The F1 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai (March 13–15) is the season’s first sprint weekend and the first of six sprint events. Key session times (Shanghai / UK): Friday practice 11:30 / 03:30; sprint qualifying 15:30 / 07:30; Saturday sprint 11:00 / 03:00; Saturday qualifying 15:00 / 07:00; Sunday Grand Prix 15:00 / 07:00.

Teams will have only a single hour of practice before sprint qualifying under the sprint format, producing a compressed schedule for teams and drivers.

U.K. viewers will be able to watch every session live on Sky Sports F1 (streamable via Sky Go; subscriptions from £22/month), with free highlights on Channel 4 and live text coverage on Crash.net.

Tensions boiled over after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix when Mercedes’ dominant new 2026 power unit prompted public complaints from its customer teams about information sharing and transparency. McLaren, Williams and newly aligned customer Alpine said they were caught off guard by the works team’s advantage under the new hybrid-centric regulations, with McLaren boss Andrea Stella saying his team felt “on the back foot” and asking Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP) for more data and operational tools. Williams principal James Vowles described himself as “a bit shocked,” estimating roughly a three-tenths-per-lap shortfall for Williams attributable to the engine, while McLaren pointed to an operational knowledge gap around the hybrid system. Reports varied on whether customers had identical tools: Vowles said he believed Williams received the same PU tools as Mercedes but had not unlocked the observed performance.

The complaints followed a commanding showing by Mercedes in Melbourne after the works team introduced its new power unit: George Russell topped all three qualifying segments, Mercedes locked out the front row and converted the advantage into a race win and a one-two result for the works cars. Qualifying gaps to Russell’s pole were reported up to 0.8 seconds and race deficits for customer cars exceeded 50 seconds, with McLaren’s Lando Norris the next-best Mercedes-powered driver in fifth and Alpine finishing a lap down in 10th; Williams failed to score. The scale of the on-track gap — and the central role of the hybrid system under the new rules — underpinned customer calls for more detailed technical cooperation or workarounds to close the deficit.

Mercedes and its defenders pushed back. Team principal Toto Wolff framed the situation as part of a steep technical transition and defended how Mercedes treated its customers, saying he had not heard specific technical complaints and warning that “you can never deploy things to make everybody happy.” Former driver Ralf Schumacher, speaking on a podcast, accused McLaren of using public complaints as a smokescreen for a poor start, argued Mercedes likely supplied the necessary information, and stressed that Mercedes built the 2026 power unit both for itself and its three customer teams. Alpine’s Steve Nielsen emphasized a positive working relationship with Mercedes and declined to blame the power unit for his team’s result. Observers noted that if the information-sharing issues are not resolved, the asymmetry in data and operating guidance could help shape the competitive order early in the 2026 season.

Rookie Gabriel Bortoleto finished ninth in the season-opening, 58-lap Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, handing Audi its first-ever Formula 1 points. It was a top-10 debut for the R26 chassis and Audi’s new power unit; Audi called the result “a positive baseline to build on.” The finish reflected preparatory work at Hinwil and Neuburg and matched the top-10 debut achieved by Haas in 2016 after Audi entered F1 this season as the only brand-new power-unit manufacturer following its takeover of Sauber.

Bortoleto, the 2024 FIA Formula 2 champion, reached Q3 and qualified 10th and described the weekend as “surreal” after a troubled pre-season, praising the team for delivering a race-ready car. One report said he missed the final moments of qualifying after being stranded at the pit entry. He lost places at the start amid opening-lap effects from the removal of the MGU-H but recovered through the race, closing on Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad on the final lap and narrowly missing eighth. Bortoleto said the sport’s new technical era — hybrid systems and active aerodynamics — produced wild energy swings that caught him out, with some overtakes happening “by mistake,” and that he is still learning the regulations and energy-management strategy.

The chaotic Melbourne weekend, with multiple incidents, safety cars and pit stops, shaped strategies and outcomes; Audi finished ahead of teams including Alpine, Williams and the debuting Cadillac squad. The weekend also exposed areas needing rapid attention: team leaders praised the engine division for delivering a reliable debut package but warned the internal-combustion engine still lacks power and will require rapid development, particularly because rival manufacturers already have multiple cars running the same power units, creating a short-term performance gap. Nico Hülkenberg did not start after his car lost telemetry; mechanics pushed the car to the grid in breach of procedures, which initially forced a pit-lane start, and a subsequent fluid leak left the No. 27 in the garage. Officials called the result encouraging but cautioned that substantial work remains to close the deficit to established competitors.

Honda’s persistent power‑unit reliability problems have put serious strain on the new Aston Martin–Honda partnership and undermined Aston Martin’s early 2026 performance. The season‑opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne ended in a double DNF for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll after the team completed very limited mileage and repeatedly suffered battery‑related vibrations and other mechanical failures.

Drivers and senior figures expressed frustration: Alonso warned the problems were likely to persist into the Chinese Grand Prix and said “finishing a full race in China already looked optimistic,” while Honda Racing president Koji Watanabe warned the relationship “can’t stay the same.” Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll called the troubled start “very unexpected.”

Toto Wolff and Mercedes have emerged as surprise bidders for the 24% stake in Alpine that private equity group Otro Capital is selling, directly challenging former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s attempt to use the same parcel as a route back into F1. Horner, dismissed last season, has said he has “unfinished business,” and an adviser confirmed his interest earlier this year.

