At just 19 years old, the Italian becomes the second-youngest winner in the sport’s history, with only Max Verstappen younger at the time of his first triumph.

It was a mature victory far beyond his years, as he controlled the race from the start, only relinquishing the lead from pole for a single lap.

He overcame a Safety Car period, a late lock-up that saw him run off at the hairpin with three laps remaining, and a tense battle behind him between teammate George Russell and the Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

Russell ultimately finished 5.5 seconds behind his teammate in second to extend his world championship lead, with Hamilton claiming his first podium for Ferrari, 25.2 seconds back.

And while Mercedes firmly asserted themselves in the 2026 season with another 1-2, it was a disaster for reigning constructors’ champions McLaren, who suffered their first double “did not start” since the 2005 United States Grand Prix.

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were sidelined by unrelated electrical issues, with Norris not even reaching the grid and Piastri pulled off by McLaren before the warm-up lap, marking his second consecutive DNS of the season.

Their misfortune did nothing to prevent Antonelli from showcasing his skill in just his 26th grand prix start, becoming the first Italian to win a race since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix.

An emotional 19-year-old spoke through tears after the race as he tried to come to terms with his victory.

“I’m speechless. I want to cry to be honest,” he said.

“But thank you so much to my team because yeah, they help me to achieve this dream.”

 

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He added that he was especially proud to become the first Italian F1 winner in 20 years, even with his late-race lock-up giving him a nervous moment.

“I said yesterday that I really wanted to bring Italy back on top. And we did it today,” he said.

“Even though I gave myself a little bit of a heart attack towards the end with a flat spot!

“But yeah, it was a good race.”

Russell was quick to congratulate his teammate for his win, as well as celebrate another close battle early on with the Ferrari pair.

“Firstly huge congratulations to Kimi because it’s always very special to win your first race and obviously he’s been driving really amazing this year and this weekend especially,” he said.

“So pleased to be standing on the podium with him, and also with this guy [Hamilton] as well.

“It was a tough battle. Obviously we’ve had really bad starts again and the Ferraris shot past.

“But at the end of the day, getting the 1-2 again is all we can ask for.”

Hamilton also extended his congratulations to Antonelli, as well as praising his team for their efforts in getting Ferrari back to the front.

“Firstly I have to say a huge congratulations to Kimi,” he said.

“I’m so so happy for you buddy. And I’m so honoured to be able to share this moment with him.

“I’ve got to say a huge thank you to everyone at Ferrari, everyone back at Maranello for getting us into this position.

“I know it’s not exactly where we want to be. I know we want to be up front where these guys are.

“But we’ve got a great platform to work off and we just got to literally full full gas.”

Ferrari once again made a superb start to the race, with Hamilton leading at the end of Lap 1 after vaulting both Antonelli and Russell to give the Scuderia its third consecutive first-lap lead following the grand prix in Australia and the Sprint in China.

Leclerc also enjoyed a strong launch, finding himself ahead of Russell as the race quickly settled into an early rhythm.

 

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However, unlike the Sprint and the race in Australia, the yo-yo style racing was not evident this time around, with Antonelli promptly retaking the lead at the hairpin a lap later, while Russell had moved ahead of both Leclerc and Hamilton by Lap 3.

Positions remained stable until Lap 10, when a Safety Car was deployed to recover the stricken Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, who pulled off to the side of the track to end the Canadian’s race with a suspected battery issue.

That triggered a flurry of pit stop activity, with Ferrari following Mercedes in double-stacking both cars as a variety of drivers pitted behind them.

Once the cars cycled through and the order settled, Antonelli remained in the lead, although the Alpine of Franco Colapinto and Haas of Esteban Ocon were directly behind after not stopping during the Safety Car period.

Four laps later, green flag racing resumed, with Hamilton finding a way past Russell at the restart before Leclerc followed a lap later.

Antonelli maintained control at the front, while his teammate and both Ferraris soon worked their way past Colapinto and Bearman to provide fans with entertaining racing through the middle phase of the race.

The trio swapped positions multiple times as the race moved beyond the halfway mark, with both Ferraris coming close to banging wheels on several occasions, particularly through the sweeping opening corners, as Russell bided his time behind the pair.

Leclerc eventually found a way through, with Hamilton briefly regaining the position into Turn 9 on Lap 27 before Leclerc retook it. Russell capitalised soon after, moving past the seven-time world champion.

Russell then passed Leclerc on Lap 30 but remained nearly eight seconds behind his teammate, who continued to run comfortably out front.

Elsewhere, Arvid Lindblad found himself facing the wrong way on Lap 29 at the Turn 14 hairpin, although the Racing Bulls rookie was able to quickly recover and continue, with only a brief yellow flag required.

Another yellow flag was brought out five laps later after the Haas of Ocon clipped the Alpine of Colapinto into Turn 1, as the Frenchman attempted a lazy move on the inside while the Argentinian exited the pits.

Both drivers spun off the circuit but were able to continue, with Ocon quick to admit fault over the radio and later handed a 10-second penalty.

At the same time, the second Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso retired from the race, pulling into the garage to give his team a second consecutive double DNF and reduce the field to just 16 runners.

There was further drama on Lap 36 between the Ferrari pair, as Leclerc locked up into Turn 14, allowing Hamilton to move back ahead.

The pair continued battling hard over the next lap, with Hamilton maintaining position while the Mercedes duo extended their lead up front, Russell pulling away by more than six seconds from the Ferraris and Antonelli maintaining a seven-second gap over his teammate.

Leclerc regained the position from Hamilton on Lap 40 into the hairpin, with Hamilton once again battling hard in the opening corner section on the next lap to retake third.

Despite the tense intra-team battle, Leclerc was quick to praise the racing, jumping on the radio to exclaim: “this is actually quite a fun battle” in the closing laps.

 

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From there, the race remained stable, with Antonelli controlling the gap to the finish ahead of his teammate, with Hamilton and Leclerc behind them.

Despite his teammate having late issues, Bearman drove a superb race to bring his Haas home fifth, one spot ahead of Pierre Gasly, who finished sixth for Alpine.

Liam Lawson made his way up the field strongly to finish in the points for the second day in a row in China in seventh, with the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar claiming his first points of the season in eighth.

His teammate Max Verstappen was set for points but was told to retire his car on Lap 46, with the Dutchman appearing to lose power halfway through the lap, adding to a bitterly disappointing weekend for the four-time world champion.

His late retirement was a benefit for Carlos Sainz and Colapinto, with the Spaniard giving Williams their first points of 2026, bringing some joy to the Grove-based squad after Alex Albon failed to make the start of the race with a technical issue.

It was also Colapinto’s first points for Alpine since joining the squad nearly 12 months ago, and his first since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2024.

Elsewhere down the field, Cadillac recorded their first-ever double finish at a grand prix, with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez classified 14th and 15th, the last two finishers.

A total of seven cars did not finish the race, with Gabriel Bortoleto joining both McLarens and Albon as not even making it to the start.

With another race in the books, teams and drivers will now regroup ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka from March 27–29.

Results: Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, Race