Mercedes
Russell was made to work for his Sprint victory, after initially losing the lead to Hamilton on the first lap. He passed the Ferrari multiple times on the back straight, only to then lose out into Turn 1. Eventually he got past and stayed there, to make it two wins from two this season. Antonelli had a much busier Sprint. After a poor start dropped him to ninth, he then locked up and understeered into Hadjar – earning himself a 10-second time penalty.
He climbed back through the field, dropped back when he served that penalty in the pit stops, and then ran wide before the restart. He wound up coming home fifth, on a day where the car had the potential for far more. However, the youngster more than delivered in Qualifying, grabbing a sensational maiden pole. that made Antonelli the youngest ever polesitter for a Grand Prix.
As for Russell, he had an issue with his front wing late in Q2, before stopping on track at the start of Q3. Fortunately, he got going again, limping back to the pits for some quick fixes to what turned out to be an electrical issue. The Briton got one flying lap in late on, and did well to grab second – but he could not quite beat his team mate..
George Russell, Sprint: 1st, Qualifying: 2nd, 1:32.286
“Firstly, I want to congratulate Kimi for the great job he did today. Taking a pole position in F1 is incredibly hard and for him to be the youngest to ever do so is a testament to the driver he is.
“On my side, Qualifying was quite chaotic. I had a front wing issue at the end of Q2, but we managed to change it for a new one just before the start of Q3. Something still felt wrong when I went out for my out lap and I had to go back to the garage for a full check. Luckily, the team managed to get me back on track with only one push lap to make the best out of it.
“Given that, P2 is still a good result, and we could not to better than securing the front row for the team. The focus for tomorrow is to get a clean getaway. In Melbourne and in the Sprint earlier today, we saw how strong the Ferraris were. We expect them to put us under pressure so we will need to be at our best. We know we’ve got the race pace to fight for the victory, but it will all come down to execution on Sunday.”
Kimi Antonelli, Sprint: 5th, Qualifying: 1st, 1:32.064
“I am very happy with what we achieved today. To take my first Grand prix pole position, along with the milestone of becoming the youngest polesitter in the sport’s history, is incredible. The team did an amazing job throughout, and I want to thank everyone for their efforts.
“This morning’s Sprint race didn’t quite go how we wanted it to. I didn’t make a clean start and then had contact later on the opening lap. Our pace was solid though and we were able to fight back to score some points. Thankfully, Qualifying was smoother. I was improving run after run and was able to put together two clean laps in Q3 to take pole position.
“I am looking forward to tomorrow’s Grand Prix; the Ferraris had good pace in the Sprint and George has also been incredibly quick. It promises to be an interesting afternoon ahead.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“Kimi’s pole position is not only a huge achievement for him but a milestone moment. Becoming the youngest polesitter in the sport’s history is quite something. It is sometimes easy to forget that he is only just out of his rookie season and yet is achieving so much. He has proved beyond doubt that those who thought he was too young or didn’t believe in his abilities when we promoted him to a race seat, were wrong. I am proud that we had the confidence to make the decision we did.
“For George, it is a shame we had a battery issue and that he could not make the most out of the car. Nevertheless, he did a stellar job in difficult circumstances to make sure we completed the front-row. He was supreme in the Sprint, and he’s got strong race pace so he will be a factor in the fight for victory tomorrow. With that said, the Ferraris have looked quick all weekend. We cannot afford to make any mistakes or they will surely pounce. We’re looking forward to tomorrow and the battle ahead.”
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
“Whilst we ended the day with a Sprint win and a front-row lock-out in Qualifying, it was anything but a straightforward Saturday.
“Whilst George got away well in the Sprint, Kimi was low on battery having been in a sub optimal strat mode on the formation lap. He then had contact later on the opening lap and picked up a penalty. Having served that, he drove well to get his car back to P5. George meanwhile fought with the Ferraris early on but was able to demonstrate his pace to come out on top.