It is unclear whether Wolff would lead his own investor consortium or act on behalf of Mercedes, which has described itself as “a key strategic partner of Alpine” and says it is being kept apprised. Otro values Alpine at £1.5bn-£1.86bn, putting the 24% stake at roughly £360m-£448m; any sale would leave Renault with about 76% and requires Renault’s sign-off; earlier reports said Horner’s plans depended on Renault reducing its holding.

Mercedes AMG HPP already supplies Alpine with power units and gearboxes under an agreement running through at least 2030, so a Wolff- or Mercedes-backed purchase could deepen technical and commercial integration. Rival teams have voiced concern about the competitive implications of shared ownership or multi-team alliances, and several reports say a Mercedes approach would likely complicate or block Horner’s route back.

Alpine and Otro Capital declined to comment; the situation remains unconfirmed and the outcome will shape Alpine’s shareholder structure and wider dynamics in F1.

Mercedes stamped its authority on the 2026 season-opening Australian Grand Prix as George Russell converted pole into victory and the Silver Arrows secured a dominant 1–2 finish, with rookie Kimi Antonelli classified about 2.9 seconds behind. Russell’s win — his sixth career victory — came after Mercedes set the weekend tone with roughly seven-tenths of a second qualifying advantage, and team principal Toto Wolff declared “Mercedes is back.” The result vaulted Russell to the top of the drivers’ standings and handed Antonelli a standout debut haul of points.

At the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, battery depletion and on-grid energy rules reshaped starts and early strategy. Regulations bar the use of stored electrical energy while a car is stationary and until it reaches 50 kph, and on the formation lap several cars arrived on the grid with severely depleted batteries after struggling to manage deployment. The FIA’s revised blue-light start procedure — a blue flash to signal turbo spin-up followed by the near-instant extinguishing of the five starting lights — produced messy, inconsistent getaways; technical packaging amplified the effect, with teams running larger turbos needing more time to spool and losing more performance when MGU-K assistance was unavailable.

Those differences created large speed gaps and forced evasive moves in the midfield: Franco Colapinto nearly rear-ended Liam Lawson, who had been nearly stationary with a power-unit issue. The new power-unit rules and the Overtake feature immediately influenced on-track battles. Charles Leclerc, who started fourth, surged to the lead despite radioing that his battery was “very, very low” and expecting to fall to P8 or P9; telemetry showed his more aggressive, sustained throttle application gave him almost a 20 km/h advantage over George Russell exiting Turn 1. Engineers coached drivers on lift-and-coast technique, battery deployment and the one-second window required to activate Overtake — race engineer Marcus Dudley announced “Overtake enabled” when the gap reached 0.9s — and both Leclerc and Russell said they were still learning to optimize Overtake and battery use. They traded positions in a tight energy-management duel, with Leclerc noting that being second could be “a big advantage” because it allowed Overtake deployment when following.

Energy considerations also dictated pit calls and the race result. A Virtual Safety Car was triggered by a stopped car — reports differed on whether it followed Valtteri Bottas’s stopped Cadillac or Isack Hadjar’s stricken Red Bull — and the pit lane was briefly closed. Mercedes exploited the window to pit for fresh tires while Ferrari kept Leclerc out; Mercedes’ calls, aided by the VSC, recovered track position and produced a one-two finish for George Russell and teammate Kimi Antonelli, with Leclerc third. The race underlined how start procedures, on-grid battery rules, turbo/gearbox packaging and revised straight-line modes can determine outcomes, and teams and analysts warned these factors were likely to push squads to increasingly “weaponize” electrical-energy strategies as the season progressed.

Mercedes’ one-two in Melbourne was driven as much by a superior 2026 power unit and software as by chassis performance, with team data and lap analysis pointing to more efficient hybrid energy deployment and different engine mappings as the decisive edge.

The works squad brought a new Mercedes power unit to the Australian Grand Prix and converted a commanding qualifying advantage—roughly seven to eight-tenths over rivals—into race pace; GPS traces and sector analysis showed Mercedes picking up time on the straights, notably the runs to Turns 6 and 9, and using more frequent lower-gear mappings to combine high corner speed with strong straight-line performance.

Reports also noted the works team had been able to optimize its package during Bahrain testing in ways customer teams were not running, magnifying the on-track gap under the new regulations.

Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion now driving for Ferrari, said he “loved” the new 2026-spec cars after the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, calling them “awesome,” “really fun to drive” and something he “personally loved.” He said the weekend was a positive confirmation that the new cars can deliver exciting racing, praised Ferrari’s cornering performance and highlighted “lots and lots of positives” to carry into the rest of the season. Hamilton also noted that drivers’ views on the new machinery can vary depending on where they were running in the race, a likely reference to criticism from rivals such as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Hamilton used his post-race remarks to assess Ferrari’s competitiveness against Mercedes and expressed optimism that his team could close the gap. He said Ferrari were “right in the fight” with Mercedes and that catching them would take work but was “not impossible.” On race day Mercedes produced the quicker car — George Russell won as Mercedes completed a one-two — and Hamilton acknowledged a straight-line speed deficit for Ferrari versus the Mercedes W17 while saying the two marques were largely comparable through the corners.

Hamilton started seventh, ran as high as third and finished fourth, as close as he has been to a podium with Ferrari in 25 attempts; he told Carlo Santi “a couple more laps and I would have had Charles,” though other calculations suggested another five laps would likely have secured third. Ferrari plans upgrades to close the straight-line speed gap, and team figures defended their strategy after a virtual safety car and a pit-stop call that the team calculated cost them about 13 seconds in Melbourne.