ᴋɪᴍɪ ʀ̶ᴀ̶ɪ̶ᴋ̶ᴋ̶ᴏ̶ɴ̶ᴇ̶ɴ̶ ᴀɴᴛᴏɴᴇʟʟɪ ᴡɪɴꜱ!!!

 CHINESE GRAND PRIX 2026

photo credit: motorsportweek.com

KIMI ANTONELLI WINS IN SHANGHAI!!

The 19 year old Mercedes driver takes his first win in Shanghai after becoming the youngest pole sitter in F1 history. He drove a sublime race from start to end, dominating and staying in the lead throughout the race which was also aided by his teammate George getting stuck behind the two Ferrari drivers. Regardless, an inch perfect drive to secure his first win in Formula1.

As for his teammate, George, well he had a somewhat difficult race, battling it out with the two Ferrari drivers throughout most of the race. In the end, he came out victorious over both of them due to the raw pace advantage that the Mercedes has over the Ferrari's. In all, another perfect weekend for Mercedes, with another front row lockout and another 1-2 finish in the race. Just utter dominance by them.

Heading to their closest rivals in the championship currently, Ferrari. They had a another decent weekend, with again the same result, securing P3-P4, just this time it was Lewis getting the podium except of Charles. This was Lewis' first podium with Ferrari, hopefully first of many. 

The problem that Ferrari are facing currently is that they are able to overtake the Mercedes off the line but just do not have the pace to keep them behind. Hence, they are just stuck in that second best spot as they are behind Mercedes in pace, but miles ahead of the rest of the field. 

Nevertheless, Lewis and Charles gave the fans what they wanted, toe to toe racing with supreme car control. Both battled it out on the straights, then the twisting corners and did not seem to give up. It was truly one of the best pieces of race craft seen in these past few years. It made fans realize what racing is after two years of Papaya rules which limited inter-team racing. Nevertheless, a good battle and a good points haul for Ferrari.

Red Bull... well they are doing not pretty good to say the least. They are not faster than the likes of a Haas and an Alpine which would be shocking to hear these past few years but is the truth this year. They are slow and well unreliable too as Isack did not finish the race in Australia and now Max in Shanghai due to a ERS coolant failure. Isack finished P8 in the race, not where Red Bull would want to be currently, but still it is a better result than a Red Bull second driver was producing last year. The struggles at Red Bull are real and they need to act fast to improve their car if they want to fight the likes of McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari. Also, they will have to improve their car if they wish to retain the four time world champion, Max Verstappen. 

McLaren's weekend summarized in one word would be- terrible. They managed a P4 and P6 in sprint which was decent but in the actual race everything that could go wrong went wrong. Both cars did not start the race due to both having different issues. Just not what the reigning world champions should be like honestly. They lost a good chunk of points as they were just behind the Ferrari's in the starting grid but never got to start. This occurrence made Piastri the first driver since 1969 (Bruce McLaren) to have a double DNS.

Haas was a team that capitalized on the ruins of McLaren. Oliver Bearman finished P5 regardless of spinning in the opening stages of the race. Once again proving that he is one of the best drivers out of the younger lot on the grid. On the other hand, his teammate Esteban Ocon collided with Franco due to his fault and ended his hopes of getting points. In all, Haas had good pace and scored some decent points.

Alpine like Haas was another team which benefitted from the McLaren mayhem.  They got both their drivers into the points, something seemingly unachievable and unheard of last season. Pierre finished in P6 and Franco in P10, getting his first points with Alpine. 

As for Williams, Carlos managed to score points but they are just not living up to their fan's expectations as they are way behind other cars in terms of pace compared to last season. As for Alex, he did not even start the race. Williams, will need to find a fix or else they will be bottom of the midfield rather than heading it like last year. 

Racing Bulls, is opposite of Red Bull this season. Both drivers are performing and the car also seems to have good pace with Liam finishing P7 for them and sadly, Arvid spinning out on lap 1, leading him to only getting P12. Regardless, Racing Bulls have started off the season well.

As for Aston and Cadillac, they are just doing horribly this season. Both are having severe problems with their cars and miles behind in terms of pace from their competitors. At least Cadillac managed to finish this race but Aston still could not. Aston is a disappointment to say the least as everyone held high hopes from them with Adrian Newey taking the lead, yet nothing good seems to be happening. Both teams have a lot of catching up to do.

It was a brilliant race with multiple overtakes and supreme defense on portrayal by all drivers racing. It was truly a race to remember with both car and driver skill making a huge difference equally. 

Next on we head to Japan, to the fan favorite, Suzuka.  A relentless track with, fast and twisty turns, which require pin-point precision and a brilliant flowy driving style to ace it. Over there we will look to see whether Mercedes continue to dominate or Ferrari can make inroads into the Mercedes pace advantage or some other team is hiding something under their sleeve. Only time will tell...