All the key moments from the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix

The 2026 Chinese Grand Prix saw history in the making as Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli secured his maiden Formula 1 victory, becoming the sport's second-youngest race winner. After claiming pole position as the youngest-ever polesitter on Saturday, the Italian driver held off his teammate George Russell to lead a Mercedes 1-2 finish. Lewis Hamilton, in his first season with Ferrari, demonstrated impressive race pace to clinch his first podium for the Scuderia following a captivating wheel-to-wheel battle with the Mercedes drivers. Elsewhere, the weekend was one of struggle for title contenders. McLaren endured a disastrous Sunday as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were forced to retire before the race start due to technical issues. Meanwhile, Red Bull's Max Verstappen faced a challenging weekend, failing to score points after an ERS cooling failure forced his retirement, further highlighting the team's ongoing pace deficits in the early stages of the new regulation cycle. In the midfield, Oliver Bearman and Pierre Gasly continued to shine for Haas and Alpine, respectively. Their consistent performance suggests the midfield pack is much closer to the top teams than initially anticipated. Furthermore, the 2026 F1 ACADEMY season kicked off in Shanghai, with Emma Felbermayr emerging as the early championship leader following a weekend of competitive racing.