George Russell has won the opening sprint race of the 2026 season after a dominant drive at the China Grand Prix.
The Mercedes star got away cleanly at the start before being mobbed by Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
A late safety car caused some carnage, but it mattered little for Russell who skipped clear and held on to continue his stunning start to the season.
It wasn’t good news in the closing laps for Aussie Oscar Piastri who was forced to hand back a position to fellow Mercedes star Kimi Antonelli.
Piastri committed the cardinal sin of overtaking before crossing the start/finish line after a safety car restart.
Thankfully the Aussie wasn’t further reprimanded by the stewards after willingly moving aside and letting Antonelli through.
Despite the race providing plenty of higlights, fans were left fuming as the regulation changes continue to cause widespread backlash.
Battery deployment and boost have become hot topics of discussion among fans of the sport with overtakes flowing in the early stages of the season.
But the overtakes are being labelled as fake and inauthentic and the vitriol continued on Saturday during the sprint race.
RBR Daily wrote on X: “This is not Formula 1.”
Matt Nicholls wrote: “I’m sorry but this “boost” business is f***ing awful. You can’t defend against it (safely). This is going to be a horror year of F1.”
Recap the entire race below with the drivers set to return to the track for qualifying to get underway from 6pm (AEDT).
2:40pm – Russell wins again, Piastri commits cardinal sin
George Russell has continued his stellar start to the season by winning the China Grand Prix sprint race ahead of Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari finished with both drivers on the podium as Lewis Hamilton crossed in third place ahead of reigning champion Lando Norris.
Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli was in fifth, holding off Oscar Piastri who was forced to give up a position after committing a big no-no on the safety car restart.
Piastri overtook Antonelli as the race got back underway, but pulled off the move ahead of the finish line which isn’t allowed.
He was told to give the position back by the team before the stewards could ultimately get involved.
2:25pm – Safety car causes late sprint carnage
Nico Hulkenberg pulled over off the track on turn one which forced a safety car to be called and saw those at the front of the grid dive into the pits.
Mercedes were able to pull off the double stack with ease, with Kimi Antonelli serving his 10-second time penalty in the process.
For Ferrari however it didn’t go according to plan with Lewis Hamilton losing out and dropping a place to Lando Norris.
We will have only two or three laps of racing to go when the safety car peels into the pits.
2:05pm – Opening lap chaos
The start of a race has once again dished up some drama with Kimi Antonelli stuck on the grid and tumbling from second down to seventh.
Ferrari showed they’re the team to beat at the start of races with Lewis Hamilton surging into the race lead with Charles Leclerc up into third place.
George Russell now has a fight on his hand without a teammate in sight. In further bad news for Max Verstappen, he has slid from eighth down to 14th.
1:45pm – Team apologise after dumpster fire
Red Bull have apologised to Max Verstappen after the four-time world champion slumped to be more than 1.7 seconds behind George Russell during qualifying.
The master behind the wheel was left fighting with an arm tied behind his back as his rivals skipped away throughout the session on Friday.
After crossing with the eighth fastest time, Verstappen vented his frustrations over the team radio by declaring the car “undriveable”.
He went a step further as he addressed the media.
On the coverage ahead of the sprint race, Sky Sports host Simon Lazenby confirmed the team had apologised to Verstappen over the lacklustre display.
“In 25 sprint races, this is his (Verstappen) worst ever starting position,” Lazenby said.
“One point seven off the pace … and they apologised to him.”
1:30pm – Star’s ominous threat to F1 rivals
19-year-old Kimi Antonelli has blitzed the field alongside his teammate to start the season, but the youngster says he still has room for improvement.
The ominous warning should send shivers down the spine of every other driver on the grid who is struggling to come up with answers to catch the Mercedes.
“The pace is very strong. Just didn’t put the lap together at the end on the softs. Still some work to do. It’s all to play for tomorrow,” said the 19-year-old.
