Mercedes’ Russell wins ‘fairly enjoyable’ Shanghai dash from each Ferraris

Issued on: 14/03/2026 – 05:08Modified: 14/03/2026 – 05:58

2 min Reading time

Russell loved a ding-dong battle within the opening laps with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, because the pair traded locations on the entrance a number of occasions.

Later he needed to fend off the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc after a late security automobile, with the Monegasque driver coming house second with Hamilton in third.

“It was pretty fun in the end, lots of strategy at play on how to do the overtakes,” mentioned Russell, who received the opening grand prix in Melbourne final weekend.

“It is not easy, I hope it was a fun race to watch. Usually the sprint races are pretty boring.

“I obtained every part below management, then the security automobile, so actually blissful to get the win,” added Russell, who leads the standings on 33 points, 11 ahead of his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, who finished fifth.

“When we have been battling, Lewis did an incredible job and caught me off guard. He has expertise, I’ve just a little bit to be taught.”

The safety car on lap 13 of the 19 saw the entire field dive into the pits for fresh tyres, with leader Russell emerging still in front.

Antonelli had been third at that point but served a 10-second penalty in the pit lane for causing an earlier collision.

‘A good fight’

World champion Lando Norris came fourth in his McLaren and his teammate Oscar Piastri sixth.

Liam Lawson in his RB and Oliver Bearman in the Haas were seventh and eighth respectively to round out the points scorers.

“I used to be managing fairly a bit however I’m fairly proud of the race,” said Leclerc.

“It’s good to see our race tempo is extra much like the Mercedes than our qualifying tempo.”

The Ferrari of Hamilton earlier had a brilliant launch off the start line, moving from fourth to second and then swapping the lead with Russell twice on the opening lap.

Russell and Hamilton traded places at the front multiple times in the opening five laps, with Leclerc hot on their heels.

Russell eventually began to pull away leaving the Ferrari pair to squabble for second with Leclerc just getting the better of Hamilton.

“It was a detailed battle initially, their velocity on the straight is a bit an excessive amount of in the mean time. I put up struggle however killed my entrance tyre,” said Hamilton, who won the sprint in Shanghai 12 months ago.

But it was another torrid session for four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who had a dreadful start from eighth on the grid dropping him to 13th.

The Red Bull driver fumed on Friday that the “entire day has been a catastrophe” and his mood was even worse after limping home ninth and out of the points.

“I’ve not a whole lot of phrases in the mean time,” said an angry Verstappen.

“To be sincere, every part that would go fallacious went fallacious. The begin in fact is one downside that we have now to repair, however then after that, the stability is in every single place.

“Some other bits on the car were not, I would say, well prepared. So, yeah, we just need to get our stuff together.”

Qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix takes place later Saturday.

© 2026 AFP