Antonelli makes F1 history as Piastri lags behind

• Main race at 6pm on Sunday

Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest pole sitter in Formula One history after clocking the fastest time at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Italian, who at 19 years and 201 days old, replaces Sebastian Vettel as the youngest pole setter.

It will be a Mercedes front-row lock out on a day that saw incredible drama and recovery for the Silver Arrows team.

George Russell pulled over just three minutes into the final session reporting he could not change gear and had no power. Somehow, he crawled back to the pits and came back on track with less than three minutes to go.

"Yeah let's go man," Antonelli said on the radio. "It was a really good session and I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow.

"I saw George had the issue but I just tried to stay focused and stay calm."

With the Mercedes duo on the front row, the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will start third and fourth respectively.

Oscar Piastri - who at one stage was on the provisional front row - will start in fifth with Lando Norris in sixth.

Further back Max Verstappen will start from eighth.

FULL GRID

1. Antonelli
2. Russell
3. Hamilton
4. Leclerc
5. Piastri
6. Norris
7. Gasly
8. Verstappen
9. Hadjar
10. Bearman
11. Hulkenberg
12. Colapinto
13. Ocon
14. Lawson
15. Lindblad
16. Bortoleto
17. Sainz
18. Albon
19. Alonso
20. Bottas
21. Stroll
22. Perez

Q3

Piastri has got himself on to the front row for now - there's 7 minutes to run in this session. Where did that come from?!

Early drama and George Russell has pulled over on the track. He could be out of this! At a total standstill for a few minutes but he has somehow got the car going again.

The audio of his car gives the impression he is stuck in gear and he is heading to the pits. He still has time to sort this - maybe.

Q2 OUT BORTOLETO, LINDBLAD, LAWSON, OCON, COLAPINTO HULKENBERG

Piastri and McLaren had to resort to using a brand new set of tyres just to get out of Q2 - that's not a good omen. Pressure on Piastri in an environment he would not be used to it.

He's safe (8th)- for now but it's uncharted territory.

Drama at the end of the lap and it's double yellow. Times will be deleted if you're passing that zone so that ends Lindblad's hopes of a Q3.

Q1 OUT PEREZ, STROLL, BOTTAS, ALONSO, ALBON, SAINZ

Piastri needs to find something, his car is unimpressive and so is his form. Overcooking the corners and for someone who sat on pole here last season, he isn't looking at his best. P6 in the first session, one spot behind his teammate with the Ferraris and Mercedes duos in front of them.

Further back Verstappen is really struggling with this Red Bull car, it looks bloody awful yet somehow he's pulled the fourth fastest time pushing the McLarens back.

Bortoleto has pulled something from nowhere and pushed Piadtri down to 8th fastest.

Qualifying is underway in China...all three cars that suffered significant damage in the sprint race are "fixed" and will take to the track.

It won't last but after six minutes of Q1 Piastri is top of the time sheets with a 1:33:99.

Six cars will be eliminated in the first session.

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has called for rule changes after Oscar Piastri was penalised for a move during the sprint race at the China Grand Prix.

With the cars poised for a race restart having been put under safety car regulations with just five laps to run, Kimi Antonelli ran wide on the final corner in Shanghai and Piastri overtook on the inside.

As both cars crossed the line, the Australian was ahead - which meant under the regulations he had technically gained a spot under SC conditions. he was subsequently forced to give the position back.

Rules state that a car can only gain if the other driver has gone off the track.

The Mercedes driver barely has an inch of his tyres on the tarmac.

Piastri was told to yield and ultimately finished in sixth behind the Italian but Villeneuve was not convinced with the decision.

"Antonelli went off the track, so at that point, you've given up the right to stay ahead," he said.

"He was more than five car lengths behind the car ahead. You're supposed to stay within five car lengths, and he wasn't any more.

"So what should Piastri have done? Hit the brakes and create mayhem behind? Something has to be looked into there."

Driver standings 1-10

1 George Russell 33
2 Kimi Antonelli 22
3 Charles Leclerc 22
4 Lewis Hamilton 18
5 Lando Norris 15
6 Max Verstappen 8
7 Oliver Bearman 7
8 Arvid Lindblad 4
9 Oscar Piastri 3
10 Gabriel Bortoleto 2

Sprint results

George Russell's faultless start to the 2026 F1 season continues with victory in the China GP sprint race.

Fresh from claiming the Australian Grand Prix last weekend, Mercedes continue to prove the main beneficiaries of the new cars and regulations.

"A lot of strategy at play," Russell said. "It's not easy but I hope that was fun for everyone to watch, srint races can be boring. But I'm happy to get the win.

"It's very windy so it's not easy, this first corner is so long. You have to manage your tyres. Lewis did an amazing job early on and he caught me offguard."

Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton claimed second and third respectively ahead of Lando Norris, Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri.

The Australian looked to have moved up to fifthe wiht two laps to go but was forced to give the place back to Antonelli having overtaken in a Safety Car environment.

"McLaren look to be the third best team out there," David Croft said on Sky F1.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the opening sprint of the season was the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar finishing in 9th and 15th.

F1 to axe two races amid Middle East war

Formula One is set to announce that it will either reschedule or cancel the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix amid concerns over growing conflict in the region.

A source speaking on the basis of confidentiality told the AFP that Formula One will say that the races, scheduled to take place next month, "have been cancelled or postponed to a later date".

If confirmed, it would be the first time since 2023 that an F1 Grand Prix has been cancelled. It would also see the calendar reduced to 22 races.

There is still the possibility that more races could be cancelled or rescheduled if the conflict continues.

Currently, the final two races of the season are taking place in Qatar (27-29 November) and Abu Dhabi (4-6 December).

Piastri: The gap to Mercedes is impressive

Having finished 5th during the sprint qualification at the Chinese Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri is hopeful that his McLaren can close the gap to Mercedes throughout the race weekend.

As they did at Albert Park, the Silver Arrows continued to dominate the timesheets around the Shanghai International Circuit.

In both the practice session and in the qualifying for the season’s first Sprint race, the duo of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli would lock up first and second by a considerable gap.

In both sessions, Russell would claim the fastest time over his Italian teammate.

Qualifying was where the gap between Mercedes and the rest was most prominent, with third-placed Lando Norris being 0.621 seconds behind his fellow Brit, showing why the team had been the constructor championship favourites.

While believing his performance was a satisfactory one, Piastri admitted he was impressed by how Mercedes had performed in the opening two rounds.

“It was reasonable,” the Australian noted.

“I think the step (up) in grip from the mediums to softs was pretty big.

“Obviously, the gap to Mercedes is pretty impressive; so some things for us to try and work on.

“The car felt pretty good. It was a pretty decent lap. So, I don’t think there was too much left.”

But while the gap between Mercedes and the rest of the grid remains a significant challenge to overcome, there were some positives that the 24-year-old will take out from it, such as setting the fastest time through Sector 1.

“No, I think Sector 1, we seemed good,” he added.

“But yeah, six tenths in the last sector is impressive, so we’ll go and have a look at where we’re losing the time.”