{"id":15672,"date":"2026-03-13T06:35:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T06:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/?p=15672"},"modified":"2026-03-13T13:37:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:37:44","slug":"chinese-gp-george-russell-a-tenth-faster-than-kimi-antonelli-in-practice-with-mercedes-having-an-advantage-of-half-a-second","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/chinese-gp-george-russell-a-tenth-faster-than-kimi-antonelli-in-practice-with-mercedes-having-an-advantage-of-half-a-second\/","title":{"rendered":"CHINESE GP \u2013 George Russell a tenth faster than Kimi Antonelli in practice, with Mercedes having an advantage of half a second"},"content":{"rendered":"

George Russell set the pace in practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, posting a 32.741 to go a tenth faster than Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli in the weekend\u2019s only practice session. Like in Melbourne, the silver arrows looked to hold a clear advantage; Lando Norris was four tenths behind Antonelli and half a second off the outright pace.<\/p>\n

Norris put himself a tenth and three-quarters faster than his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, with the two Ferraris a tenth further behind. Charles Leclerc was half a second faster than teammate Lewis Hamilton, as they appeared to lack the pace at this stage to challenge the front-running Mercedes.<\/p>\n

Ferrari, who had been Mercedes’ nearest challengers in Melbourne, were disappointingly lacking in pace despite running the rotating ‘macarena’ rear wing that had garnered much attention after being debuted during pre-season in Bahrain but not used in Australia.<\/p>\n

Leclerc was over eight tenths off Russell, while Hamilton was a further half a second off in sixth. The seven-time champion was over a second off the outright pace set by his former teammate; however, his fastest time came earlier in the session on used medium tyres that he had spun on earlier in the session.<\/p>\n

Hamilton had an eventful start to the session as he collided with Lando Norris after appearing not to see the McLaren attempting to come past him at the final corner, before spinning off track moments later at Turn Six hairpin. The lock-up that preceded the spin flat-spotted Hamilton’s tyres, forcing him to switch onto the soft compound earlier than his rivals and leaving him somewhat out of sync for the remainder of the session.<\/p>\n

The incident was noted by the stewards, before it was decided that no further investigation was needed. Following a brief Virtual Safety Car to collect some debris, the busy session continued \u2013 leading to some annoyance for Isack Hadjar, the Red Bull driver, commenting that the traffic was \u201cunbearable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hamilton was three-tenths faster than Ollie Bearman, the Haas driver going over a tenth faster than Max Verstappen. But it was a difficult session for the other Englishman, Arvid Lindblad, who stopped after just six laps because of a technical issue, leaving him twenty-first.<\/p>\n

The Racing Bulls car stopped after a reliability problem on the long back straight, smoke pouring out of the engine airbox, before he pulled off at the hairpin. Bearman was just under a tenth faster than the Racing Bulls car, which stopped after a reliability problem on the long back straight, smoke pouring out of the engine airbox before he pulled off at the hairpin.<\/p>\n

Verstappen, the four-time champion, is a second and three-quarters off the outright pace. That left Verstappen eighth, a tenth faster than the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg, with Pierre Gasly\u2019s Alpine completing the top ten. Liam Lawson put his Racin Bull eleventh; he missed out on the top ten by nearly a tenth, as he went half a tenth faster than Gabriel Bortoleto<\/p>\n

Hadjar put his Red Bull three hundredths behind the Audi and ahead of the Alpine of Franco Colapinto by seven hundredths. Alex Albon was sixteenth, going two tenths faster than his Williams teammate Carlos Sainz, who had a data issue during the first half of the session.<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll gave Aston Martin one of their best sessions of the year, thirty-eight laps, the most in a single hour in practice or testing. But Alonso was a tenth and three-quarters behind Sainz, with the duo split by Valtteri Bottas. The Finn was six and three-quarters of a tenth faster than Stroll.<\/p>\n

Lindblad was a second faster than Sergio Perez, as they completed the field.<\/p>\n

Related<\/h2>\n