Summary

  • Antonelli wins; Russell 2nd; Hamilton 3rd

  • Hamilton had led after overtaking both Mercedes off start

  • Ferraris battled for third during race

  • Piastri, Norris, Albon and Bortoleto out before race starts

  • Alonso retires following discomfort from vibrations in Aston Martin

  • Verstappen, Stroll also out

  • Get involved using form below

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Live Reporting

Lorraine McKenna

  1. Lap 8/56

    Max Verstappen is on the soft tyre and the Dutchman has bad news for his Red Bull, as he calls in to his red rubber is done.

    Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are battling each other in the points places, both drivers gaining places in the opening stages.

  2. Get Involved - 'rocket ship' Mercedes

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    Sam: As good as Ferrari are at the race starts, the reality is the pace of the Mercedes is just unreal.

    Nathan: These Mercedes cars are rocket ships.

  3. Lap 7/56

    Kimi Antoenlli is 1.4 seconds ahead of his Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the lead of this Chinese Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc a couple of seconds further back.

    Pierre Gasly is sitting pretty in fifth place in the Alpine and is joined by his team-mate Franco Colapinto, who has climbed from 12th to sixth.

  4. Get Involved - 'Piastri not had a chance to race yet'

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    Richard: Surely got to be just one season with these cars, 4 cars not even starting the grand prix. Piastri not had a chance to race yet.

    Andrew: Oscar Piastri won’t drive a single Grand Prix lap until at least Sunday 29th March. Not the response to last season’s near Championship miss that he was hoping for, and expecting.

  5. 'Alpines are doing a cracking job'

    Lap 6/56

    Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    The two Alpines are doing a cracking job, Pierre Gasly in fifth and Franco Colapinto in sixth. Let's see what Colapinto can do and if he can hold onto P6 because that would be his best finish in Formula 1 by a long way.

  6. Lap 5/56

    Four cars are already out of this race: Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Alex Albon and Gabriel Bortoleto.

    Max Verstappen made another slow start in the Red Bull and is now in 10th place, while the two Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas have been noted by race control after the pair made contact on the opening lap.

  7. Russell overtakes Hamilton

    Lap 4/56

    The top four is back to where we started this race a few moments, as George Russell uses the overtake mode to blast past former Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Russell is second and looking to hunt down Kimi Antonelli, who is a second up the road.

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

    What has happened in these opening two laps is just absolute madness. The grid is completely topsy-turvy, and behind the top three it's like a pick and mix of the rest of the grid.

  9. Russell up to P3

    Lap 3/56

    George Russell lost places at the start as the Ferraris breezed by but the superior pace of the Mercedes means the Briton catches up with Charles Leclerc and passes the Monegasque driver to move up to third. Ex-team-mate Lewis hamilton is next on Russell's list.

  10. Get Involved

    Select the 'Get Involved' button to have your say

    Andrew: Defending champions of both championships, McLaren have had a disastrous start to the new season.

    Kirsty: Hopefully the teams are allowed some testing between Japan & Miami. So many issues for so many teams - let's get more exciting racing with 22 cars please!

    Kayne: New regs will always lead to reliability issues. I think you need to stick to it and make tweaks based on what is learnt throughout the season.

  11. Antonelli overtakes Hamilton

    Lap 2/56

    Plenty of drivers are experiencing lock-ups but Lewis Hamilton is keeping calm out in front. Can the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli deploy some energy and overtake the Ferrari man? He can! The Italian has passed the seven-time world champion and is back up to P1 in Shanghai.

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

    I said about Lewis Hamilton going round the outside at Turn One and that is exactly what he was able to do. Charles Leclerc tried to follow him through, but wasn't able to do so.

  13. Hamilton leads Chinese GP

    Lap 1/56

    The two Ferraris have passed both Mercedes cars already and it's Lewis Hamilton who is now leading the Chinese Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli manages to come back and take second place away from Charles Leclerc.

    Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman have made contact! The Haas and the Red Bull go off the track and onto the gravel and the Hadjar is told to box.

    race startGetty Images

  14. 'Bitter blow for McLaren'

    Sam Bird
    Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    It might be a case of only Lando Norris taking to the grand prix and that's a bitter blow for McLaren. They've had a challenging start to the season so far.

  15. Go! Go! Go!

    Alex Albon is also out of the car. Here we go then!

  16. Formation lap

    The top four drivers have opted for the medium tyre first while Red Bull have given Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar the soft compound off the line.

    The likes of Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon in the midfield are on hards at lights out.

    Graining is a big issue for teams and drivers in Shanghai, so how will these smaller tyres cope today?

    More news: Gabriel Bortoleto is out of the Audi and will not take part.

  17. Get Involved - new rules 'not fit for purpose'

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    Jack: The new rules and regs are clearly not fit for purpose when this many cars are having issues before the race has started.

    Marc: The FIA should arrange for F1 to have a test session at Silverstone to allow teams some track time to improve their cars during the 5 week break.

  18. 'It could be a four-way fight' - Russell

    Mercedes' George Russell starts in second, he said: "I really love coming to Shanghai. The support here has been very surreal and special to experience, so I hope I can give everybody a great race today."

    On getting to the root of the issues he had in the last session of qualifying: "Yes. There was actually nothing major, there was one small error that caused a big fiasco and led on to a number of issues.

    "Unfortunately, these new cars are still pretty complicated. It's not something we're concerned about for the future, it's just a little work around now we just need to consider in qualifying."

    On his team-mate Kimi Antonelli starting in pole: "Kimi has been really quick this season and he's going to be fighting for the victory no doubt. We know how quick Charles [Leclerc] and Lewis [Hamilton] are especially at the start of the race. It could be a four-way fight."

  19. Piastri back in the garage

    Oscar Piastri, race winner in China last year from pole position, has made his way back to the McLaren garage to join his world champion team-mate Lando Norris. The constructors' champions have left row three clear as the rest of the field get ready for the formation lap.

  20. Strategy: 'Undercut effect' should be powerful

    Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent

    All things being equal, the Chinese Grand Prix is expected to be a one-stop strategy with the medium and hard tyres favoured.

    Mercedes have a small race-pace advantage based on the evidence so far this weekend, but Ferrari look close enough to make a fight of it, at least for a while.

    A pit stop takes about 24 seconds under green flag conditions and 15 under a safety car. Front tyre graining - where the surface tears and grip falls away - is expected to be an issue, especially in the cooler, cloudy conditions of race day.

    The pace crossover on the tyre compounds is after six laps, with the hard compound faster from then on, so the ‘undercut effect' of stopping first and gaining ground on fresh tyres, should be powerful.