F1 Sprint Race Results: Russell made to work as Ferraris claim podiums and Mercedes star penalized

Russell after taking Sprint pole in Shanghai — Photo: © IMAGO

Chinese Grand Prix

F1 Sprint Race Results: Russell made to work as Ferraris claim podiums and Mercedes star penalized

All the times and positions from the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race

Chris Deeley

Saturday 14 March 2026 05:00

George Russell was made to work for his first sprint race win of the 2026 F1 season at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday.

Lewis Hamilton benefitted from Ferrari's signature great launch off the grid to take the lead within the first few corners, with he and his former team-mate Russell swapping passes for first place for several laps.

Russell finally created a little distance from Hamilton, with the seven-time world champion sliding back into Leclerc's clutches for a brief, fierce battle which saw the team-mates nearly make contact as they went wheel-to-wheel.

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Kimi Antonelli eventually joined the party and passed Hamilton on track, but all of that good work was negated by a ten-second penalty issued to him for a first-lap incident involving Isack Hadjar – an incident indirectly brought about by a dreadful start which dropped the second Mercedes from second to seventh by the first corner.

Nico Hulkenberg retired with a handful of laps to go to bring out a late safety car, which brought the vast majority of cars into the pits for fresh tyres. That means a Ferrari double-stack pit stop, which dropped Hamilton behind Lando Norris

Red Bull's disastrous weekend continued lower down the field, failing to score a single point as Max Verstappen could only finish ninth and Hadjar 15th.

F1 Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Race Results

Race Results
Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	George Russell	Mercedes	WINNER
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.674s
3	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+2.554s
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+4.433s
5	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+5.688s
6	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+6.809s
7	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+10.900s
8	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+11.271s
9	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+11.619s
10	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+13.887s
11	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+14.780s
12	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+15.753s
13	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+15.858s
14	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+16.393s
15	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+16.430s
16	Alex Albon	Williams	+20.014s
17	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+21.599s
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+21.971s
19	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+28.241s
20	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	DNF
21	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	DNF
22	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	DNF