F1. China 2026 Review
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By Scott McLean, Gavin Huet, Chelsea Wintle, Graeme Woolf, and Aiden McLaughlin
Driver of the Weekend
Chelsea: You know where I was at 19? Asleep in the fire escape of The Globe Hotel because I was so drunk, I couldn’t find the front door. In sobering contrast, Kimi Antonelli is now the youngest Grand Prix winner in history at precisely the same age. Antonelli has be lauded for years as the next great talent, so to see him command the lead of a race, and hold it – aside from a moderate brain fart toward the end – was gratifying. While I he remains a nascent talent unlikely to challenge George Russell regularly, he’s a more than capable teammate and that won’t be his final win of the season.
Chelsea: You know where I was at 19? Asleep in the fire escape of The Globe Hotel because I was so drunk, I couldn’t find the front door. In sobering contrast, Kimi Antonelli is now the youngest Grand Prix winner in history at precisely the same age. Antonelli has be lauded for years as the next great talent, so to see him command the lead of a race, and hold it – aside from a moderate brain fart toward the end – was gratifying. While I he remains a nascent talent unlikely to challenge George Russell regularly, he’s a more than capable teammate and that won’t be his final win of the season.
Aiden: Liam Lawson, with two points finishes over the weekend is unlucky, but I can’t look past Kimi Antonelli. On Saturday he became the youngest driver in F1 history to claim pole position for a Grand Prix and on Sunday he became the second youngest driver to win a Grand Prix, at the age of just 19. Many may have questioned Toto Wolff’s choice of replacement for Lewis Hamilton, but we are all now starting to understand it.
Gavin: Unless you are a cold-hearted individual it has to be Kimi Antonelli. What a weekend the youngster had, though he almost threw it away late on when he locked up and went sight seeing a bit. His poor race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington must have had a minor heart attack at that stage but you would never know it from the way he calmly talked his young driver through the last few laps. Let’s hope he has more of this over the season to keep team mate George Russell honest.
Graeme: I don’t know about anyone else, but when I was 19, I had no idea how to drive a car, let alone an F1 car. Yes, I was a slow learner. But I’ll tell you who does, Kimi Antonelli does, that’s who! We’re quickly finding out now why Toto Wolf signed him up so young. This young man will win multiple Grands Prix this year.
Scott: Kimi Antonelli – were you expecting Oscar Piastri? A pretty dominant weekend for the Italian, becoming the youngest-ever polesitter and the joining Sebastian Vettel as teenagers to stand on the top step. A mention too for our boy Liam Lawson, who climbed through the midpack in both races and was the leading Red Bull car home.
Talking Point
Chelsea: The race start was similarly delicious to last week, with Ferrari performing well off the line. Most exciting was the Hamilton/Leclerc battle, which Leclerc declared midrace to be “fun, actually” despite the two getting slightly too close for comfort at times. The new rules might be dubious in principle, but in execution they’re fabulous, and while slightly engineered, the drama is real. On top of this, we have the genuine delight of seeing Lewis take his first full race podium in (a) literal years, and (b) a Ferrari. Grazie ragazzi! Grande lavoro! Forza Ferrari! Etc.
Aiden: If you thought Oscar Piastri wouldn’t clock up a single lap in the first two main races, I want your lotto numbers. If you also predicted Lando Norris would be stuck in the garage at the start of one of the first two races, I want your bonus number too. What is going on at McLaren? I’m confident they’ll get their shit together sooner rather than later, but by then, both championships might already be out of reach.
Gavin: It looks like there is no Ferrari equivalent of the infamous Papaya Rules. The racing between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc was fantastic and nail-bitingly close, in fact they did touch briefly. This was pure driver racing, no Mario Kart or anything other gimmick. Though at some point team principal Fred Vasseur will have to have a word with his two drivers as Ferrari really can’t afford to waste their good start to the season.
Graeme:This was the first race I’ve seen this year and I really enjoyed it. I’m far from an aficionado on things with engines, but with all of the regulation changes this year, there were more overtakes, more battles for places and more retirements. That’s a talking point in itself, particularly around what happened with none of the two McLaren cars being able to start the race.
