Colton Herta scored points in his Formula 2 debut in Melbourne but was harshly self-critical after a practice crash marred his weekend. The American, who left IndyCar to pursue F1, recovered to finish seventh in the Feature Race, praising his Hitech team's effort while labeling his own performance 'unsatisfactory.'
Formula 1 is set to cancel the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix scheduled for April due to safety concerns stemming from Middle East conflict. The decision, expected to be confirmed imminently, will cut the 2026 season to 22 races and create a five-week gap in the calendar, with no replacement events planned.
George Russell starts from pole for the 2026 Chinese GP Sprint, leading Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen faces a challenge from eighth on the grid in the 19-lap race, which kicks off a crucial weekend for establishing early season momentum.
The 2026 F1 season faces immediate disruption as the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix are cancelled due to safety concerns from the Middle East conflict. The sport must now urgently reorganize its calendar and logistics.
Toto Wolff pinpointed superior cornering speed as the key to Mercedes' dominant front-row lockout in Shanghai sprint qualifying. He connected this current advantage to the team's decision to prioritize 2026 car development earlier than rivals, highlighting the benefits of their works team structure.
Sergio Perez missed Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying with a fuel pump failure, a persistent issue that has plagued the Cadillac team since testing. Teammate Valtteri Bottas also suffered a power unit problem, qualifying last, in a double blow that underscores the new team's pressing reliability struggles.
George Russell will start the Chinese GP Sprint from pole position after leading a Mercedes 1-2 in qualifying. The provisional grid was set following stewards' reviews of incidents involving Pierre Gasly and Kimi Antonelli, with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton completing the second row.
Mercedes delivered a statement performance in Friday's Sprint Qualifying at the 2026 Chinese GP, dominating the timing sheets and setting a formidable benchmark. Our photo gallery captures the on-track action, team reactions, and the electric return of F1 to a packed Shanghai International Circuit.
Lewis Hamilton was surprised and amused when a video message from TV presenter Richard Hammond played at a Shell event in Shanghai. The Ferrari driver, who has never met the former Top Gear host, laughed and asked "Why did you choose him?" before thanking him for the good luck wishes ahead of the Chinese GP.
Ferrari briefly tested its innovative 180-degree rotating rear wing with both drivers in China but reverted to a standard design for qualifying and the race. The team deemed the component not yet reliable or impactful enough to risk over a full Grand Prix distance, opting for further analysis in Maranello instead.
Charles Leclerc was left furious after a power deployment failure on his final SQ3 lap at the Chinese GP, costing him an estimated half-second and relegating him to sixth. The incident underscores a worrying qualifying deficit to Mercedes, with Leclerc and Hamilton both pointing to a lack of straight-line power as Ferrari's critical weakness.
Ferrari has temporarily withdrawn its headline-grabbing inverted rear wing after just one practice session in China, with Lewis Hamilton calling its debut "premature." The team will gather more data before reintroducing the radical design, prioritizing reliability as it battles a perceived straight-line speed deficit to Mercedes.
