The 19-year-old turned pole position into a historic victory and cemented Mercedes’ position at the start of the F1 season.
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Published March 15, 2026
An emotional Kimi Antonelli won China’s first F1 Grand Prix, ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who took his first podium with Ferrari.
Antonelli, 19, led F1’s youngest pole-sitter to victory on Sunday after both McLarens dramatically missed the start in the Shanghai race.
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After taking the checkered flag, Antonelli said on the radio: “Thank you everyone. Thank you so much. Thanks to you all, one of my dreams has come true.”
“I’m speechless. To be honest, I’m about to cry,” he said in his first interview as a winner in front of the crowd at the Shanghai circuit.
It was a tense finish for the Italian, who locked up and went wide with three laps to go, cutting his lead over Russell to 7.4 seconds and finishing 5.515 seconds behind.
This is Mercedes’ second consecutive one-two since Russell led Antonelli in the Australian Opener last weekend.
“I had a bit of a heart attack at the end with a flat spot (on the tire). It was a good race,” said the first Italian to win since Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella in Malaysia in 2006.
F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali, also Italian, congratulated Antonelli before the podium celebration and the playing of the Italian national anthem.
Antonelli briefly lost the lead at the start, but once he was back in front, the teenager controlled the pace and made it all the way to the checkered flag. Charles Leclerc in the second Ferrari was fourth.
Hamilton got off to a great start, similar to Saturday’s sprint, and took the lead by the time the team came out of the first tricky turn.
Leclerc also got off to a great start, successfully overtaking Russell who started from second on the grid.
The top four changed positions several times, but the safety car forced them all to pit on lap 11.
When the dust settled and the race started again, Antonelli led Hamilton, with Leclerc third and Russell fourth.
By lap 29, Russell had passed the two Ferraris and moved into second place, attempting to catch his younger teammate, who at that point had a lead of more than seven seconds.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was forced to retire on lap 46, continuing Red Bull’s poor start to the new season.
McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri were unable to start due to mechanical problems.
Haas’ Oliver Bearman finished fifth ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson.
Red Bull’s Isaac Hajjar finished eighth after teammate Verstappen retired. Williams’ Carlos Sainz finished 9th, while Alpine’s Franco Colapinto finally returned to the points in 10th after failing to score last year.
