Kimi Antonelli wrote himself into F1 records books in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, becoming the sport’s youngest pole sitter at just 19 years of age. The Mercedes driver topped the grid shootout with a time of 1:32.064, two tenths of a second clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell, with Lewis Hamilton in third place for Ferrari.

Antonelli claimed provisional pole with a lap of 1:32.322 to top the first runs of Q2 ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Hamilton and then, when Russell was restricted to a last-gasp single run by a technical issue that briefly stopped him on track, the Italian teenager used his final run to beat Russell’s sole flyer by 0.241s. 

Prior to Russell making it out of the Mercedes garage at the very end of the session, Hamilton had been the closest to Antonelli, but eventually the Ferrari driver’s best time of 1:32.451 left him this. 0.14s off Russell. 

In the minutes of the session, it was Russell who looked in control. The Briton led the way early on in Q1 with a lap of 1:33.262, but he was eventually ousted by Leclerc who looked to carry on his strong performance from the earlier Sprint in which he’d finished just half a second behind the Mercedes man. The Ferrari driver posted a lap of 1:33.175 to top Q1, just 0.083 ahead of Russell with Antonelli third and Max Verstappen fourth in a Red Bull that looked somewhat better than in the morning’s Sprint.

At the other end of the timesheet there was no place in Q2 for Williams duo Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, who exited in P17 and P18 respectively. Nor was there room for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who went out in P19 followed by Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas., the second Aston of Lance Stroll and the second Cadillac of Sergio Pérez.

Antonelli first staked a claim to top spot in the middle segment. The Italian sealed P1 with a lap of 1:32.443, just under five hundredths of a second clear of Leclerc and a little under a tenth ahead of Russell. The Briton was complaining of understeer and then, late in the segment, a broken front wing further hampered his session. 

At the edge of the top 10, the battle for the final place in Q3 was intense. Isack Hadjar put in an early claim, his first run time of 1:33.352 being initially good enough for P8 before improvements elsewhere pushed him to tenths. 

That looked vulnerable and in the final runs it looked as though Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg, or Alpine’s Franco Colapinto might beat the Frenchman. In the end though there was frustration for both with Hülkenberg exiting in P11, just 0.002s off Hadjar and with Colapinto just 0.003s further back in P12. They were followed to the exit by Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindlbad and by Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto whose final run ended in the gravel trap at Turn 16. 

Behind the Mercedes and Ferrari cars in the final top 10 shootout, Lando Norris took fifth ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, while Pierre Gasly again looked quick with P7 in the Mercedes-powered Alpine. That left Verstappen in P8 ahead of Hadjar and the final top 10 position went to Haas’ Ollie Bearman.

2026 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:32.064 - -
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.286 0.222 0.241
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:32.415 0.351 0.381
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.428 0.364 0.395
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:32.550 0.486 0.528
6 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:32.608 0.544 0.591
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Mercedes 1:32.873 0.809 0.879
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 1:33.002 0.938 1.019
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 1:33.121 1.057 1.148
10 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:33.292 1.228 1.334
11 Nico Hülkenberg Audi 1:33.354 1.290 1.401
12 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Mercedes 1:33.357 1.293 1.404
13 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:33.538 1.474 1.601
14 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 1:33.765 1.701 1.848
15 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 1:33.784 1.720 1.868
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:33.965 1.901 2.065
17 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:34.317 2.253 2.447
18 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:34.772 2.708 2.941
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Honda 1:35.203 3.139 3.410
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac/Ferrari 1:35.436 3.372 3.663
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Honda 1:35.995 3.931 4.270
22 Sergio Pérez Cadillac/Ferrari 1:36.906 4.842 5.259