Chinese Grand Prix: Mercedes continues dominant lead, McLaren and RedBull continue to struggle.
- Cassandra Nicholls
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
It was another dominant weekend in Shanghai for Mercedes with a strong race result. Kimi Antonelli took his first ever F1 win ahead of his teammate George Russell. This allows the duo to continue their strong lead in the championship ahead of their current biggest competitor, Ferrari.
Ferrari also continued their great results with Lewis Hamilton taking out his first official podium spot as a Ferrari driver finishing in P3, after a well fought battle against teammate Charles Leclerc who finished in P4. This pairing continues to prove their ability and competitiveness against one another, pushing each of them to better themselves. They even had some great wheel-to-wheel racing moments against each other that was sure to give people a scare.
Haas continued to show that they are here for the fight with Oliver Bearman who proved himself in China with a great P5 finish. He is a strong driver for the future of the sport and continues to prove that week in and week out. It was a tough weekend though for Esteban Ocon who could not score points for the team, finishing in P14. This can definitely be a tough situation to be in for Ocon, given that the younger teammate is able to perform slightly better, but there is only up for Ocon as the season goes on.
Alpine ended the weekend with a double points scoring result. Pierre Gasly drove brilliantly to ensure P6, with close to a 30 second gap back to P7. The team itself can show their drive and capability, especially to those who doubted it. Franco Colapinto was 1 lap down, but still able to finish in the final points position of P10.
The final 3 drivers, although not at the same team managed to provide vital points to their respective teams. Liam Lawson finished the weekend strong with a P7 result, points that are essential for Racing Bulls. Lawson’s teammate Arvid Lindblad ended up just behind the Audi of Hulkenberg in P12. After a tough weekend with the car struggling and issues arising, this is still promising from the young rookie.
Isack Hadjar had a more positive result compared to Australia, finishing the race in P8, and ensuring RedBull managed some points. Finally, Carlos Sainz although having a quiet weekend finished in P9 and gained vital points for Williams, with only having one car available for the race.
Audi’s only running car of Nico Hulkenberg performed well, given he was just out of the points too. He drove a great race to get a result of P11, just missing out on the last point for top 10 taken by Colapinto. This shows a strong team, given they can push for top 10 positions in the races, which is going to be a positive for them.
The Cadillac pairing had another quiet weekend, possibly going to be the way for the season. Both cars however managing to finish the race in China. Sergio Perez was unfortunately at the back of the group in P15, whilst Valtteri Bottas finished in P13.
We had way too many DNS/DNF in China. Before even beginning the race, Alex Albon and Gabriel Bortoleto were out. As we were waiting for the timer to close and the race to begin, chaos was emerging for both McLaren cars as technical and mechanical issues began to falter them. Lando Norris was the first, before Oscar Piastri also faced issues. Both drivers were forced to have a DNS. Piastri is still yet to start a race in 2026.
Aston Martin also had a difficult weekend with another double DNF result for the team. There still appears to be ongoing issues with the car itself, including the engine and its capability. Will we see a complete race from Aston Martin this season? Our final DNF, a very shocking one as well, was Max Verstappen. It was sudden, very random and an extremely unfortunate result for him. We know just how competitive he can be, and this was a tough situation to be in.
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