“In Qualifying, we were hoping for a smoother time of it and we were getting that up until Q3. George came to a stop on track and, whilst he was able to get back going, the fire-up drained the battery and also suffered an issue with the gears. Under a lot of pressure, he did well to secure P2 after those issues. It was less chaotic for Kimi who produced two good laps to take his maiden Grand Prix pole position, a well-deserved milestone as he becomes the younger polesitter in F1 history.
“It was a good job from both the team and the drivers to keep cool heads today and prevail. We will need that again tomorrow. We have seen how quick the Ferraris are and will need to be at our best if we are to be in the mix for victory tomorrow.”
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Pole position qualifier Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team looks on during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mario Renzi – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Pole position qualifier Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team looks on during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mario Renzi – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Ferrari
Hamilton and Leclerc both got great getaways off the line in the Sprint, with Hamilton taking the lead and Leclerc climbing to P3. Hamilton then swapped positions with Russell multiple times in an entertaining back and forth battle, but eventually his tyres started to grain and he dropped back from the Mercedes, also falling prey to his team mate and Norris. Fresh rubber during the Safety Car period let Hamilton repass Norris, but he ran out of time to attack his team mate.
Roll on Qualifying, and it became clear that Ferrari would once again be the closest challengers for Mercedes. And so it proved, as the Scuderia locked out the second row behind the Silver Arrows. Hamilton beat his team mate, and crucially the gap to Mercedes is smaller than last weekend in Australia. Given how strong Ferrari have been off the line, from those grid slots they could well be leading into Turn 1 tomorrow.
Charles Leclerc, Sprint: 2nd, Qualifying: 4th, 1:32.428
“There wasn’t much more there for us today. This circuit is one I usually find to be more challenging, so I’m satisfied with how I put my lap together in Q3. These cars have to be driven a bit differently in qualifying compared to in the past, so there is some work to be done to optimise our output. We weren’t too far off today, so we will focus on tomorrow.
“I enjoyed the racing in the Sprint this morning. The fights were good, and it’s quite exciting to see what you can do in the car, how to manage tyres and battery and play it well, so I’m looking forward to the race when everything is possible.”
Lewis Hamilton, Sprint: 3rd, Qualifying: 3rd, 1:32.415
“It’s great to be on the second row for the race tomorrow. It wasn’t the easiest of sessions and I had to deal with a few snaps and limited grip, so we didn’t extract the best from the car and probably left a couple of tenths out there. Overall though, we’ve continued to make some good progress although it’s clear there is still quite the gap to the cars in front.
“However, we’ve learned more about deployment and what to do differently in battle. Lots of work to do ahead of the race but tomorrow we’ll give it everything we’ve got and aim to bring home some good points for the team and a great race for the fans.
“The fans here in China are incredible – I receive so much love when I come here and it’s a track I love to race at.”
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
“At the first race, qualifying seemed to be a weakness, but today showed that we are improving step by step. We were 8 tenths off in Melbourne, 6 tenths off in Sprint Qualifying and 4 tenths off today in the afternoon. Therefore, we are probably working in the right direction, looking at our grid positions, but we have still to have consider those 4 tenths.
“In the race tomorrow we will try our best, but Mercedes still have a straight line speed advantage, so that it’s quite difficult to fight them. So far, we have seen that we can fight them for the opening laps of the race, but then the risk is to pay the price with the tyres. Let’s see if we can push them for longer than that tomorrow.
“We are quite pleased with P3 and P4 and tomorrow we will fight and do our best.
Having our two drivers so evenly matched is definitely good for us. It is much easier to improve when you have both drivers pushing each other and this positivity spreads to the whole team and that has been our situation since the Barcelona test.
“We saw that also this morning in the Sprint race which also went well. Again, we fought Mercedes at the beginning and our drivers were always very evenly matched, allowing us to score 13 good points.”
