George Russell wins Chinese GP dash after battle with Ferraris | EUROtoday

Welcome to our stay protection for the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix dash race, from the Shanghai International Circuit. This monitor has been on the calendar for greater than 20 years now, with some pretty vital and dramatic races in that point. It is as soon as extra filling the position of a dash weekend which suggests anybody in Europe who needs to observe or observe the dash race needs to be up in the course of the evening.

Last yr you might argue that was maybe value it. Not as a result of the dash was thrilling (they hardly ever are…) however as a result of Lewis Hamilton took victory for Ferrari in solely his second race. It appeared prefer it might be a big one however it turned out to be one other false daybreak. I don’t assume the efficiency of the Mercedes vehicles thus far this season is a false daybreak. Nobody is aware of what’s going to occur in the remainder of the season however but once more the crew have a wholesome benefit over the remainder of the sphere.

That manifested itself within the dash qualifying classification yesterday. George Russell took pole, as he did for the principle race in Melbourne final weekend with team-mate Kimi Antonelli once more 0.2-0.3sec behind him. From there there was an enormous hole to the following quickest man. This time it was Lando Norris of McLaren, who was simply over 0.6sec away from Russell’s time. That is an enchancment on what we noticed in Melbourne, at the least, however it’s a important margin.

Ferrari, who appeared to problem at varied factors in dash qualifying, by no means did within the closing reckoning, ending fourth (Hamilton) and sixth (Charles Leclerc). Hamilton was solely narrowly behind Norris on a monitor he goes nicely at. A bit of extra cautious optimism for the seven-time champion.

Elsewhere within the prime 10 was Oscar Piastri in fifth, Pierre Gasly in a high quality seventh for Alpine, Max Verstappen in eighth, Oliver Bearman in ninth and Isack Hadjar in tenth. The Red Bull appeared a nightmare to drive for Verstappen, which explains why he completed a whopping 1.7sec off Russell’s quickest lap.

What can we count on for and hope from the dash? Well, fast-starting Ferraris would make it attention-grabbing. Otherwise it might be a stroll for the Silver Arrows. The race will get underneath method at 3am GMT and we might be right here for all the stay updates for that, with qualifying for the principle race coming at 7am.