Race Archive

Charles Leclerc flew off the line to lead into Turn 1, but the season opener became a Mercedes duel — Russell and Antonelli traded the lead lap after lap using the new regulations' Boost and Overtake Mode, with Russell finally making it stick. Antonelli's rookie weekend told its own story: a heavy FP3 crash at Turn 2, then almost no launch off the line on Sunday dropping him to seventh before he carved back through to second.

Two Virtual Safety Car periods split the strategies — Mercedes pitted under both, Ferrari stayed out both times — and Max Verstappen, who'd qualified 20th, was named Driver of the Day for a recovery drive to sixth. Six cars failed to start or finish, including a late crash for Piastri and DNFs for both Aston Martins.

Antonelli took the youngest-ever pole in Shanghai, then briefly lost the lead to Hamilton off the line before retaking it before lap two was done. He was never headed again, surviving a nervy moment running deep at the Turn 14 hairpin with four laps to go to beat Russell by 5.5 seconds and become the second-youngest Grand Prix winner in history — and the first Italian winner since Fisichella in 2006.

"I'm speechless, I'm about to cry, to be honest," Antonelli said afterward. Hamilton claimed Ferrari's first podium of the year in third, while Verstappen and both Aston Martins retired.

A messy start dropped Antonelli to sixth as Piastri seized the lead into Turn 1, and it looked like Suzuka would go McLaren's way. But a lap-22 Safety Car — triggered by a heavy Oliver Bearman crash at Spoon Curve — arrived just after the leaders had pitted, handing Antonelli a free stop and the track position he needed.

From there he controlled the race to the flag, claiming his second win from his second pole of the year and becoming the youngest championship leader in F1 history in the process — a record that stood barely two weeks before he'd extend it further in Miami.

With storms forecast, the start was moved three hours earlier — and Antonelli, on pole for a third straight weekend, survived a three-way scrap with Verstappen and Leclerc into Turn 1 before the Red Bull spun out of contention. The lead changed hands repeatedly as Norris, Piastri and Verstappen all took turns at the front during the pit-stop sequence, with two separate crashes for Hadjar and Gasly bringing out an early Safety Car.

Antonelli held firm under late pressure from Norris to make it three wins from three poles — a feat no driver had managed to open a season before — while Russell could only manage fourth, dropping him nearly a full race win behind his teammate in the standings.

An intra-Mercedes duel defined the early laps at Gilles-Villeneuve, Russell and Antonelli swapping the lead several times with contact narrowly avoided at the final chicane. The battle ended in heartbreak for Russell, who suffered a sudden power unit failure on lap 30 and had to stop on track — handing Antonelli a commanding lead he'd never relinquish.

"Not really the way I wanted" to win, Antonelli admitted afterward, but a fourth straight victory stretched his championship lead to 43 points over his idled teammate, with Hamilton coming home a strong second ahead of Verstappen.

Antonelli snatched pole by four-hundredths of a second and made it count, becoming the youngest ever Monaco winner at 19 years and 9 months — breaking a record Hamilton had held since 2008. Verstappen stalled off the line and retired without completing a lap, while home favorite Leclerc crashed out late at Anthony Noghes as the track surface broke up, triggering a red flag that suspended the race.

Hamilton brought it home second for a record-equalling eighth Monaco podium, while Russell endured a miserable weekend of penalties that eventually cost him a drive-through. Five wins in a row now for Antonelli on the calendar's most unforgiving circuit — a statement result however you read it.

Russell took pole and looked set to lead the Spanish Grand Prix from the front, but Ferrari's gamble on a three-stop strategy — sharpened by a perfectly timed Virtual Safety Car after Alonso's retirement — handed Hamilton a free pit stop and the race lead. He never looked back, ending a 686-day win drought for his first victory in Ferrari red.

At 41, Hamilton became the oldest Grand Prix winner since Jack Brabham in 1970. Antonelli, running second, retired with an engine failure just four laps from the flag, and Leclerc failed to finish moments later with a loss of power steering — turning what looked like a Mercedes benefit into the first all-British podium since 1968.

Russell made a clean getaway from pole and led every lap bar the pit windows, but it was far from comfortable — Verstappen recovered from a Saturday qualifying crash to hunt him down in the closing stint, eventually crossing the line just 1.611 seconds back after a tense late charge. Antonelli's afternoon was scrappier: he ran wide twice in the opening laps and had to fight back to the final podium spot, 0.375 seconds behind Verstappen.