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Third placed qualifier Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari looks on in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Anni Graf – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Third placed qualifier Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari looks on in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Anni Graf – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Watch the action from Qualifying in China as Antonelli takes poleInternal link
McLaren
Both McLarens got away well off the line in the Sprint, tussling with the Ferrari pair. They settled down behind the Scuderia cars in the end, although Norris later picked off Hamilton who had grained his tyres – the Ferrari man getting back past Norris after a late Safety Car restart. As for Piastri, he initially passed Antonelli at the restart but was forced to give the place back as the move was just before the Safety Car line.
In Qualifying the papaya outfit looked competitive, briefly mixing it with Ferrari, but when everyone was on fresh tyres it was clear McLaren were the third best car. They locked out the third row as a result, Piastri getting the better of his team mate.
Lando Norris, Sprint: 4th, Qualifying: 6th, 1:32.608
“A reasonable day where we ended up pretty much where we expected to be. I think P4 was as good as we could achieve in the Sprint, and we did beat one Mercedes, which was better than expected. We know we have some weak areas in race trim that we’re trying to tackle, and it’s clear we’ve made some good progress, but we need to keep working hard to improve and try to catch up to the teams ahead.
“In terms of Qualifying, we had a reasonable result but maybe left a little bit out there. Our Sector Three is tricky, and we’re losing a fair amount of lap time there, partly on the straight, but also in the corners. Looking ahead to tomorrow, we’re not miles away from the Ferrari’s pace, but they have some advantages which are difficult to beat. It’s clear that we have a direction in which we need to go and need to improve the car, but that’s very difficult to do from today to tomorrow. We’ll still try to race the cars ahead and give the Ferrari a fight if we can, but we also need to be smart and not ruin our race trying to beat someone who’s too quick. We’ll see what we can do and try to maximise the points we can achieve.”
Oscar Piastri, Sprint: 6th, Qualifying: 5th, 1:32.550
“P5 in Qualifying and P6 in the Sprint. Overall, a decent day but we’ve still got work to do. Today’s Quali result is about where we expected to be. My last lap wasn’t the tidiest, so there was a little more in it, but we maximised what we could elsewhere. We’ll do what we can to get a good start tomorrow and keep on top of the tyres, as they were a key factor in the Sprint this morning. Car pace will also be very important so let’s see what we can unlock overnight to get some more points on the board.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
“Today’s Sprint race and Grand Prix Qualifying sessions make it clear that a consistent pattern is emerging in the opening stages of the new Formula 1 season. As we saw last weekend in Melbourne, Mercedes are currently the fastest team in terms of both their Quali and race pace, putting them out of reach for Ferrari and ourselves who are battling to be the second-best car.
“Ferrari still appear to have an edge on us in terms of race pace as we saw in this morning’s Sprint, but we are progressively closing the gap to be much more competitive over a single lap in Qualifying. However, we appreciate that the new Soft tyre used by both drivers is more forgiving, so will have also played a role in tightening things up today.
“Starting with both cars on the third row shows that we’re working hard as a team and moving in the right direction weekend by weekend, but overall, it will still be a challenge to immediately close the gap further until we deliver our next stages of development for the car.
“As with every time we take the MCL40 to track, we are continuing to learn how to maximise the power unit and are finding more performance session by session. Tomorrow’s Grand Prix will give us another opportunity to see where we stand, with the focus on making a step forward from today’s Sprint and the race pace shown in Melbourne.”
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (1) McLaren MCL40 Mercedes on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (1) McLaren MCL40 Mercedes on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Red Bull
Red Bull were off the pace in Sprint Qualifying on Friday, and they did not find any answers overnight. Verstappen had a dreadful getaway, dropping to P14 and although he climbed back through the field, he could not score any points. As for Hadjar, he was the only driver to start on the soft tyre. Contact on the first lap with Antonelli did not help his cause, and he was already dropping back when the Safety Car at least allowed him to come in for fresh rubber.
Qualifying did not go much better for the team. Both Red Bulls made Q3 at least, albeit Hadjar scraping through by just 0.002s. But in Q3, they did not have the pace to match their rivals and fell behind the Alpine of Gasly too.
