Guide to the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix as F1 hits Shanghai for the first sprint weekend of the season.
Mercedes come into this weekend as the constructors’ championship leader after their one-two finish in Melbourne, Australia, with George Russell sat top of the drivers’ standings ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
This weekend though marks the first sprint weekend of the season as teams continue to learn and evolve their new machinery, which promises to be dramatic with less practice time in Shanghai than on a normal race weekend.
Now here is a guide to everything that you need to know about the 2026 Chinese GP.
Track Guide
Laps: 56
Race Distance: 305.066km
Tyre Selection: C2, C3, C4
Schedule
| Date | Session | UK Time (GMT) |
| Friday 13 March | Practice | 3:30am |
| Friday 13 March | Sprint Qualifying | 7:30am |
| Saturday 14 March | Sprint Race | 3am |
| Saturday 14 March | Qualifying | 7am |
| Sunday 15 March | Race | 7am |
Four Key Pointers
- Coming into the first sprint weekend of the season, teams will have only one hour of practice to understand setup, tyres and especially how to
- Following a tough Australian GP weekend in which they largely ran a testing programme due to power unit issues, Aston Martin need to try and unlock some more quality if want to get their season going.
- Track evolution will be high on a track which will be dirty at the start of the weekend due to lack of usage, which will pose a challenge for tyre wear and management.
- Shanghai International Circuit has more medium and low-speed corners than Australia which could suit McLaren who struggled with their corner speeds in the season-opener.
Last Time Out
Lewis Hamilton converted his sprint pole in 2025 into sprint victory for Ferrari’s only win of 2025 across both race formats, before Oscar Piastri topped Qualifying for the main race and proceeded to take the win from his maiden pole position in F1.
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