Mercedes showed a first hint of 2026 vulnerability in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, but still ended up with a front-row lock-out to underline their superiority over the field at the start of this season.
Both Kimi Antonelli, who broke the record for Formula 1’s youngest pole-winner, and championship leader George Russell hit trouble, but still had enough pace in hand to beat the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on the two-by-two grid in Shanghai.
Mercedes’ problems reduced Ferrari’s gap to pole – Hamilton was just 0.351secs slower than Antonelli, more or less halving the deficit the next fastest car had to pole in both qualifying at the first race of the season in Australia and in the sprint qualifying on Friday in China.
That might lead to a suggestion that Ferrari could take the race to Mercedes on Sunday, given Ferrari took themselves out of the lead battle in Melbourne with a strategy error, and that Leclerc and Hamilton had battled for the lead in the early stages in the China sprint on Saturday as well.
But Hamilton said he would “take that with a pinch of salt” given the circumstances – and he did not even know all of them at the time.
“It’s highly unlikely that we will be able to beat them in the race,” Hamilton said. “In our statistics they’ve got some between 0.4-0.6secs race pace (advantage).
“Whether or not we saw that in the first race or not, in clear air they’re just above us at the moment.
“Maybe with strategy maybe something can happen. Maybe with the start, maybe there’s a way. I definitely need to make sure I don’t kill my tyres trying to either keep up with them or keep one behind. I need to drive better tomorrow.”
Russell’s compromise in qualifying was obvious. He suffered a front-wing failure in the second session, and then a series of technical problems in the final session.
Stranded out on track with a gearbox malfunction, he made it back to the pits where the team rushed to fix a problem they could not identify.
In the end, switching the steering wheel and turning the car off and on again did it, and Russell just made it out for a final lap.
Compromised by too-cold tyres and a battery 10% down on the optimum charge as he went into the lap, Russell still beat Hamilton by 0.129secs while falling short of Antonelli by 0.22secs.
It later emerged that Antonelli’s pace on his final run was compromised by the same front wing problems that Russell had had.
The early laps of the race may well feature yet another yo-yoing battle between the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers, as has marked out the early stages of both races so far this season.
But a pattern appears to have emerged in the first two races – a grand prix and a sprint.
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Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, Hamilton, right, congratulated Antonelli on his pole position
Slide 1 of 3, Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton , Hamilton, right, congratulated Antonelli on his pole position
Ferrari’s strong starts and superior cornering speed puts them in the mix in the early laps, and the new hybrid engine with their “boost” and “overtake” modes leads to switching of positions for a while.
But the longer the race goes on, the more Mercedes’ inherent advantage pays off.
Hamilton said: “Definitely feeling thirsty on power when we’re behind them. It’s really, really hard to keep up and you could tell they just have more grunt, they’re just pulling for longer.
“That’s why I died this morning (in the sprint). I was just trying to make it up through the corners, but it just wasn’t making any difference, so just killing my tyres.”
Hamilton praised Antonelli’s new record as “an amazing achievement” and predicted that it was “going to take a while for someone to ever get close to that one”.
The seven-time champion appears rejuvenated by the new 2026 cars, and seems back to something close to his previous form before the ground-effect cars of the past four years, with which he was never comfortable.
And Russell is still wary of the Ferraris’ potential to disrupt.
“It has been great opening few laps for the last two races. We know Ferrari are quick off the line and we’ve got them in P3 and P4, which is the first time of the season, and Lewis was obviously great at the beginning of the race this morning, so I am sure it’s not going to be straightforward.”
He says he has been enjoying the scraps with Ferrari.
“With the overtake mode, the driver behind can use the boost button up to I think 330km/h, where the guy in the front can only use it to 290km/h.
“It seems to work quite well. It isn’t DRS, but it works in a similar pattern for the speed delta.
“It’s been quite interesting, quite fun, and I think even some diehards maybe aren’t disliking it as much as they did maybe a week ago. We just still need to give it a chance.”
The McLarens qualified fifth and sixth, Oscar Piastri ahead of world champion Lando Norris. Can they mix it with the Ferraris?
Norris said: “We have a better power unit than the Ferrari. Our advantage is that we just have more straight-line speed.
“But they’re still a car that drives around the corners quicker than even a Mercedes. So, to keep up with them in the corners and then try to get them in the straight is difficult.
“So, between Mercedes and them they have different places they’re strong.
“But we’ll see. I mean they have better tyre management, they have more grip. And therefore it’s much easier for the car if the tyre is that way.
“We have to push like hell in the corners to keep up and then we can obviously catch up in the straight. That’s kind of the wrong end of the stick you want to be on in a race situation at times.
“But never say never. If we can improve on some things from this morning, then we’re certainly not out of the picture of racing them.”