Chinese Grand Prix 2026: Mercedes dominates with superior power

The Ferrari’s strong starts and superior cornering speed put it in the mix in the early laps, and the new hybrid engine with ‘boost’ and ‘overtake’ modes switches modes for a while.

But the longer the race goes on, the more Mercedes’ inherent advantage grows.

“I definitely feel thirsty for power when we’re behind them,” Hamilton said. “It’s really hard to keep up with them, and you can see they have more grunt, they’re pulling longer.”

“That’s why I died this morning (in the sprint). I was just trying to make up for it through the corners, but it didn’t make any difference, so I killed my tires.”

Hamilton hailed Antonelli’s new record as an “amazing achievement” and predicted that “it will take a while for someone to even come close to that number”.

The seven-time champion appears to have been rejuvenated by the new 2026 cars, and appears to be returning to something close to his previous level before the ground-effect cars of the past four years, with which he was never comfortable.

Russell remains wary of Ferrari’s ability to disrupt.

“The opening few laps have been fantastic in the last two races. We know Ferrari are fast off the line and we got them third and fourth, which is the first time in the season, and obviously Lewis was fantastic at the start of the race this morning, so I’m sure it won’t be easy.”

He says he enjoyed the scraps with Ferrari.

“With overtaking mode, the rear driver can use the boost button at up to 330km/h I think, while the driver in front can only use it at 290km/h.

“It seems to be working well. It’s not a DRS system, but it’s working in a similar delta pattern.

“It was very interesting and fun, and I think even some of the enthusiasts probably don’t hate it as much as they did a week ago. We still need to give it a chance.”

The McLaren team qualified fifth and sixth, with Oscar Piastri ahead of world champion Lando Norris. Can they mix it with Ferraris?

“We have a better power unit than Ferrari,” Norris said. “Our advantage is that we have more straight-line speed.

“But they are still a car that corners even faster than a Mercedes. So, it is difficult to catch them in the corners and then try to get them into the straight.”

“So, between Mercedes and them they have different places, they are strong.

He continued: “But we’ll see. I mean they have better tire management, they have more grip. So it’s much easier for the car if the tire is that way.”

“We have to push hard in the corners to catch up and then we can catch on the straight. That’s kind of the wrong end of the stick you want to be on in a racing situation sometimes.

He continued: “But never say never. If we can improve some things as of this morning, we will definitely not be out of the running.”