hadjar 17th, both Red Bulls ending up behind Alonso’s Aston Martin.
The Safety Car went in at the end of Lap 16, and a bit of wheelspin left Leclerc nowhere near Russell, who restarted without pressure, and immediately opening up a 1.1s lead.
Piastri got the jump on Antonelli, who also fell behind his former PREMA F2 teammate Bearman, but retook the Haas at Turn 14. The Italian also complained that Piastri overtook him before the start-finish line going into the race restart.
The McLaren would now be looked at, but was now fifth, with Antonelli also getting ahead of Lawson, and would soon inherit fifth, with Piastri being ordered to hand him the place, aware that he did indeed pass him before the line.
Hamilton got past Norris at Turn 1 on the start of the penultimate lap. Verstappen had a late surge, moving up to ninth going into the final lap.
For Russell, it was a breeze in the end, taking the win ahead of Leclerc, with Hamilton third, setting up more interest in qualifying for the full Grand Prix later on Saturday.
READ MORE – F1 2026 Chinese Grand Prix – Sprint Race Results
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