The F1 Nation team break down the standout moments from the first Sprint weekend of the season in Shanghai.
Kimi Antonelli claimed his first Grand Prix victory, becoming the second-youngest winner in F1 history after Max Verstappen. Mercedes meanwhile delivered another strong result with a 1-2, George Russell finishing second on Sunday and keeping his lead in the Championship. Lewis Hamilton took the podium for Ferrari, delivering the team’s first rostrum of the season.
McLaren suffered a weekend to forget: neither car made it to the Grand Prix start, producing a damaging double DNF and leaving them to regroup as Oscar Piastri remains yet to start a Grand Prix this season. In the paddock, F1 TV commentator and former driver Jolyon Palmer joined Tom Clarkson to dissect the action, with Mercedes race engineer Pete Bonnington arriving after Antonelli’s breakthrough.
Red Bull were off the pace all weekend and hit reliability trouble that forced Max Verstappen out of the race. Isack Hadjar’s P8 was Red Bull’s only points finish across the Sprint and Grand Prix. By contrast, Ollie Bearman and Haas turned heads — Bearman climbed to an impressive fifth — while Pierre Gasly delivered a solid performance for Alpine.
Reliability concerns affected other teams too: Alexander Albon and Gabriel Bortoleto failed to start, and both Aston Martins retired before the flag. The weekend featured several on-track incidents, notably a collision between Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto, and an early moment when Hadjar nearly collected Bearman.
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