F1 Chinese Grand Prix 2026: Sprint Qualifying Results as Russell and Mercedes Continue Dominance

George Russell continued his and Mercedes' fine start to the Formula 1 season with pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint.

The British driver set a best time of 1:31.520s to finish 0.289s faster than teammate Kimi Antonelli, going four-tenths faster in the final sector to overturn a deficit to the Italian in the first two sectors.

Lando Norris was third for McLaren but some six-tenths down, though he did look to be impeded by Antonelli in SQ2 and could be promoted if the stewards deem the Mercedes driver guilty in their investigation.

F1 Chinese Grand Prix 2026 - SQ3 results

In the eight-minute final session of the day, there was no stopping Mercedes again as Russell and Antonelli dominated.

It had looked like Antonelli would take pole, having gone faster through the first two sectors of the Shanghai International Circuit, only for a stunning end to the lap from Russell snatching that away from his teammate.

IT'S A FIRST SPRINT POLE FOR GEORGE!!! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Lwgg6GIHsU
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) March 13, 2026

To Norris' credit, after a tough start to the year, he put his McLaren third on the grid, narrowly beating Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton to the position.

The Scuderia made the decision to ditch its 'Macarena' rear wing after FP1 and revert to its Melbourne-spec wing and while Hamilton was on pace, teammate Charles Leclerc struggled and was over a second slower than Russell.

Hamilton and Leclerc were separated by last year's Chinese GP winner Oscar Piastri, while Alpine's Pierre Gasly was sublime to take seventh.

Red Bull struggled throughout, and Max Verstappen was unhappy with downshifts all the way through, ultimately ending up eighth. Teammate Isack Hadjar could manage only 10th, over two seconds adrift of Russell.

Ninth on the grid went to Haas' Oliver Bearman.

Position / Driver / Team	Gap [s]
1. George Russell / Mercedes	1:31.520
2. Kimi Antonelli / Mercedes	+0.289
3. Lando Norris / McLaren	+0.621
4. Lewis Hamilton / Ferrari	+0.641
5. Oscar Piastri / McLaren	+0.704
6. Charles Leclerc / Ferrari	+1.008
7. Pierre Gasly / Alpine	+1.368
8. Max Verstappen / Red Bull	+1.734
9. Oliver Bearman / Haas	+1.889
10. Isack Hadjar / Red Bull	+2.203

F1 Chinese Grand Prix 2026 - SQ2 results

Verstappen and Hadjar faced uncertain waits in ninth and tenth, especially after the Dutchman had run through the gravel at the final corner.

But nobody could push either driver into elimination, with Nico Hulkenberg closest to doing so, missing out on SQ3 by 0.015s in the Audi.

He will be joined on the sixth row by Haas' Esteban Ocon, who was also with two-hundredths of an SQ3 spot, ultimately let down by a poor first sector on his final lap.

Liam Lawson was 13th and separated from Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad by Gabriel Bortoleto, all five drivers down to 15th within half a second of the top 10.

Franco Colapinto was slowest in the second session and will line up 16th - nine-tenths down on teammate Gasly in SQ2.

Driver / Position / Team	Gap to SQ3 [s]
11. Nico Hulkenberg / Audi	+0.015
12. Esteban Ocon / Haas	+0.019
13. Liam Lawson / Racing Bulls	+0.094
14. Gabriel Bortoleto / Audi	+0.154
15. Arvid Lindblad / Racing Bulls	+0.428
16. Franco Colapinto / Alpine	+0.707

F1 Chinese Grand Prix 2026 - SQ1 results

Sergio Perez was unable to take part in SQ1 after his Cadillac team identified a fuel system issue after practice that it was unable to fix in time.

Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, Chinese GP 2026 — Cadillac F1 Team

Of those who did take part, there were no surprises in who was eliminated after the 12 minutes, as Valtteri Bottas set a time four seconds off the pace of SQ2, joining Perez at the back of the grid.

Both Aston Martins got laps under their belt despite ongoing issues with the Honda power unit and will start on the 10th row of the grid, with Fernando Alonso ahead of Lance Stroll.

And after a troublesome start to the season, Williams saw both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon fail to make the cut - the Spaniard having missed 40 minutes of the only practice session with a data issue.

Position / Driver / Team	Gap to SQ2 [s]
17. Carlos Sainz / Williams	+0.169
18. Alex Albon / Williams	+0.713
19. Fernando Alonso / Aston Martin	+0.989
20. Lance Stroll / Aston Martin	+1.559
21. Valtteri Bottas / Cadillac	+2.786
22. Sergio Perez / Cadillac	No Time