Max Verstappen, Sprint: 9th, Qualifying: 8th, 1:33.002
“It has been a difficult weekend so far. In the Sprint, we had a difficult start, which compromised our race, but we know what went wrong and had some issues with the graining and the balance of the car. Going into the Qualifying session, we changed a lot on the car but it didn’t make much difference unfortunately. It is very complicated at the moment and quite difficult to drive for me to get a good reference in and build on this, so each lap is tricky. We had similar issues to the Sprint, so there will be a lot to analyse and work on overnight. I hope that tomorrow we can be a little more competitive, but let’s see what happens.”
Isack Hadjar, Sprint: 15th, Qualifying: 9th, 1:33.121
“The Team put in a lot of work to improve performance from yesterday, and I felt that I extracted all I could from the car. We’ve managed to find a little more pace, but the consistency from lap to lap has been harder to find. In the Sprint, everything was working well until the contact, which makes it harder to get a read on tomorrow’s race. Coming out of qualifying, it’s a good feeling to be close to Max but at the same time we’d like to fighting for better positions. P9 is still a decent result to be able to fight for positions, even if it’s not exactly where we wanted to be. Tomorrow my aim is to bring home my first points for the Team. It’ll be a tough race, but we will do our best.”
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (3) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB22 Red Bull Ford on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (3) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB22 Red Bull Ford on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Alpine
Gasly was investigated for an unsafe release on his way to the grid, after the team forgot to take a cover off his car. As such, Alpine were handed a fine for that incident. In the Sprint, the Frenchman dropped places off the line and then opted not to pit in the Safety Car window. That cost him at the restart, as he fell back on older tyres. Colapinto could not fight too far forward from a lower grid slot, coming home in P14.
A disappointed Gasly put the Sprint behind him with a stellar performance in Qualifying, making Q3 with ease. He grabbed P7 on the grid, to be the fastest of the midfield runners and put himself in the hunt for points on Sunday. Colapinto was unlucky, he missed out on the top 10 by just 0.005s.
Pierre Gasly, Sprint: 11th, Qualifying: 7th, 1:32.873
“I’m very happy with today’s Qualifying performance, securing our second Q3 appearance of the weekend. I’m really pleased with the work we’ve done as a team, and we seem to be going in the right direction. From where we were last weekend, it gives me optimism for tomorrow’s Grand Prix and also the coming races. We executed a good Qualifying session this afternoon and built-up speed every lap, whereas we had a trickier morning in the Sprint Race where we had a lot of tyre degradation. This is something we need to work on for tomorrow if we’re to compete with the cars around us. The gaps in the race and Qualifying are very small and we’re in the middle of a tight midfield pack, so every detail counts and we hope to have a competitive edge tomorrow and translate the progress we’ve made this weekend into more points for the team.”
Franco Colapinto, Sprint: 14th, Qualifying: 12th, 1:33.357
“From yesterday and where we started the day in the Sprint Race, I feel much more positive with the car and the result in Qualifying. We couldn’t change much overnight with parc fermé and we struggled in the Sprint with clipping and some graining. But we didn’t give up, worked hard as a team and turned things around in the afternoon. There was a lot of things we didn’t understand with the car yesterday and the work we did last night with the engineers and sitting also with Pierre translated into an improved result today. We changed a lot of things on the car, and we know where we’re still lacking. When you’re so close to getting into Q3, you’re still slightly disappointed. I had some clipping out of the final corner and locked up in a few places, so the time was definitely there. We’re close to the points, so let’s hope for a good start and it’s all to play for tomorrow.”
Steve Nielsen, Managing Director
“We started the weekend in much better shape than we did in Melbourne and, as you can see with all the teams, we’re learning about these new cars and new regulations at such a rapid rate. Pierre unfortunately couldn’t capitalise on his strong Sprint Qualifying in the race, with both Pierre and Franco voicing that they were struggling with clipping and graining. So, for tomorrow’s Grand Prix, we know there’s still some work to be done to ensure we’re more competitive on high fuel. We expected some of our rivals to close the gap today, so for Pierre to replicate his performance with a strong seventh place in Qualifying is very positive indeed. Franco also made a positive step from the Sprint to Qualifying and was unfortunate to miss out on Q3 by the finest of margins. He has been putting in the hours and working hard with the engineers and learning from Pierre which is fantastic to see. Knowing how the Sprint played out, we know there’s work to be done overnight to put us in with a fighting chance of adding to our points tally tomorrow.”
