Chinese Grand Prix 2026: George Russell tops practice

George Russell put Kimi Antonelli to a one-two for Mercedes in just one practice session at the Chinese Grand Prix before the start of the sprint weekend.

Russell was more than 0.7 seconds clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, the first non-Mercedes driver.

Over one lap, that’s almost the same advantage Mercedes showed at last weekend’s season-opening race in Australia.

Antonelli was 0.120 seconds behind Russell, while Piastri’s lead was 0.736 seconds; Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris were right behind them.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was sixth fastest, 1.388 seconds off the pace, but his time had been set earlier in the session on older tyres, after an early corner had ruined the intermediate set of tyres.

Ferrari used an innovative rear wing with a flap that opened for straight-line mode by rotating more than 180 degrees around its axis, rather than a gap opened by removing the front of the straight.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took eighth place, 1.8 seconds behind Mercedes and Briton Oliver Bearman’s Haas.

British rookie Arvid Lindblad managed only six laps before his Racing Bulls car stalled due to a reliability issue on the long back straight, with smoke billowing from the engine airbox before taking off at the hairpin.

Sprint qualifying will take place at 07:30 UK time.