Kimi Antonelli claimed his maiden victory in F1 this morning in Shanghai ahead of teammate George Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
Take a bow Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli drove a brilliant race to become only the second younger Grand Prix winner in history behind Max Verstappen. After losing the lead to Lewis Hamilton at the start and retaking it by the end of the second lap, Antonelli remained in the lead for the rest of the race and it was very much his to lose. Breaking records everywhere he goes, it is clear that Mercedes have found something special in Kimi Antonelli.
George Russell lost a few positions at the start of the race, but fought his way back up into P2 and looked very strong. He was unable to catch up to the pace of his teammate due to numerous battles with the Ferrari drivers, however he still drove a very positive race.
Hamilton back on the podium at last
After a year long drought of not being on the podium, Lewis Hamilton drove valiantly to take P3 behind the two Mercedes drivers and stand on the podium once more. Given that it’s Mother’s Day, having his mum there to witness it will have just made this all the more special for the 7x champion.
After some great battles with Hamilton, Charles Leclerc came home in P4 in what was an overall great race for Ferrari.
Disaster for McLaren
After a fairly strong qualifying yesterday, neither McLaren even made it to the grid for today’s race, with both drivers classified as DNS. The team found separate electrical problems on each of the cars and so decided to pull them from the race. This therefore means that driver Oscar Piastri is still yet to complete a Grand Prix in 2026.
Bearman best of the rest
It was an absolute dream of a race for Haas driver Oliver Bearman as he finished P5 behind the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers. After dropping down a few places due to taking avoiding action on lap 1 to avoid the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, Bearman climbed his way back up to a brilliant points position.
Red Bull’s struggles
A power unit issue saw Max Verstappen retire from the race with only 10 laps to go. Running in the lower end of the points throughout the race, all seemed fine for Verstappen until the team radioed him to box box and retire the car.
Isack Hadjar suffered a spin in the opening laps of the race, but managed to recover to P8 by the end of the race.
Double points for Alpine
A superb race for Alpine saw both Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto finish in the top 10 and bring home a great amount of points for the team. Gasly drove a very consistent race, while Colapinto clawed his way back into the points after a collision with Haas driver Esteban Ocon. After a year of struggles last year, this result is a great morale boost for the team, and for Franco Colapinto in particular, who scored his first points in Alpine colours.
Feature image courtesy of Formula 1