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Pierre Gasly of France and Alpine F1 looks on during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Pierre Gasly of France and Alpine F1 looks on during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)
Haas
Bearman started well in the Sprint and battled hard to hold on to seventh in the early stages. He opted not to pit when the Safety Car came out which was a brave call, and he was fortunate on older tyres not to lose more than a couple of places, coming home eighth. As for Ocon, he was in the thick of the action and was left frustrated by a near-miss with Sainz, who was weaving to warm up his tyres and nearly collected the Frenchman.
Ocon’s frustration continued in Qualifying, as he was unable to complete his final flying run in Q2 thanks to the double yellow flags waved for Bortoleto. Bearman did make it to Q3 though, and should be in the thick of the action from P10 on the grid.
Oliver Bearman, Sprint: 8th, Qualifying: 10th, 1:33.292
“There was crazy degradation on the medium tyre in the Sprint, and honestly, when the safety car came out, I thought it was all over. There were two or three drivers on the hard compound who were absolutely flying, but actually I was able to gain back a bit of grip and pace and after the restart hold my own, and on to P8. I’m very happy to be able to bring back another point to the team and now move focus to this afternoon.
“I’m happy with qualifying today, we had good pace. In the end, we couldn’t make that final step in Q3 in terms of lap time. I think the more we got on the edge of pushing, and grip improving, the increase in car balance, I struggled a little bit to get the most out of it. It’s encouraging to be here in Q3, and I’m a bit more excited for the race tomorrow. As a team, we want to keep scoring.”
Esteban Ocon, Sprint: 10th, Qualifying: 13th, 1:33.538
“Overall, it was a pretty positive Sprint. We made up places on track, which was very good because we lost out to Max on a different strategy that he took under the safety car. I think my tyres degraded a lot less than some of the other cars, but it was really the starting position that wasn’t in our favor.
“In qualifying, we got a yellow flag on the last lap, so unfortunately we couldn’t really improve, and that impeded us quite a lot. I was up on the final lap before the yellow flags, so it was far from optimum. There’s a lot more to be found in the car, but hopefully we can come back through the field as we did in the Sprint, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“In the Sprint this morning, I think that was really good to finish in the top eight. We raced really well, and although the hard tyre was clearly better than the medium, in terms of graining, we only lost to Lawson on those tyres. We were behind the big three, and that’s a really good effort from the team.
“In qualifying, we knew we had a decent car again, so we focused on operating cleanly, which we achieved, I believe. In Q2, Esteban was really unlucky to get a yellow flag, so he couldn’t make it to Q3. I think Ollie had the potential to beat both Red Bulls in Q3, but I guess it’s a good thing to be disappointed by being P10 and not beating Red Bull, but that’s where we are, so it’s a decent place. Tomorrow our target is to get both drivers into the top 10, and I believe we have the speed and capabilities to do that.”
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Oliver Bearman of Great Britain driving the (87) Haas F1 VF-26 Ferrari on track during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Oliver Bearman of Great Britain driving the (87) Haas F1 VF-26 Ferrari on track during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Racing Bulls
It was a mixed bag for Racing Bulls, who called Lindblad into the pits to retire the car midway through the Sprint. Having also stopped out on track in FP1 on Friday, the rookie is very short of laps this weekend. Lawson started on the hard tyre, which proved a masterstroke. It looked by far the best compound and he rose through the field to score two points – but will only have one set of hards tomorrow for the Grand Prix, which might cost him then.
