Scott Gulbransen
The 2026 Chinese Grand Prix delivered the kind of Sunday that makes you remember why you started watching this sport. A 19-year-old Italian won his first Formula 1 race. Lewis Hamilton finally stood on a podium in red. And the reigning world champion never even made it to the starting grid. Two races into the most sweeping regulation overhaul in F1 history, the 2026 season already has its first star, its first feel-good story, and its first genuine crisis.
Here are our winners and losers from the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix.
Winner: Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes
Nineteen years old. First Formula 1 victory. Youngest Grand Prix polesitter in the history of the sport. And he did it the hard way: losing the lead to Lewis Hamilton off the line, fighting back through two aggressive Ferraris, and then managing a 56-lap race in Shanghai without a support net or a veteran teammate holding his hand through it.
Antonelli has been the subject of enormous hype since Mercedes installed him in the seat Hamilton vacated. Hype has a way of crushing young drivers who aren’t ready for it. He looked ready. There was one terrifying moment late — a massive lockup at Turn 14 with four laps left that sent him deep into the runoff — but he held it together, kept the gap, and crossed the line 5.5 seconds clear of George Russell. Antonelli is the second youngest race winner in F1 history, behind only Max Verstappen. For American fans just getting into this sport, remember the name. You’re going to be saying it a lot over the next decade.
Loser: McLaren
There’s no soft way to frame this. Both cars didn’t start. Not one. Both.
Lando Norris never made it to the grid. Oscar Piastri, who has now failed to complete a race start in both rounds of 2026, was wheeled back into the garage before the formation lap with a separate electrical failure on each car. Two different problems, two different cars, same catastrophic result.
McLaren won the constructors’ title last year and arrived in Shanghai as one of the teams capable of making this a four-way championship fight. Right now, they have zero points through two races and a reliability crisis that should genuinely alarm everyone in Woking. The 2026 power unit regulations are clearly causing headaches across the paddock but nobody’s headaches have been this bad.
Winner: Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari
He’s been waiting 26 races for this day. His first podium in a Ferrari red suit finally came in Shanghai, and he earned it the way you’d want the greatest driver of his generation to earn it — wheel to wheel, aggressive, alive. Hamilton led the race in the opening laps after a brilliant launch from third on the grid. He scrapped with Russell for the lead, swapped positions multiple times, and when the dust settled, he was third behind the two Mercedes drivers who simply had the faster package on the day.
The intra-Ferrari battle with Leclerc in the final stint was the kind of racing that made people fall in love with this sport in the first place. Hamilton said afterward it was one of the most enjoyable races he’s had in years. At 40 years old, in a new team, in a new era, he still wants it. Don’t let anyone tell you this Ferrari chapter is already over.
Loser: Max Verstappen and Red Bull
Ten laps from the end, Verstappen was running sixth and quietly salvaging something from a messy weekend. Then the power unit died. He limped around the circuit for most of a lap before parking it, collecting his second retirement in two races, which is not what a four-time world champion racing for a team with serious reliability concerns needed heading into Japan.
The bigger picture here is genuinely worrying for Red Bull. The new Ford power unit reportedly came into 2026 with limited working batteries. Verstappen has been vocal about his frustration with the car’s behavior through corners, and the gap to Mercedes in qualifying has been stark both weekends. He’s not out of this championship conversation (he never really is), but Red Bull needs answers before Suzuka, and they need them fast.
Winner: George Russell | Mercedes
George Russell leads the drivers’ championship by one point after Sunday’s race and loss to his 19-year-old teammate. Think about that. Two races, two podiums, one win, one second place, a Sprint victory in Shanghai, and the fastest car on the grid by a clear margin.
Russell has been methodical, precise, and utterly professional through the opening two weekends of what was always going to be a chaotic new era. Antonelli beating him on Sunday doesn’t diminish what Russell is building here — it actually makes the Mercedes storyline better. Two drivers capable of winning races, separated by a single point in the standings, teammates who will eventually have to reckon with each other. Russell knew what he was signing up for when Mercedes brought Antonelli in. Right now, he’s handling it exactly right.
