Chinese Grand Prix 2026: Russell wins eventful race

Piastri took the place after Antonelli made a mistake and ran wide at the final corner as the race resumed.

McLaren chose to ask him to let the Mercedes back in rather than argue his case with the stewards.

The first laps of the race provided plenty of entertainment as Russell and Hamilton exchanged the lead.

Hamilton moved from fourth on the grid to slip past Norris around the inside of Turn 1, before making an opportunistic, improvised move at the bottom of Turn 9 to seize the lead.

Russell easily brought him back into the turn 14 straight before Hamilton attacked and passed him around the outside of turn one at the start of lap two.

Russell brought the Ferrari back onto the straight on lap three, before Hamilton regained the lead at turn one on lap four, but Mercedes regained the position a good lap later.

Hamilton was then left to fend off Leclerc and the two Ferrari drivers battled for three laps before the Monegasque driver took his place at Turn 1 on lap eight.

Hamilton fought back to challenge Leclerc into turn one at the start of the next lap and Leclerc had to defend all the way until turn six before consolidating his position.

Antonelli then passed Hamilton in a hairpin turn on lap 11 before Audi driver Nico Hulkenberg stopped in the restart area at Turn 1 due to a technical failure in bringing out the safety car.

This led to a pit stop for new soft tires for the lead cars, with Hamilton and Piastri losing a bit as they had to stand behind their team-mates, and Antonelli falling behind when he took the penalty.

Piastri was ordered to return the fifth to Antonelli shortly after the restart.

Behind the leading cars, Liam Lawson moved from ninth to seventh when the Racing Bulls decided not to pit under the safety car and managed to hold off Haas driver Oliver Biermann who took the final point.

Max Verstappen, who dropped to 15th on the first lap with a slow start, moved up to ninth, behind Berman at the end, losing one point.