Summary

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Live Reporting

Lorraine McKenna

  1. Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    Poor start in the sprint [for Kimi Antonelli], followed by contact down at Turn Six, went down to P9, 10 at one point. Had a 10 second stop-go penalty that he took but managed to recover very nicely, that just shows the quality and pace of the Mercedes car.

  2. Brit rookie Arvid Lindblad and his Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson are through to Q2, we've got two Alpines, the Audi and Haas drivers and then the usual suspects at the front.

    George Russell gets us going with a 1:32.523 on the softs ahead of Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli.

    Arvid LindbladGetty Images

  3. Get Involved - 'Hamilton back in the mix'

    Select the 'Get Involved' button to have your say

    Tonylambu: This 2026 season is on fire already and it’s only race two weekend. Sit tight and buckle up because this is going two be fast furious and full of fabulous fun. Lewis Hamilton back in the mix going wheel to wheel again. This is f1 at its finest.

  4. Go! Go! Go!

    We go again. Q2 is green.

  5. Williams have 'a lot of work to do'

    Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    Really disappointing for Williams, I think everybody was hoping that they would see a big improvement from them. They came out last year and said 'look we are not going to develop our car very much this year, we are pinning all our hopes on 2026' and it hasn't worked so far, they look up against it. The car looks tricky to drive. Thy have a lot of work to do.

  6. Williams out in Q1

    The difficult start to the season continues for Williams as those overweight cars fall at the first hurdle in qualifying. Valtteri Bottas outqualified Lance Stroll in that session, so 1-0 to Cadlillac over Aston Martin in Shanghai.

    CArlos SainzGetty Images

  7. Out in Q1

    17. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

    18. Alex Albon (Williams)

    19. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

    20. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)

    21. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

    22. Sergio Perez (Cadillac)

  8. Verstappen goes P4

    Max Verstappen lifts his Red Bull up to P4 on the timesheets, with Isack Hadjar slotting in to eighth on the board.

    Gabriel Bortoleto drops into the danger zone but no sweat for the Brazilian - he jumos up to seventh in the Audi.

    Williams are the ones in trouble here. Both cars are in the bottom six... and they're out! Carlos Sainz is 17th and Alex Albon P18.

  9. Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    If he [Charles Leclerc] stays there [P1], it will be the first time so far this season, that anybody has beaten George Russell in a qualifying or a race situation.

  10. Have the adjustments over at Red Bull helped Max Verstappen climb the order? Not just yet, as he's in 15th place. But the Dutchman is heading back out on a new set of softs to start another flyer.

    His new team-mate Isack Hadjar is only one place above him and also lining up an attempt on the same rubber.

  11. Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    Arvid Lindblad has been told to box, they have got an issue. We don't know what that issue is but it does not sound good with five minutes to go.

  12. Leclerc beats Russell's time

    The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc is pushing George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in Shanghai, taking top spot away from the Briton by just 0.087 seconds.

    Sergio Perez has made it out on track in his Cadillac along with Racing Bulls Arvid Lindblad, who had issues in the sprint race and is dangling above the drop zone in 16th place.

  13. Hamilton 'back to where he should be'

    Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent

    I don't want to tempt fate but it is beginning to look as if Hamilton is back to being Lewis Hamilton again this year. What that says, for some reason, it seems he could not adapt to those ground effect cars, over the last four years. Why? That I will not be able to get my head around but it rather looks like that's the case at the moment, that he is back to where he should be.

  14. Drop zone

    17. Alex Albon

    18. Carlos Sainz

    19. Fernando Alonso

    20. Valtteri Bottas

    21. Lance Stroll

    22. Sergio Perez

  15. Russell goes quickest

    The two Mercedes enter stage left and surprise, surprise for 2026, George Russell goes quickest followed by his team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Lewis Hamilton slots into third spot, pushing Oscar Piastri to fourth.

  16. Piastri goes top

    Oscar Piastri is now leading the two Audis of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto with his McLaren team-mate fourth, all four drivers on the soft compound.

    Lewis Hamilton has a slight moment in the Ferrari but he tells his pit wall the car still feels good, he's just having a few snaps, "particularly under braking".

  17. Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent

    I wanted to talk about Lewis Hamilton, because not only did he have a really good sprint, although dropped back to third in the end but he made a remark about why Mercedes looked so good in qualifying compared to their race pace.

    He spoke about them having an extra engine mode, what he used to be familiar with. He thinks Mercedes have that again, which they can access from Q2 to Q3 but can't use in the race because it will wear the engine too much. Which is an interesting revelation, if that is true. It certainly looks that way.

  18. With Cadillac taking the teams on the grid from 10 to 11 this year, the bottom six drivers will be eliminated from both Q1 and Q2 in 2026. Sergio Perez finished the race in Melbourne last week for the American team, which was a plus, but the Mexican is now having to sit and wait patiently while his crew tinker with his car.

    Max Verstappen is on the medium tyre is goes to the top of the timehseets ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, who has taken the softs to start.

  19. Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    I think Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar and the Red Bull team will be massively disappointed with where they are. I thought they had quite strong pace, looking at the timing sheet, watching how well they went at times in Bahrain in pre-season testing. Looked like if not Mercedes, would Red Bull be the strongest team? They played it down but based on the performance in sprint qualifying, there is a lot of work to do there.

  20. Get Involved - 'this isn't racing anymore'

    Select the 'Get Involved' button to have your say

    Sanders: This isn't racing anymore. The commentators taking up 75% of the "race" talking about batteries and the drivers need to "back off to harvest energy" is just sad, pretending what we watched was exciting because the gamers in the front keep passing each other because they can't figure out their power settings.

    Ben: Brilliant racing and great to see the Ferrari drivers winding each other up. That’s exactly what's required to wake the tiger in Lewis Hamilton this season.