Both cars were then a tad unlucky in Qualifying, their last laps in Q2 hampered by yellow flags and leaving neither with a chance to improve. There were further reliability worries for Lindblad too, who was called into the pits in Q1 with an issue. He will hope for his first clean session of the weekend tomorrow in the Grand Prix.
Arvid Lindblad, Sprint: DNF, Qualifying: 15th, 1:33.784
“I felt really good in the car during Qualifying. I made a few mistakes in a couple of runs, but in my last lap, I was up by three tenths. I don’t know if I would have gone through Q3 but I was improving, so it was just a bit of a shame having the yellow flags in the last corner. Overall, we missed a few laps between yesterday’s FP1 and this morning in the Sprint, but this is the situation we’re in and it’s not something we can make up, so we just have to get the most out of it. I think it will be an interesting race tomorrow and it will be important to get the tyre management and the strategy right. We’ll do our best and see if there are any points we can get.”
Liam Lawson, Sprint: 7th, Qualifying: 14th, 1:33.765
“Sprint this morning went really well. We had strong track position towards the end, so when the Safety Car came out we didn’t want to give that up. It was a bold strategy, but it worked out nicely and we were able to bring home some points.
“Qualifying was a bit messy and we struggled to string the session together. However, we were on a really good lap at the end and had everything coming together before the double yellow flags forced us to abort in the final corner, which was a shame. Tyre and energy management will be really important tomorrow. It’s going to be tough, so we’ll need a strong race strategy, which we’ll be working on tonight.”
Mattia Spini, Head of Trackside Engineering
“Today delivered the kind of action you typically expect from the Saturday of a Sprint weekend. We made an unconventional call to start Liam on the Hard tyre for the Sprint, expecting the compound to be more resilient to graining. It proved to be the right choice and allowed him to work his way through the field into the points when the Safety Car was deployed on Lap 13. Liam managed the restart well on the cold Hards, holding the position and finishing in P7.
“Unfortunately, Arvid spun on Lap 1, and we decided to retire the car in order to give ourselves enough time to carry out additional work and ensure it was in the best possible condition for qualifying later in the day.
“In Qualifying, we used two new sets of Soft tyres on both cars in Q1, giving the drivers the best opportunity to adjust back to low fuel after the Sprint. Both progressed into Q2 and were finding a significant amount of lap time in the second run, before a double yellow appeared in the final corner, forcing both laps to be aborted.
“Our strategy group will now focus on identifying opportunities to move forward in tomorrow’s race, which is likely to be another eventful one.”
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Liam Lawson of New Zealand driving the (30) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 03 RB Ford on track during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Anni Graf – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Liam Lawson of New Zealand driving the (30) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 03 RB Ford on track during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Anni Graf – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Audi
Not to be for Audi, who saw Hulkenberg pull over trackside with some reliability gremlins in the Sprint. That is twice that the German has had an issue this season, following his DNS from Australia last weekend. Bortoleto did complete the Sprint but did not have the same pace he showed in Melbourne. The Brazilian then spun off in the gravel late on in Q2, which ended his chances of progressing. As for Hulkenberg, he missed Q3 by 0.015s in Australia, and he was even closer in China. The German missed out by just 0.002s, as the midfield closed up yet again.
Nico Hulkenberg, Sprint: DNF, Qualifying: 11th, 1:33.354
“The margins were incredibly tight today – just two thousandths separated us from Q3. Overall though, it was a clean session and we’ll take it from here. The focus will be on keeping things clean, avoiding mistakes and making the most of any opportunities in the race.
“These cars are still quite new for us, so there’s a lot of information to take in after every session. We’ll go through everything tonight and fight hard tomorrow.”
Gabriel Bortoleto, Sprint: 13th, Qualifying: 16th, 1:33.965
“Today, the car felt quite decent and I think we made some good steps in the right direction compared to yesterday. The Sprint was pretty uneventful for me: I managed to stay in the mix a bit, but the Safety Car didn’t make things easier – in any case, our focus was already set on Qualifying. Towards the end of Q2, I was trying to extract a little bit more lap time and probably pushed a bit too hard on the entry. I lost the rear and when I caught it, it was already too late, so I ended up spinning. It probably would have been tough to reach Q3 anyway: the lap was okay, but not quite what you need to get there. It’s not the position I’d like to start from, but tomorrow is a different story. We’ll start from where we are, focus on our pace, and try to do some overtakes.”
