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2026 Formula 1 Chinese GP
Mar 12, 2026 to Mar 15, 2026
| Shanghai International Circuit, CN
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Formula 1 Chinese GP
F1 Chinese GP live commentary and updates - FP1
Follow along from updates from practice at the Chinese Grand Prix
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12:49:07 am
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That's it from us for now - we'll see you a bit later for sprint qualifying!
12:48:34 am
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Formula 1
F1 Chinese GP: Russell tops only practice session as Sainz, Lindblad suffer issues
Mercedes took a comfortable 1-2 in the Chinese GP’s only practice session
12:35:27 am
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And that's it for practice - next up: sprint qualifying. Practice starts are under way, and not having enough battery for Turn 1 ought to be less of a problem compared to Melbourne.
Checkered flag
12:30:41 am
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Leclerc had an off at the final corner, denting his second attempt at a lap, while Piastri improves by 0.005s on his previous best.
Norris then moves up to third, 0.555s off Russell's benchmark.
12:27:46 am
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Piastri goes third, 0.7s off Russell's effort. Antonelli improves in sector 1 to get within 0.12s of his team-mate.
Hulkenberg moves up to ninth, as Hadjar only goes 14th.
Stopwatch
12:25:31 am
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Russell went faster on a second attempt, a 1m32.741s.
Fifth fastest for Bearman, as Gasly moves up to P7 as the soft-tyre runs come in.
Norris goes fourth, 0.959s off Russell's effort, while Verstappen is 1.8s off the pace in seventh now.
Stopwatch
12:20:23 am
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Russell sets a lap on softs, a 1m32.807s - about 1.2s faster than his earlier best. Antonelli goes just 0.1s off.
Leclerc does likewise on fresh boots and goes 0.8s shy of Russell - Ferrari didn't quite find as much pace on the new C4s.
12:17:56 am
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Colapinto has come to a stop in the pitlane, prompting Alpine's mechanics to leg it to his car.
He gets moving again, and so they've got to run back. It looked like it was just stuck in neutral and required the use of the on-off switch.
12:10:57 am
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Sainz is now back on track, as Williams was struggling with a data issue in his car.
More offs and lock-ups being shown on the world feed - Bortoleto and Hadjar have some moments. It's not easy in Turn 1 especially, as the car tries to unload.
12:07:35 am
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Piastri splits the Ferraris now, and has his own snap in Turn 1 as Norris did a few moments ago.
A bit of graining going out there in these early laps, which is always a problem with this track and these cold conditions. Meanwhile, Hamilton now goes second, with a 1m34.377s.
12:03:53 am
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That said, Hamilton has a second tour on those softs and moves up to third, 0.448s off the pace.
Bortoleto isn't happy with his current power unit, meanwhile; not a lot that the team can do with it right now.
12:01:20 am
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Hamilton gets up to fifth on softs, while Piastri has now moved up to sixth.
Not much in the way of improvement right now around the track, as the drivers try to get a little bit of a longer run going.
11:55:48 pm
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Norris gets a snap in Turn 1 as he navigates the winding opening section. Russell also had a bit of a side-step at the rear, and he's down on his best first sector by about 0.7s.
Ocon goes up to eighth, so early signs of Haas looking good.
11:54:10 pm
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Alonso does a lap on softs and moves up to 16th, while Stroll also gets another lap in but stays 21st. Some mileage for Aston, which is encouraging for them.
Leclerc has got closer to Russell's time and is now just 0.240s off - the Mercs have now gone back out again.
Green flag
11:51:14 pm
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Leclerc goes second with a 1m34.707s, while both Bearman and Gasly are both in the top five as it stands...
...until Norris moves into fifth to drop the Alpine by a place.
Virtual Safety Car
11:45:57 pm
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Lindblad gets out of the car, so that's his session over. His car started to grind to a halt on the back straight, so he'll go into qualifying with very few laps of this circuit.
Yellow flag
11:44:21 pm
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Verstappen goes fifth, about a second down on Russell...
...or he was, but Russell just set a 1m34.169s.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz are yet to set a time, and Arvid Lindblad has stopped at Turn 14.
11:42:47 pm
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"The traffic is unbearable," Hadjar complains, as he goes through Turn 8 and sees another car.
It's annoying when you see another car on a race track.
11:41:16 pm
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Antonelli was about to go quickest before a VSC was called by race control. There's a bit of debris on the back straight, which the marshals collect.
Normal service resumes.
Stopwatch
11:39:28 pm
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Leclerc now goes second, 0.449s behind Antonelli, and gets a tow off Hamilton across the line.
Russell's now on a lap, and does a 1m35.065s to go top.
Stopwatch
11:37:15 pm
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Gasly was top with a 1m37.754s, but Antonelli's just done a 1m35.094s. Quite a lot of traffic out there as everyone's trying to get their checklists ticked off.
Bearman goes second, 1.5s behind.
11:35:43 pm
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Hamilton and Norris got a little bit close there - actually, I think they touched in the final corner! Norris went for the pass, Hamilton didn't fancy letting him go through, and they went through the corner almost locked together
Then, Hamilton had a bit of a lurid spin at Turn 6. It's all action here.
11:33:39 pm
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For those wondering why I've called it the rotisserie wing, and not the macarena wing: the macarena wing is a stupid name and it doesn't make sense.
Yes, I guess you turn your hand upside down doing the Macarena, but that's such a small part of it. Rotisserie wing, however, is more evocative. What could be more evocative than the thought of a rotisserie chicken?
Meanwhile, Colapinto has a spin at Turn 9 as well. Hey, macarena!
Lights green
11:31:09 pm
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FP1 begins
...and there's already a queue. The two Haas cars are out first, followed by Russell and Gasly.
Cloud
11:28:54 pm
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Weather watch
It's quite chilly in China - just 12C ambient, and 14C air. Bit chilly out there.
11:23:58 pm
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Just a few minutes now until we get rolling in FP1. The teams have it all to do in this session to prepare for sprint qualifying - they'll be hoping for no reliability issues throughout.
Otherwise, that's really going to hurt when it comes to sprint quali later. Aston Martin has an extra battery available this weekend, so that's a small crumb of comfort for the Silverstone team.
11:13:17 pm
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Ferrari's rotisserie wing
A lot of people are getting excited about Ferrari bringing its rotisserie wing to China, the rear wing element that makes about a 200 degree rotation when active aero is applied.
Want to know more? Here's a bit from testing explaining the wing.
Formula 1
How Ferrari's 180-degree rear wing works – and why it's legal
11:09:41 pm
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11:08:52 pm
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FP1 at the Chinese GP - coming soon!
Good morning everyone! FP1 - or just FP in this case - for China is coming up very shortly.
It's a sprint race weekend, so just the one hour for the teams to learn about the track and their cars before going straight into sprint quali.
General view of the Paddock
Photo by: Dom Gibbons / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Pagination
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By: Jake Boxall-Legge
Published: Mar 13, 2026, 4:49 AM
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