Chinese Grand Prix 2026: Russell takes pole position in the sprint race

George Russell led teammate Kimi Antonelli as Mercedes dominated qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Russell was 0.289 seconds ahead of the Italian and 0.621 seconds ahead of the first non-Mercedes driver, world champion Lando Norris in a McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton finished fourth for Ferrari, just 0.02 seconds behind Norris, while McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished fifth, ahead of the second Ferrari driven by Charles Leclerc.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was only able to finish eighth, 1.734 seconds behind Pierre Gasly in the Alps.

Haas driver Oliver Biermann came in ninth place, ahead of second Red Bull driver Izak Hajjar.

Russell’s pole was his second in six days after taking the pole and win in the season-opening race in Australia.

The qualifying session followed a very similar pattern to what happened in Melbourne – Russell was around 0.3 seconds quicker than Antonelli and the Ferrari quickest by a similar margin.

In Australia, Ferrari was more competitive in the race.

The big outliers were Red Bull. Hager qualified third in Australia but both cars were off the pace in Shanghai.

Verstappen, who crashed on his first lap in Australia after his rear brake locked up at Turn 1, at least completed the session and was around 0.5 seconds ahead of his teammate.

But that will be no consolation for the four-time champion when the gap to the front is so large.

More to follow