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal
“I want to start by thanking the team for their hard work today. There was a big job list in the garage between the sprint and qualifying, not least fixing Nico’s car, and they did a great job of getting both cars ready in time for the session.
“It was also great to see Emma deliver a confident drive in the first F1 Academy race of 2026. Starting the race from P6, she carried out some great overtaking manoeuvres on her way to P3 and her first podium of the year.
“Qualifying was reasonably straightforward, Nico maximised what was available from the car, delivering another solid performance to P11. Gabi was on a good final lap but just pushed a little bit too hard in the final corner, ending up in the gravel. Overall, a clean session for the team and our focus now moves to the race”.
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Audi F1 Team R26 leaves the pitlane during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Audi F1 Team R26 leaves the pitlane during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)
Williams
Albon started from the pit lane for the Sprint after the team made some changes to his car, and he managed to at least climb a few places. Sainz finished closer to the top 10, after opting for the hard tyres at the start. But – like Lawson at Racing Bulls who took the same approach – that might cost the Spaniard strategically for the Grand Prix.
As for Qualifying, neither driver had the pace to make it out of Q1, something Albon labelled as “terrible” on the radio at the end of that segment.
Alex Albon, Sprint: 16th, Qualifying: 18th, 1:34.772
“Unfortunately we haven’t been able to fix our core issues and the car wasn’t reacting the way it should in the Sprint and qualifying today. We’ve done a lot of setup changes this weekend where we’ve tested and tried various things out and we just haven’t been able to find the sweet spot yet. We thought this track would expose our weaknesses more than Melbourne did, and it continues to be a learning curve for us, but we’re throwing everything at it as a team. We will have a long engineering debrief tonight to discuss our balance options for tomorrow and what we can do to maximise our performance for race day.”
Carlos Sainz, Sprint: 12th, Qualifying: 17th, 1:34.317
“I’m really happy with my lap today. We’ve made strong progress this weekend and got the car into a better window for this session. I still feel like I’m a bit down on mileage to unlock more performance but I’ll take the positives as we maximised everything we could today. We are very far from where we want to be and tomorrow will still be a challenging race, but it’s another learning opportunity as we try to get the most out of this package and keep improving.”
James Vowles, Team Principal
“We found a better direction with Carlos overnight. They’re small steps, but they’re steps in the right direction. We need to see what we can do with Alex across the next 24 hours in order to give him a better car than he had today.
Nevertheless, these qualifying sessions remain painful because we’re simply not where we want to be. There’s a programme of work that’s already in place that will make substantive change to where we are. For now, we need to keep our heads held high and keep delivering everything the car can every session.”
Highlights from the China Sprint as Russell takes the winInternal link
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Carlos Sainz of Spain driving the (55) Williams FW48 Mercedes on track during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Carlos Sainz of Spain driving the (55) Williams FW48 Mercedes on track during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images)
Aston Martin
Alonso and Stroll were both able to finish the Sprint, with the Spaniard starting on the hard tyre and Stroll the soft. As such, they have plenty of data to take into race day, which should help the team. While neither progressed in Qualifying, both exiting in Q1, there were no obvious reliability issues as the team continue to try and get back on the pace of the rest of the midfield.
Fernando Alonso, Sprint: 17th, Qualifying: 19th, 1:35.203
“I felt like I got everything out of the car in that Qualifying session and I think it was the best that we could manage. It was a trouble-free day for us and we did everything we wanted to do in our programme, but we are simply lacking performance. We will aim to finish the race tomorrow and try to learn more about this package in racing conditions.”
