Mercedes’ George Russell took a second career Sprint win in China despite swapping the lead several times to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and being battled all the way to the finish line by Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc. 

When the lights went at the start, polesitter Russell immediately came under pressure from Hamilton who rounded the slow-starting Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli to take P2 as they went towards Turn 1. Behind them. Leclerc raced through P6 on the grid to take up third place, but Red Bull’s Max Versatppen had a horrible start, losing power and plummeting to P15 as he struggled to get away. Antonelli, was also getting into more trouble, clunking into the side of the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar and earning a 10 second time penalty after the incident. 

At the front, Hamilton powered past Russell in Turn 9 to steal the lead and the move set the pattern for the opening laps, with the pair duelling furiously as Russell swept past at Turn 1 only for Hamilton to channel his battery power better on the following straight and storm back to the lead in Turn 1. 

Russell was at last able to make a decisive move lap five. Hamilton was already beginning to struggle with heavy graining to his front left tyres and Russell capitalised, passing the Ferrari into Turn 14 and then using better grip to pull a small but significant gap on exit. 

Hamilton dropped back towards team-mate Leclerc, who had been stalking the top two while carefully managing his tyres. Hamilton defended hard but with greater reserves of grip Leclerc was able to get the job done and rose to second place. 

Russell looked to have the race in hand but at the end of lap 13, Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg slowed and trundled to a halt at Turn 1. The Safey Car was deployed and the field streamed into the pit lane. 

Leclerc went for as move at the restart but a lock-up dropped him back from Russell and although the Ferrari driver reeled in the Mercedes over the following laps to get within a second, the laps were rapidly running out and Russell held on to take his first Sprint win since São Paulo in 2022. 

Leclerc took second, while Hamilton passed Lando Norris to claim P3 ahead of the McLaren driver. Antonelli, who served his penalty during his pit stop, was fifth with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in P6. Liam Lawson ran Hard tyres well to claim seventh ahead of Haas’ Ollie Bearman, who took the final point on offer. Verstappen put in a late charge on fresh Softs, but the Dutchman was only able to make his way to P9 at the flag. 

2026 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix – Sprint 
1 George Russell Mercedes 19 33'38.998 
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 19 33'39.672 0.674
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 19 33'41.552 2.554
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 19 33'43.431 4.433
5 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 19 33'44.686 5.688
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 19 33'45.807 6.809
7 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 19 33'49.898 10.900
8 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 19 33'50.269 11.271
9 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 19 33'50.617 11.619
10 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 19 33'52.885 13.887
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Mercedes 19 33'53.778 14.780
12 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 19 33'54.751 15.753
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 19 33'54.856 15.858
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Mercedes 19 33'55.391 16.393
15 Isack Hadjar Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 19 33'55.428 16.430
16 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 19 33'59.012 20.014
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Honda 19 34'00.597 21.599
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Honda 19 34'00.969 21.971
19 Sergio Pérez Cadillac/Ferrari 19 34'07.239 28.241
     Nico Hülkenberg Audi 12 20'05.858 Retirement
     Valtteri Bottas Cadillac/Ferrari 12 20'58.952 Retirement
     Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 11 18'55.284 Retirement