George Russell continued his strong start to the 2026 season by winning the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint, holding off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.6 seconds after an entertaining early battle at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Lewis Hamilton completed the podium for Ferrari after briefly leading in the opening laps, finishing ahead of reigning world champion Lando Norris and Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, who recovered from an early collision and a 10-second penalty.

Oscar Piastri crossed the line sixth for McLaren to score his first points of the season after briefly overtaking Antonelli at the restart before being ordered to hand the position back for doing so before the restart line.

Further back, Liam Lawson claimed his first points of 2026 with a strong drive to seventh, narrowly holding off Haas rookie Oliver Bearman, while Max Verstappen recovered from a poor start to finish ninth for Red Bull.

Attention now turns to Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, scheduled for 3pm local time on Saturday (6pm AEDT).

Results: Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, Sprint

Pos. No. Driver Team Laps Time / Retired Pts.
1 63 George Russell Mercedes 19 33:38.998 8
2 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 19 +0.674s 7
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 19 +2.554s 6
4 1 Lando Norris McLaren 19 +4.433s 5
5 12 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 19 +5.688s 4
6 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren 19 +6.809s 3
7 30 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 19 +10.900s 2
8 87 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team 19 +11.271s 1
9 3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 19 +11.619s 0
10 31 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team 19 +13.887s 0
11 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine 19 +14.780s 0
12 55 Carlos Sainz Williams 19 +15.753s 0
13 5 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 19 +15.858s 0
14 43 Franco Colapinto Alpine 19 +16.393s 0
15 6 Isack Hadjar Red Bull Racing 19 +16.430s 0
16 23 Alexander Albon Williams 19 +20.014s 0
17 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 19 +21.599s 0
18 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 19 +21.971s 0
19 11 Sergio Perez Cadillac 19 +28.241s 0
NC 27 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 12 DNF 0
NC 77 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac 12 DNF 0
NC 41 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls 11 DNF 0