Lance Stroll, Sprint: 18th, Qualifying: 21st, 1:21.058
“A challenging Qualifying session for me today. I struggled with the balance, suffering with understeer and rear wheel locking which makes the car unpredictable to drive. We need to look at the data to see where we can improve. We are learning with each lap and need to continue building mileage and understanding of this car to get on top of some of the challenges we face.”
Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer
“Both cars have done more laps here in Shanghai, but we were not able to progress beyond Q1. We continue learning and building our knowledge about this car, which will help us find more performance for the races to come. Both cars have run reliably today and given us important data, but the car is not easy to drive, so we will regroup tonight to see where we can make improvements going forward.”
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR26 Honda on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR26 Honda on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Cadillac
Bottas was unable to finish the Sprint, coming into the pits late on with an issue to retire the car. Perez also had an eventful morning, first picking up a penalty for a Safety Car infringement, and then losing some bodywork on the last lap. That was not due to any contact, so Cadillac have work to do to understand what happened to the Mexican’s car.
Both did make it out for Qualifying though, with Bottas the quicker of the duo, returning the favour after Perez beat him over one lap in Australia.
Valtteri Bottas, Sprint: DNF, Qualifying: 20th, 1:35.436
“My first clean Qualifying session so that’s always a positive feeling. I really felt like the last two laps were very clean and I got the most out of our package. We out-qualified one Aston Martin, and (Fernando) Alonso was only two tenths ahead. There is still work to do as a team when it comes to reliability and performance. We’ll try to take all the learnings from today’s Sprint into tomorrow’s race with the aim of finishing with both cars for the first time.”
Sergio Perez, Sprint: 19th, Qualifying: 22nd, 1:36.906
“We were able to gain more information today and learned a lot in the Sprint going forward for the Grand Prix. Unfortunately Qualifying was compromised as we were late, lost a run and then a deployment issue cost us a lot of time. I think there was quite a bit more potential in it. It’s still early days for the team, we are learning every day as it comes and hopefully tomorrow we can have a good race with the teams around us and get both cars to the finish.”
Graeme Lowdon, Team Principal
“Today showed a step forward in performance, which is encouraging. While neither the Sprint nor Qualifying were trouble-free, we’re moving closer to the teams in front in terms of pace. The aim is clearly to get on top of the issues we’ve seen this weekend and have both cars running consistently reliably. When we get to this point, we can be in the mix, racing.”
Gallery2SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Valtteri Bottas of Finland driving the (77) Cadillac F1 Team MAC-26 Ferrari on track during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image
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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 14: Valtteri Bottas of Finland driving the (77) Cadillac F1 Team MAC-26 Ferrari on track during the Sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 14, 2026 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Sona Maleterova/Getty Images)
Pirelli
Dario Marrafuschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director
“Today, for the first time this weekend, all the available tyre compounds were used. This occurred during the Sprint, where three cars remained on Hard tyres, avoiding pitting during the safety car period and gaining several positions as a result. Hadjar was the only driver on Soft tyres, while the rest of the field were on Mediums.
“Drivers using the C2 compound were able to directly assess the impact of graining on an solution that had not yet been tested. However, the three drivers who opted for this compound may have limited their strategic options for the Grand Prix, particularly in the event of neutralisations, as they will only have one set left for Sunday.
“A one-stop strategy is clearly the fastest for tomorrow. Whether to start on the Mediums or the Softs will most likely depend on grid position or a driver’s willingness to take a more aggressive approach at the start. In both cases, the longer stint to the chequered flag will be on the hard tyres, to be fitted between laps 17 and 23, or between 15 and 21. The two options are very close in terms of overall race time.
“With a two-stop strategy, the fastest combinations involve completing the final two stints on two sets of hard tyres, provided teams still have them available for the race. On paper, starting on the Soft appears more effective than starting on the Medium.
“It’s important to note that, over the first two days of practice, no driver used the red-marked tyre for more than nine laps, except for Hadjar’s attempt in the Sprint, though his run was compromise by damage to his car. Therefore, the degradation level of the C4 with a full fuel load and one third of the race still to go remains to be verified.”
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