Ferrari have gone a year without a Formula One win since Lewis Hamilton’s sprint race triumph in Shanghai, and this weekend’s return to China offers both teams a chance to close the loop.
Ferrari, which last stood atop the podium in 2024, showed strong pace in last weekend’s Australian opener, with Charles Leclerc finishing third and Hamilton fourth, trailing the one-two of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.
“For me, the main feeling is that we now have a real fight on our hands with Ferrari,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said after Melbourne. Mercedes remain the benchmark, with Russell once again the favorite, but after a difficult 2025 season that saw him miss the podium entirely, seven-time world champion Hamilton enters round two with renewed optimism.
Could this weekend mark Hamilton’s first podium for Ferrari?
The team has a loyal following in China, where the color red symbolizes happiness and good fortune, and Hamilton is also the most successful driver there with six wins from previous stints at McLaren and Mercedes.
That only went so far last year, with Hamilton winning on Saturday before both cars were disqualified on Sunday.
“Of course, we're not as fast as Mercedes, we've got work to do, but we're right in the fight,” Hamilton said after last Sunday’s race in Melbourne. “I do believe we can close the gap.”
Leclerc said he had been positively surprised by the race pace in Melbourne, but Shanghai, the first sprint weekend of the sport’s new engine and chassis era, represents another big challenge.
“I think it’s going to be crucial to be straight on top of everything, which will be extremely difficult,” the Monegasque said. “To have a sprint race so early in a season like this will be a huge challenge for everybody.”
The sprint format means only one hour-long Friday practice session, at a time when every lap counts for teams getting to grips with their new cars, but also more points are on offer, with eight for the Saturday winner.
The Australian Grand Prix featured 120 overtakes, compared with 45 a year earlier, with the lead changing hands repeatedly early on as Russell and Leclerc charged and deployed energy from the increased electrical component.
The Shanghai circuit has two long straights, and Russell, leading the championship for the first time but with the jury still out on Formula One's new format, suggested China would be very different. “You’ve got one big, long straight, so the majority of drivers will be using their energy on that one straight,” he said. “You don’t need to divide it up between four like in Melbourne.”
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur agreed: “Conditions will probably be much colder in China. And we'll have the sprint format, which means much less time to adapt the strategy. It will be a completely different exercise.”
McLaren looked like the third-fastest team in Australia, with champion Lando Norris finishing after teammate Oscar Piastri crashed before the start.
Piastri won the main race from pole in China last year, with Norris second for the second consecutive year.
Red Bull, which had only four-time world champion Max Verstappen finish last Sunday after Isack Hadjar retired during the race, also hopes for better. Aston Martin faces a far tougher weekend after struggling with powertrain problems and completing few laps. Their chances of even finishing in Shanghai look remote.
“That will be optimistic, but we can try,” said Fernando Alonso, a two-time winner in Shanghai.
