F1 2026 China GP LIVE: George Russell favourite in qualifying after thrilling sprint battle with Lewis Hamilton

First runs in Q2 done – Piastri in danger in 10th, just 0.034 secs ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in 11th.

Current bottom-six (11-16): Hulkenberg, Ocon, Colapinto, Lawson, Lindblad, Bortoleto

Plenty of time for that to change…

17. Carlos Sainz (Williams) – 1:34:317

18. Alex Albon (Williams) – 1:34:772

19. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – 1:35:203

20. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) – 1:35:436

21. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – 1:35:995

22. Sergio Perez (Cadillac) – 1:36:906

Gosh, it really is dour at the moment for Williams, Aston Martin and Cadillac -they’re all out!

Bottom-six and out in Q1 (17-22): Sainz, Albon, Alonso, Bottas, Stroll, Perez

Liam Lawson escapes in P15….

Relief for Ferrari as their man puts in a clean lap to go third.

At the bottom, it is once again Williams, Aston Martin and Cadillac in the bottom-six right now.

Bottom-six (17-22): Albon, Sainz, Alonso, Bottas, Stroll, Perez

Albon a tenth off Lindblad in 15th. 3:00 to go

A loss of control at turn 9 means Hamilton had to abort his lap.

“The car feels good, just lost it,” he said.

Back to traditional grand prix qualifying for the grid now as we get underway with Q1!

18 minutes where we’ll lose the slowest six drivers from the rest of qualifying.

Cadillac, Aston Martin and Williams will be striving to find some much-needed time here…

1. George Russell (Mercedes) – 8 points

2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 7

3. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – 6

4. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 5

5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – 4

6. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 3

7. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – 2

8. Oliver Bearman (Haas) – 1

Hamilton said: “It was a close battle and their speed on the straights was a little bit too much. I put up a good fight, but I killed my tyres.

“It is a much better car, and I have been a part of developing that. But I was in the lead at one point, so to finish third was not the greatest, but I tried and will do my best again later.”

George Russell overcame Lewis Hamilton’s challenge to win the battle of the Britons and take a thrilling sprint race victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Russell and Hamilton exchanged the lead six times inside the opening five laps in Shanghai, with the former eventually prevailing to continue his flawless start to the new season.

Hamilton had to settle for third as Russell – a winner in Australia six days ago – took the chequered flag 0.6 seconds clear of Charles Leclerlc.

Lando Norris finished fourth, one place clear of Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Max Verstappen started eighth and was ninth at the end following a poor start which left him way down in 16th. Russell now leads Antonelli by 11 points in the championship standings.

George Russell put his Mercedes on pole for the sprint – can he do it again?

He’s the clear favourite!