It was Russell's first win since the season-opening race in Australia, and it cut Antonelli's championship cushion down to 40 points — the first time all year the gap had genuinely tightened.

Ferrari's second win in three races, and it wasn't close on pace even if the finish looked tight — Leclerc converted strong Sprint-weekend form into a lights-to-flag win at Silverstone, his first of the season. Antonelli's home-soil-adjacent weekend stung the most: a wheel shield failure cost him a real shot at victory, leaving Leclerc unchallenged out front once the issue struck.

Behind him, Russell and Hamilton went wheel-to-wheel for the remaining podium spots in a finish where under a second covered first to third at the flag — Hamilton's result now leaves him just 32 points off Antonelli's championship lead heading toward the summer's back half.

Antonelli's sixth pole of the year got complicated fast — Verstappen snatched the lead at Eau Rouge on lap one before Antonelli reclaimed it down the Kemmel Straight, and his own teammate's race ended in the same corner sequence when Russell made contact with Hamilton and beached his Mercedes in the gravel, triggering a Safety Car.

Leclerc briefly took the lead through the pit-stop sequence on a well-timed strategy call, but Antonelli hunted him down and made the pass stick with ten laps to go, crossing the line just 1.9 seconds clear. It was his sixth win of the season and stretched his championship lead to 45 points over Hamilton — with Russell's retirement pushing him 50 points back.

Norris took pole outright before grid penalties for Hamilton and Antonelli reshuffled the front rows, and converted it into a lights-to-flag-adjacent win — his first of 2026 and his second straight at the Hungaroring. Piastri looked set for a McLaren one-two before contact with a backmarker and a gearbox failure ended his day.

Antonelli, starting seventh after his own penalty, fought back to third to protect his championship lead, while Hamilton's miserable run of penalties continued — a pit lane speeding infraction by just 0.1 km/h dropped him behind teammate Leclerc. Full write-up on the home page.

Norris made it back-to-back wins, but Zandvoort's likely-final Formula 1 weekend earned every bit of its drama first. The race was red-flagged after just one lap when home favourite Max Verstappen lost the rear of his Red Bull and crashed heavily — he was unhurt, but his run of three straight Zandvoort wins ended before it had really begun. Isack Hadjar sat this one out through injury, with Liam Lawson stepping into the Red Bull seat and Yuki Tsunoda covering his usual Racing Bulls car for the weekend.

When the race resumed, Antonelli surged from Norris off the restart and led deep into the final third before Norris found the pace to retake him, eventually crossing the line 11.5 seconds clear as rain began falling. Russell completed the podium in third, with Hamilton fourth for Ferrari. Colapinto and Lawson both picked up 10-second penalties for failing to slow for yellow flags, and Sainz was penalized for causing a collision.

Kimi Antonelli produced one of the most remarkable drives in modern F1, recovering from 19th on the grid to win his home Italian Grand Prix — the first Italian to do so since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. The race was red-flagged early after Charles Leclerc crashed hard at the Parabolica; at the standing restart, Russell led from shock pole-sitter Pierre Gasly. Antonelli sliced through the field and passed teammate Russell for the lead on lap 50 of 53, holding on to win by 3.8 seconds.

Max Verstappen completed the podium in third, running the same alternative strategy as Antonelli through a Virtual Safety Car for Lance Stroll's retirement. McLaren's Norris and Piastri were fourth and fifth, while Ferrari's home weekend fell apart — Hamilton recovered only to sixth, and Leclerc was out before lap 2. Liam Lawson, again deputising for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, finished 14th; Yuki Tsunoda scored a point in tenth covering Lawson's usual Racing Bulls seat. Full write-up on the home page.

Formula 1's first-ever race at MADRING went to Kimi Antonelli, but not through pace — Lando Norris led comfortably from pole until a Virtual Safety Car for Lance Stroll's stopped Aston Martin caught him just after he'd passed the pit entry. While the field pitted for free, Norris had to complete a lap at reduced speed before pitting once the track went green, handing Antonelli the net lead and, ultimately, the win.

Max Verstappen took second after a chaotic first lap — cutting Turn 1 to avoid Lewis Hamilton, being ordered by Red Bull to give the place back, then getting it straight back anyway when Hamilton retired with brake failure. Norris recovered to third. Charles Leclerc ran long on hards for fourth, ahead of George Russell in fifth and Liam Lawson — again deputising for the injured Isack Hadjar — in sixth. Full write-up on the home page.