Antonelli beats Russell to claim maiden win at Chinese Grand Prix

Kimi Antonelli claimed his maiden Formula 1 victory in the Chinese Grand Prix, beating Mercedes team mate George Russell as Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton claimed his first Grand Prix podium for the Scuderia after a thrilling intra-team battle.

Having become the youngest Grand Prix polesitter on Saturday, Antonelli was only briefly headed at the start of Sunday’s race in Shanghai, losing the lead to Hamilton who got the jump on both Mercedes from P3.

Re-taking the lead before the end of the second lap, the 19-year-old Italian was never headed again, retaining first after his only pit stop under the sole Safety Car period early in proceedings.

Despite a nervous moment after running deep at the Turn 14 hairpin with four laps remaining, Antonelli finished 5.5 seconds clear of Russell to become the second youngest winner of a Grand Prix.

Russell, who had won Saturday’s Sprint, fought back to second having found himself behind the squabbling Ferraris at the mid-point of the race after struggling for grip on the Safety Car restart, the Briton still in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship.

Hamilton took his first rostrum for Ferrari in a Grand Prix at the same venue where he claimed his only victory last season in the China Sprint 12 months ago.

The seven-time World Champion had to fight team mate Charles Leclerc hard for the position, the pair running side-by-side at several points throughout the race as the Monegasque finished fourth.

Best of the rest was Ollie Bearman for Haas, who came fifth having had to take avoiding action on the opening lap as Isack Hadjar spun through the long right-hander of Turn 13.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly claimed points for the second weekend in a row with P6, from the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Hadjar (Red Bull), as the top 10 was completed by Carlos Sainz (Williams) and Franco Colapinto, the second Alpine having been hit into a spin by Esteban Ocon at one stage.

Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg missed out on the points in P11, followed by Arvid Lindblad after the Racing Bulls driver suffered a spin on his own at Turn 14.

The final classified runners included the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, the latter having spun at Turn 3 on the opening lap after contact with his team mate, while Ocon finished between the pair in P14 after serving his penalty.

Max Verstappen failed to reach the chequered flag, retiring just 10 laps from the end after running P6 with an issue for his Red Bull, with both Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll also retiring – the latter’s stranded car causing the only Safety Car period.

Reigning champions McLaren endured a miserable day, as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failed to start due to two different electrical problems on the power unit side, while Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Williams’ Alex Albon also failed to start due to car problems.

Even before the lights went out for the 56-lap race at the Shanghai International Circuit there was drama, with four drivers unable to make the start including both McLaren drivers.

Reigning World Champion Norris was unable to even reach the grid, while Piastri’s McLaren was wheeled back into the pit lane prior to the formation lap, with the team later confirming that two separate electrical problems with the power unit on each car was the cause. That also made it two non-starts for the Australian this year after his reconnaissance lap crash in Melbourne.

Also not making the start was Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto with a hydraulics issue, while Alex Albon was due to start from the pit lane after a suspension change on his Williams but he failed to get going.

When the lights did go out, polesitter Antonelli immediately moved across on Russell to open up space on the younger Mercedes driver’s left that allowed Hamilton to surge into the lead from P3 on the grid on the outside. Leclerc moved ahead of Russell and tried to go around the outside of Antonelli as well, but the Ferrari driver found himself pinched on the kerb at the Turn 3 left-hander and fell back into third.

Behind, Hadjar found himself spinning at Turn 13 heading onto the back straight, forcing Bearman into avoiding action, while the second Red Bull of Verstappen on the soft tyre had slipped to the back of the field after another sluggish start off the line.

Hamilton’s lead lasted less than two laps, Antonelli moving back in front into the Turn 14 hairpin and the Italian immediately pulled one second ahead. Russell was also on the move, demoting Leclerc for P3 at the start of Lap 3 and repeating the move on Hamilton two laps later.

Lawson, Verstappen and Sainz became the first runners to pit at the end of Lap 10, rejoining just as Stroll brought his Aston Martin to a stop at Turn 1 that necessitated a Safety Car.

The leading runners all pitted to swap their medium Pirelli tyres for fresh hard rubber, Antonelli rejoining in the lead but now heading Colapinto and Ocon, both having started on the hard tyre and deciding not to pit, as Russell, Hamilton, Lindblad, Leclerc, Hulkenberg, Gasly and Bearman completed the top 10 for the restart.

As racing resumed, Russell struggled to generate heat in his tyres and suffered from a lack of grip, running slightly wide at Turn 6 and allowing Hamilton in front, who in turn demoted Ocon and Colapinto within a lap. Russell also cleared the pair but had lost another position to Leclerc in the process, with Antonelli now leading both Ferrari drivers and his team mate.

As the leading quartet pulled clear of the chasing pack, Colapinto led a gaggle of cars which included Ocon, Bearman, Gasly and Verstappen. Over the following laps, Bearman moved to the front of the train with his fresher tyres, followed by Verstappen as Gasly also found his way in front of Colapinto, with Lindblad further back suffering a spin at Turn 14 before rejoining.

On Lap 24, Leclerc moved up to second at Turn 14 into the braking zone, the Ferrari drivers engaging in a thrilling duel over the next few laps, which included running side-by-side through the opening turns, as well as swapping positions through Turn 9 and 10 at one stage.

The in-house fighting allowed Antonelli to crucially extend his margin to seven seconds, as Russell eventually picked Leclerc and Hamilton off before pulling his own gap to the Ferrari drivers. The Ferraris were soon fighting again, Leclerc having run deep at Turn 14 on Lap 35 and losing P3 to Hamilton before trying to fight back into Turn 1 but being rebuffed.

Further back, Ocon was slapped with a 10-second penalty for colliding with Colapinto at Turn 2, the Alpine driver having rejoined from his pit stop just in front of the Haas driver, who was up to speed having stopped earlier.

Leclerc moved back ahead of Hamilton at Turn 14 on Lap 39, but Hamilton fought back at Turn 1 in a decisive move for the final podium position, the two drivers now 20s behind Antonelli as Russell reduced the margin to his team mate to under seven seconds.

Despite a lock-up at Turn 14 with just a handful of laps remaining, Antonelli maintained a comfortable margin over Russell, who was struggling with tyre wear, becoming the second youngest driver in F1 history to win a Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished 25 seconds adrift of the newest race winner, but more than three seconds clear of Leclerc, who had commented on the radio that the intra-team battle was ‘actually quite fun’.

Bearman was best of the rest having recovered from his avoiding action on the opening lap, as Gasly headed Lawson and Hadjar. Sainz scored Williams’ first points of the season in P9 as Colapinto recovered from his collision with Ocon to claim the final point on offer.

Hulkenberg finished where he started in P11 from Lindblad and Bottas, with Ocon overtaking Perez late on after serving his penalty in the pits.

Verstappen and the two Aston Martins of Alonso and Stroll failed to finish the race, while the McLarens of Norris and Piastri, as well as Bortoleto and Albon, failed to even make the start on Sunday.

F1 now takes a short break before returning for the Japanese Grand Prix from March 27-29.