Scott: McLaren. To quote the legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi “What the Hell is going on out here?”. The rare double-Did Not Start, with both papaya-flyers suffering unrelated electrical faults when fired up to head to the grid. They’re probably thankful the two Middle East rounds have been cancelled, but with the engines cost-capped how much work can they actually do on them between now and Miami?
Coverage-wise, the news that Danica Patrick won’t be back this season robs us of one of the true gems of the sport; Jenson Button’s bemused face whenever the pair had microphones in their hands.
Gossip Time
Chelsea: There were a number of downcast faces in the pit lane this week, with four drivers failing to start and another three failing to finish. Among the zero-pointers were Max Verstappen, whose power unit failed him on lap 46. “This is not fun at all,” he said later, in direct contradiction to Leclerc’s glee, “It’s playing Mario Kart!” Indeed, but people are watching. Also downcast were the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, both pulled from the race tantalisingly close to the start, with same-same-but-different power unit issues. Yet despite only fielding one driver out of four possible race starts, McLaren somehow remain third in the constructor’s championship. Skills.
Aiden: Nintendo have offered Max Verstappen a muti-million dollar deal to keep mentioning Super Mario Kart. Nah, not really…well, I don’t think so. But grumpy Max is back for sure and comparing the new regulations to the famous computer game. Maybe it’s time to stay off the mushrooms Max.
Gavin: I wonder what the Aston Martin / Honda relationship will be in Japan? If those cars continue to be plagued by issues at the home of the engine manufacturer it is going to be very awkward… I mean Alonso won’t be able to do any meet and greet handshakes if he does more than 10 laps anyway. I suspect a bad showing here will force Honda to up their game and deliver a better package to Aston Martin.
Graeme: Where has it all gone wrong for McLaren? They completely dominated last year but this year have only had 1 car start 1 race on the first 2 weekends. I don’t dislike McLaren, but it is nice to see the pecking order changing from last year. Although having Mercedes looking so strong initially reminds me of Red Bull 3 years ago. I may be wrong, but I thought the new regs were supposed to bring everyone closer together.
Scott: Max Verstappen isn’t happy with the new regulations and letting everyone know about it. Related: Max Verstappen isn’t winning, and didn’t even finish in Shanghai
Looking Ahead
Chelsea: I’m back on my grumbles this week. Unfathomably, lap times during the races are being displayed to the tenth of a second, as opposed to thousandths in previous years. For such a small detail, it’s a huge detail – even hundredths of a second can make all the difference in racing, and to see it so diluted feels clumsy and dumbed down. In qualifying, sanity prevails and the times are rightly displayed. I hate it, hate it, hate it. Don’t make me send a strongly-worded email! Close second is Sky TV’s David Croft and his obsession with the phrase “in anger”, which has clearly drawn his favour over the European winter, and is already sorely overplayed. If I turned it into a drinking game, I’d be in the fire escape again.
Aiden: Make most of the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of next week, as it’ll be your last F1 action until Miami at the start of May. The cancellation of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia was expected, but it now means a distinct lack of action. Time to binge watch Drive to Survive if you haven’t already…
Gavin: Next up is Japan. Another different style track that will make the racing different to the first two rounds. And no, that is not a bad thing no matter what some people say. There may be Mario Kart buttons but just think back to the old DRS trains, or being stuck in dirty air – with F1 there is always something that a team can exploit while the others struggle. This is what we have now and it will be tweaked over time so get over it and enjoy the entertainment.
Graeme:Whilst it’s completely understandable, the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia weekends in April has brought some valuable time for a lot of teams. Cadillac will relish the extra time, as will Aston Martin, who are woefully underprepared this season. Japan is next although I’m well into it now and 2 weeks seems like a lifetime to wait.
Scott: The cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia rounds owing to amounts of high explosive being thrown around the Middle East means we won’t see the cars on track until they visit Miami. The team engineers now have two rounds worth of data to look at as they try to bridge the gap to the Mercedes out front.
Bonus Picture(s)
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