Liam Lawson seventh at Chinese Grand Prix as Kimi Antonelli wins for the first time
Sunday, 15 March 2026
Liam Lawson finished seventh at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, earning six points to go with his two from the sprint race on Saturday, while teenager Kimi Antonelli took top honours for Mercedes.
The Kiwi Racing Bulls driver started 14th on the grid, but gained two places automatically at the start of the 56-lap race at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Oscar Piastri and reigning world champion Lando Norris didn’t start as their McLarens suffered distinct electrical issues, leaving gaps in fifth and sixth place on the grid.
There were also gaps behind Lawson in 16th, where Gabriel Bortoleto failed to start in his Audi, and in 18th, where Alex Albon didn’t start for Williams.
Lawson gained ground on the opening lap, as he made a strong start on medium tyres a week after being frozen on the grid at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
He was then running as high as seventh before pitting after 10 laps – shortly before a safety car brought about by Lance Stroll going off meant everyone else could pit without losing ground.
Lawson then worked his way back to that position come the end of the 56-lap race, managing his hard tyres for 46 laps.
'I’m really happy with our result today. To be honest, we didn’t quite expect it, but our pace was strong towards the end,“ Lawson said.
“We had a poorly timed safety car, and at that moment I thought our race might be over. It turned out to be a really enjoyable race and we managed to pull off a few overtakes. Bringing it home in P7 feels great.”
Antonelli didn't quite lead from start to finish, but the 19-year-old was largely unchallenged on his way to his first race win, a day after becoming the youngest pole-sitter in F1 history.
Speaking on the broadcast, the Italian was in tears: “I'm super happy.
“I said I really wanted to get Italy back on top, and we did today, even though I gave myself a little bit of a heart attack towards the end.”
Antonelli was referring to a lock-up with two laps to go that cost him two seconds back to team-mate George Russell, who ultimately finished 5.5sec behind him.
Lewis Hamilton rounded out the podium, finishing in the top three for the first time since his move to Ferrari last season.
Russell had to work to get past Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari. The two drivers in red cars then had a back-and-forth tussle, but finished 25sec back from the two Mercedes.
Verstappen had to retire his Red Bull after he suffered an issue on lap 46, moving Lawson up from eighth to seventh.
At the safety car restart, the four-time world champion had been behind Lawson after failing to start properly the same way the Kiwi did in Melbourne.
The former Red Bull team-mates were briefly racing wheel to wheel before Verstappen completed a move.
Neither Aston Martin driver finished either – Stroll after his early off and Fernando Alonso when he retired, as the vibrations from his poorly-designed car were becoming too much to handle.
Isack Hadjar in the other Red Bull finished behind Lawson in eighth, which made the Kiwi the leading runner in the energy drink company's two-team stable.
The next Grand Prix is in Japan in two weeks' time.
The two following grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been cancelled due to the Iran war.
“Full credit to the team from a strategy standpoint, we did everything right this weekend and securing two point finishes shows how well the team executed,” Lawson added.
“We’ll keep pushing to find a bit more speed for next week and the coming races, and hopefully we can fight even further up the grid.”
Chinese Grand Prix – results
1: Kimi Antonelli; 2: George Russell; 3: Lewis Hamilton … 7: Liam Lawson