The 2026 Chinese Grand Prix sprint weekend commenced with a vital one-hour Free Practice 1 session. This session was crucial for drivers to acclimatize to the circuit ahead of the season’s first sprint event. Last season in China, McLaren’s Lando Norris led practice, with Oscar Piastri ultimately securing the GP victory. However, this year, Mercedes appeared to hold the upper hand after their impressive win in Australia last weekend. The Silver Arrows aimed to quickly get up to speed to maintain their momentum for the 2026 season. Several teams, including Ferrari, arrived with car upgrades, hoping these enhancements would provide an extra boost in China.
Green Light and Early Incidents
With only sixty minutes available to fine-tune their cars, drivers promptly took to the track. A busy circuit saw 20 out of 22 drivers creating significant traffic. Early drama unfolded as both Franco Colapinto and Lewis Hamilton experienced spins on their initial laps, severely flat-spotting their tires. Many drivers, including Gabriel Bortoleto, struggled with tire warm-up, leading to locked wheels on fresh rubber, underscoring the challenging conditions.
Mercedes Establishes Early Lead
Mercedes wasted no time in asserting its dominance. Kimi Antonelli posted the first competitive lap with a 1:35.094, swiftly followed by teammate George Russell, who surpassed him by 0.029 seconds to set a 1:35.065. The Alpine drivers also showed promising early pace, positioning themselves within the top 10. Antonelli’s subsequent flying laps were unfortunately interrupted by a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) and yellow flags. The VSC was deployed after Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bull was forced to stop at Turn 14 – a tough blow for any driver, especially a rookie in a limited practice session. Williams driver Carlos Sainz also faced a setback, completing only an out-lap before returning to the pits due to apparent difficulties in obtaining data readings from his car, severely limiting his track time.
Practice Resumes with Ferrari’s Innovations
As the VSC period concluded, Russell maintained his lead in the timing sheets. Charles Leclerc then positioned his Ferrari, equipped with their distinctive ‘Macarena’ rear wing (deployed earlier than initially planned), into second place, 0.240 seconds behind the Mercedes. At the halfway point, Oliver Bearman delivered an impressive performance for Haas, placing fourth with a 1:34.950. In contrast, it was a quiet practice session for Red Bull, with both their cars sitting in 11th and 12th, roughly 1.8 seconds off Russell’s leading pace.
Soft Tires Unveil Mercedes’ True Speed
The final segment of the session saw a flurry of activity as teams switched to soft tires for qualifying simulations. Lewis Hamilton was among the first to benefit, climbing to second place, within 0.2 seconds of Russell. However, once the Mercedes cars were fitted with their red-rimmed tires, a significant gap opened up between their times and the Ferraris’. George Russell continued to improve, setting a blistering 1:32.741, over eight-tenths faster than Leclerc in third. The McLarens also began to climb the ranks in the closing minutes; Oscar Piastri moved to third (+0.736s), and Lando Norris to fifth (+0.959s). Norris then surpassed Piastri, setting a time 0.555 seconds off Russell’s pace. A late excursion into the gravel at the final turn prevented Leclerc from improving his time in the dying seconds of practice.
With this being the only practice session of the weekend, all drivers made sure to complete their customary practice starts at the start-finish line before the checkered flag fell.
Next Up: Sprint Qualifying
With just a single hour of crucial practice completed, drivers must now quickly adapt and switch their focus to Sprint Qualifying, which is scheduled to get underway later today at 3:30 pm local time.