Finlay McSporran
Published: 18:00 8 March 2026
The is teenager the youngest ever driver to lead the standings.
Race Report
At the start of the race however, it was Antionelli who was on the backfoot.
The Italian started from pole, but dropped down to sixth by the end of the first lap, as Oscar Piastri went from third to first to take the lead by turn one. Russel was also jumped by the fast starting McLarens and Ferrari’s, as he dropped down to fourth.
A disastrous start for the two silver arrows, who had won the previous two races, gave us hope of a different winner.
However, the Mercedes were quick to make up the lost ground, with Russel getting passed Lando Norris on lap three, then Charles Leclerc on lap four to move up to second behind Piastri.
Antionelli was also on the move, passing Lewis Hamilton on lap two, and Norris on 11 to get into fourth behind Leclerc.
On lap eight Russel lunged down the inside of Piastri into the final chicane to take the lead.
But, Piastri came came straight back at him down the straight, as Russel had depleted his battery in his attempt to get past. And so began the ‘yo-yo’ racing that has become so familiar over the past few races.
The same thing happed to Antionelli a few laps later. The Italian deployed the extra battery power to get passed Leclerc’s Ferrari before the chicane, only for the Monegasque to drive straight past him one corner later.
This created something of a stalemate in the battle for the lead. As any attempt by Russel to pass Piastri would require battery deployment which would leave him vulnerable the following straight.
Realising this, Piastri came on the radio to say: “If we hold track position, I think we can hold onto this.”
But that would require pitting at the right time.
McLaren knew that if Russel got ahead they wouldn’t have the outright pace to catch him. So, they decided to bring in Piastri on lap 19 to avoid any chance of being undercut.
Russel came in on lap 22, and emerged back on track still behind Piastri.
His luck wouldn’t get much better unfortunately. Seconds after he emerged from the pit lane, the safety car was deployed after a big incident for Oliver Bearman.
The British driver had came across a slow-moving Franco Colapinto, who was likely harvesting energy for the Battery. Bearman was carrying huge speed as he tried to pass him but the gap soon disappeared, as Colapinto drifted to the right which forced him onto the grass and into a spin.
Bearman’s Haas bit the barrier at high speed, but the driver was a out quickly albeit a little winded. He was checked and released from the medical centre shortly afterwards with no major injuries.
For Russel, this safety car couldn’t have came at a worse time, as not only was it too late for him to take advantage of, it also played right into the hands of his teammate.
Antionelli had stayed out, as had Hamilton, and the pair of them now had a cheap pit-stop thanks to the safety car. After changing tyres, both of them emerged back out on track ahead of their respective teammates.
The order was now Antionelli (1), Piastri (2), Russel (3), Hamilton (4), Leclerc (5).
“Unbelievable!” yelled George Russel over team radio. His chances of fighting for the victory having been taken away from him and handed to his teammate.
Things would only get worse for him as he was passed by Hamilton at the restart, then by Leclerc on lap 37 as his car mysteriously slowed down, all the while his teammate was disappearing out in front.
Speaking of teammates, the Ferrari’s resumed their battle from China with another epic scrap for the final spot on the podium.
Leclerc braved it around the outside of turn one and two, as Hamilton defended harshly but fairly. The two went side-by-side, making the briefest of contact as Leclerc muscled his way through into third.
He would have to fight for it though, as Russel made a late challenge on ap 51/53, getting ahead at the chicane.
As they made their way down the following straight, the Briton was a front-wing ahead as they approached the swooping right hander of turn one and two. But Leclerc wasn’t going down easily, braving it round the outside once again to hold onto third.
Great racing!
That battle left Piastri alone in second place, after a great drive to take McLaren’s first podium of the season. And it’s even more impressive when you consider that he didn’t even start the last two Grand Prix.
But ahead of him was Antionelli who, after the safety car, was in another league. ‘Just bring it home’ was the message to him, but he continued to put in fastest laps of the race to win by 14 seconds in the end, reminiscent of Max Verstappen’s dominance in recent years.
Speaking of which. Verstappen, who was already dislikes the current cars, admitted to the media after the race that he and Redbull were in the “midfield battle”, as he could only manage eighth behind Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
Race winner Antionelli said: “I really need to find a way to do good starts… obviously I was lucky, but all in all sometimes it can happen. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it goes badly but this time it went well for me and I’m very grateful for that.”
Piastri said: “Obviously it’s been a tough start to the year. To come out with P2 and feeling like we had a chance of a win it’s pretty special.Very proud of everybody, I think we did a really good job this weekend of getting the most out of everything.”
Leclerc said: “Considering everything we’ve been quite unlucky with the safety car which is okay, then we came back to the podium which was good, and to keep that third place in the end wasn’t an easy task so, I enjoyed it.
“Again on a track which historically has been extremely difficult to overtake we’ve still seen some overtakes with these cars so, I am still convinced about what I think that these cars actually racing is fun and I like it. Qualifying some tweaks have to be made.”
Full Race Classification:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time / Retired | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:28:03.403 | 25 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +13.722s | 18 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +15.270s | 15 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | +15.754s | 12 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +23.479s | 10 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +25.037s | 8 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +32.340s | 6 |
| 8 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | +32.677s | 4 |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +50.180s | 2 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | +51.216s | 1 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | +52.280s | 0 |
| 12 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull Racing | +56.154s | 0 |
| 13 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | +59.078s | 0 |
| 14 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | +59.848s | 0 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | +65.008s | 0 |
| 16 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | +65.773s | 0 |
| 17 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | +92.453s | 0 |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +1 lap | 0 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | +1 lap | 0 |
| 20 | Alexander Albon | Williams | +2 laps | 0 |
| NC | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | DNF | 0 |
| NC | Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | DNF | 0 |
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