Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Chinese Grand Prix

Photo by Jade Gao from Getty Images

So far, two races in, Formula 1 has given us some excellent racing.

It’s also shown that Mercedes is, far and away, the best team on the grid.

But hey, at least the other battles will be good!

Here are the winners and losers from the Chinese Grand Prix.

Losers

5. Alex Albon & Gabriel Bortoleto

The Thai and Brazilian drivers were unable to take part in the race due to engine issues before the Grand Prix.

They were not the only ones.

4. Aston Martin

This car is slow, can’t go a full race distance, and the vibrations are so bad that Fernando Alonso has to take his hands off of the steering wheel on the long straights.

It’s going to be a looooong year.

3. McLaren

Back to back years of being the best team on the grid, and it’s been a slow start to the new regulations, with Piastri starting neither race, and Lando Norris not being able to take part in China as well.

Lots of work to be done.

2. Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen HATES this car.

It doesn’t get off the line, he doesn’t find it fun to drive, and he’s not getting good performances.

And considering how many times Verstappen has said he doesn’t care about breaking records and could walk away from the sport at any time, is this the last year we will see Verstappen in Formula 1?

It very well could be.

1. Ferrari

It is increasingly obvious that Ferrari are truly the only team that can compete with Mercedes this year, and they were taking the fight to them in China.

But after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc kept battling for position, they let Kimi Antonelli pull away, and George Russell pull back into the fight, and cost themselves a possible win.

They need to be a little bit smarter with their battles if they want to get some wins.

Winners

5. Ferrari

With all of that being said, those battles between Hamilton and Leclerc were awesome, and exactly what Formula 1 should be about.

I keep thinking about how last year McLaren mentioned they would let their drivers fight on track.

They never did anything like Ferrari did in China.

It’s not a smart race strategy, but it’s a helluva lot of fun to watch!

4. Cadillac

Did Cadillac get points? No.

Did they come close to getting points? Also no.

But they did finish the race.

And considering there were so many DNF’s in China due to reliability issues, that’s a win.

Hopefully they can use that data to start speeding up.

3. Franco Colapinto

It’s not exactly shocking to say that Franco Colapinto has struggled at Alpine the past year or so.

But Alpine looks like they have a pretty good car this year, and Colapinto rewarded their pace with a points finish in China, his first with the French outfit.

Time to keep the momentum going.

2. Oliver Bearman

Bearman was battling on track, making risky and bold moves, and had excellent pace all weekend to get a 5th place finish.

I said that I thought he would easily be faster than Esteban Ocon this year, and he has proven it so far.

1. Kimi Antonelli

After Australia, it looked like a 2014 level season, where Mercedes was just going to dominate everyone.

The difference is, 2014 Mercedes had Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who were two incredible drivers.

2026 Mercedes has George Russell, a 7 year vet with tons of experience, and Kimi Antonelli, who is a teenager.

I didn’t think Antonelli would be able to fight Russell, just simply from an experience standpoint.

But, after a very shaky sprint race, Kimi relaxed and refocused, got pole position, and got his first ever win in Formula 1 at 19 years old.

I still think that Russell will easily win the title with this Mercedes pace as the year goes on, but it’s becoming very clear that Antonelli isn’t going to be some sort of pushover.

He’s here to fight.