Kimi Andrea Antonelli’s China Win Is the Start of Something Mercedes Wants to Run With

Kimi Antonelli gave himself a race he will not forget for the rest of his career at the Shanghai International Circuit last Sunday, winning the Chinese Grand Prix to become the second-youngest driver in Formula 1 history to stand on the top step.



The 19-year-old Italian converted pole position into victory in a race that also produced Lewis Hamilton’s first grand prix podium for Ferrari, making it a weekend that genuinely delivered on its promise.



The start was chaos of the best kind. Hamilton launched off the line from third and surged around the outside of Antonelli into the first corner, briefly grabbing the lead his Ferrari’s superior getaway had earned. Antonelli responded with clinical calm, retaking the position into Turn 14 by Lap 2 and pulling a one-second gap almost immediately.



Behind those two, Charles Leclerc and George Russell had their own frantic opening exchanges. Leclerc went around the outside of Antonelli at Turn 3 only to be squeezed onto the kerb and drop back. Russell, who had won Saturday’s Sprint, struggled for grip on the Safety Car restart at Lap 10 and found himself buried behind both Ferraris at the midpoint of the race.



The Safety Car itself came out when Lance Stroll stopped on track. All four frontrunners pitted immediately for hard tyres, targeting a one-stop to the finish.



The restart reshuffled the order but ultimately confirmed what the pace data was already showing: the two Mercedes cars were faster than anything Ferrari could deploy once the opening laps had settled.



The intra-Ferrari battle that followed was the race’s defining spectacle. Hamilton and Leclerc swapped positions almost a dozen times across Laps 24 through 40, with contact at one stage that Hamilton later described as “subtle, just a kiss, so it’s okay.” Leclerc locked up on Lap 36, which gave Hamilton the breathing room he needed to hold third place to the flag.



Antonelli’s only anxious moment came with four laps remaining when he ran deep at the Turn 14 hairpin and briefly flatspotted his front-left tyre. He finished 5.5 seconds clear of Russell regardless, a margin that flattered neither driver given the pace advantage Mercedes had been sitting on. “I’m speechless. I’m about to cry, to be honest,” Antonelli said in parc fermé. “Thank you so much to my team, because they helped me to achieve this dream.”



Hamilton crossed the line 25 seconds back in third, a result that ended a podium drought stretching to the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November 2024 when he was still a Mercedes driver. It was his 26th race with Ferrari and, by that measure, the longest any driver had waited for a podium after joining the Scuderia.



“It was one of the most enjoyable races I’ve had in a long, long time, if ever,” Hamilton said. “And that battle with Charles at the end was awesome, great wheel-to-wheel battle, very fair and just what we want.” The seven-time champion also noted that a first Ferrari victory now felt closer than at any point in the previous 12 months.



Bearman was the best of the rest in fifth for Haas, having taken avoiding action on Lap 1 when Isack Hadjar spun through Turn 13 and forced the issue. Pierre Gasly finished sixth for Alpine, just two seconds behind Bearman after a race-long fight. McLaren’s Norris and Piastri did not start at all, Verstappen retired with a cooling issue, and Alonso pulled out late with vibrations. Seven cars failed to see the flag, a sign of the attrition these new regulations are still generating.



The championship standings now show Russell leading Antonelli by four points, with Leclerc and Hamilton separated by one. Ferrari may be more than half a minute behind Mercedes in race pace, but this new era of regulations is producing racing that most observers would willingly watch again.
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