Barely a week after the chaos of Melbourne, Formula 1 arrived in Shanghai with little time for the paddock or the fans to catch their breath.
A weekend of sprints, a new generation of cars still being invented and a grid packed with stories meant the Chinese Grand Prix had a lot going for it.
Here are my five key takeaways from a fascinating weekend in Shanghai.
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WHO CHALLENGE?
In my preview of the Chinese GP, I pointed out that the winning car put added pressure on the young Kimi Antonelli. Stand up and challenge George Russell or risk having his “generational talent” calling card challenged.
Shanghai proved the 19-year-old wonder man is capable of leading a team when called upon, first by capitalizing on Russell’s qualifying woes on Saturday to become the youngest pole-sitter in F1 history.
On Sunday, Kimi survived another difficult start for Ferrari to retake the lead and fend off the threat of a motivated Hamilton for most of the race to take his first race win. Kimi Antonelli celebrates his first victory in an F1 race. Image: Reuters
So has young Kimi moved on in his second year behind the inconsistency and rookie mistakes that plagued his first season? And are we looking at an intra-team battle at Mercedes for the championship in the form of Hamilton vs Rosberg from 2014-16?
It is premature to have an answer to both questions after only two races in the season. What cannot be ruled out, however, is that with just a four-point lead in the championship, George Russell now knows he cannot slip up and count on his younger team-mate to pick up the pieces.
WELCOME BACK LEWIS
The podium at the Chinese GP was a fascinating amalgamation of Mercedes’ past, present and future.
Kimi was joined on the podium by Lewis Hamilton, his 202nd visit to the podium but his first in red. The champagne would taste extra sweet for the seven-time world champion, given that his 2026 Ferrari looks faster and much more to his liking. Lewis Hamilton finally got his first podium with Ferrari. (Image: Reuters)
Hamilton also appears much more comfortable with the new regulations compared to the ground-effect era, slicing and slicing across the track in his battles with both Mercedes, culminating in a tense battle with team-mate Charles Leclerc that would do team boss Fred Vasseur’s hairline no favours.
Both riders looked back on the battle fondly, so no harm was done. But a resurgent Hamilton now means Ferrari have the most powerful pair of drivers on the grid.
If Ferrari can close the gap at the top, the duo will give fans a titanic battle to remember for generations.
VERSTAPPEN’S BIGGEST TEST YET
But while Hamilton sang the praises of the new rules after the race, his old nemesis took his criticism to the next level.
Max Verstappen, who suffered one of his worst starts to a season in recent memory, has hit out at the “terrible racing” created by the 2026 rules, calling them “fundamentally flawed” and a “joke”.
While the four-time world champion insists his stance is not based on his results, the DNF after struggling in sixth place for most of the race, there is lingering cynicism that the Dutchman is now openly trying to deal with Red Bull after the Adrian Newey era.
Verstappen has experience with slow, unreliable cars, but that was before he became a dominant race-winning machine. He now faces the unfamiliar and unwelcome prospect of scrapping for points rather than collecting podiums, much like Hamilton’s predicament in the previous ground-effect era.
But after reaching the pinnacle of the sport, is the prospect of problems in midfield tempting for the Dutchman? Verstappen has repeatedly insisted that he is willing to walk away from the sport with no regrets when he stops enjoying it, but does he really mean it?
Or like Hamilton before him, will he be tempted to leave his boyhood team and seek glory with the Silver Arrows?
BIGGEST WIN 2026 (BY ENTER)
But while Hamilton and Verstappen, along with their respective fan bases, trade arguments over whether the new rules have made the racing better or more artificial, there has been one definite silver lining from both races so far.
The lap-to-lap action has seen a dramatic improvement. Gone are the days when dirty air from cars made close tracking and overtaking virtually impossible without the significant benefit of tires.
The Chinese Grand Prix followed on from the overtaking Australian GP with some gutsy lap-to-lap battles on the grid, with cars freely defending after being overtaken, something sorely lacking in previous years.
While it’s still early in this racing cycle and teams will inevitably find ways to engineer their cars in ways that prevent others from following closely behind, let’s enjoy the on-track battles while we still can.
EXCELLENT OLLIE BECOME TROUBLE
While Kimi Antonelli’s performances deservedly headlined the Chinese Grand Prix, my driver of the day was his F2 teammate Oliver Bearman.
Bearman followed up his remarkable seventh in Australia with a thrilling fifth in Shanghai after holding Max Verstappen at bay for most of the race.
In his second season, Bearman has started 2026 the same way he ended 2025, completely dominating his far more experienced team-mate Esteban Ocona as Haas’ lead driver and is now the best of the rest in the standings behind the two Mercedes and Ferrari.
Ferrari’s junior driver will soon outgrow the Haas team, but with both Leclerc and a resurgent Hamilton locked into the senior team for now, the Italian team may have to find a suitable place for their British prodigy soon, or risk losing him entirely to one of their rivals.
Two races into the season is too early to draw sweeping conclusions, but Shanghai offered a tantalizing glimpse of the battles that could define 2026. If the inaugural fortnight is anything to go by, Formula 1 may have just found the perfect recipe for chaos.
– The end
Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
16 Mar 2026 19:06 IST
