2025 Chinese Grand Prix

George Russell finished third and Kimi Antonelli battled home to P6, despite floor damage, in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.

George Russell started the 56-lap race on the front row alongside Oscar Piastri's McLaren. When the lights went out, George made the better start but couldn't quite get past the Australian; as backed out, Lando Norris was able to get ahead.

Meanwhile, Kimi, who started from P8, made up one position by overtaking Isaac Hadjar's Racing Bull. Unfortunately, he suffered significant damage to the floor, which compromised his entire race, probably from running over debris.

Nevertheless, the Italian fought on. After switching to the Hard compound, he battled the other Racing Bull of Yuki Tsunoda and eventually used a one-stop strategy to finish in P8.

After the race, the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, as well as Pierre Gasly's Alpine, were disqualified. This moved Kimi up to P6.

George drove a flawless race to maximise the result and take P3, making it back-to-back podiums to start the year and an all-Mercedes powered top three. George’s P3 marks Mercedes-Benz’s 300^th podium in F1 as a works team, and his own best start to an F1 season after two races.

Kimi Antonelli

The race was pretty tough after I suffered floor damage on lap one. It looks like I hit some debris and that affected the performance quite heavily. I struggled with the rear in particular after that and that was something I wasn’t expecting. It definitely hindered my pace, but it was good learning to have to deal with that. I think we can still be happy that we were able to bring home some points in P8, even though that wasn’t what we were hoping for ahead of the race. I want to say a thank you to the fans for voting me driver of the day. I definitely wasn’t expecting it given how my race went but it’s great to see the support from the fans.

Overall, I’m happy with how I, and the team as a whole, have started the year. I think one of the main points of learning for me has been Qualifying. If I can put it all together on a Saturday then we will be starting further forward, less likely to get involved in incidents, and can maximise the pace of the car. I’m excited to get to work ahead of the next triple-header and come back refreshed for the races in Japan, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We're very pleased to get our second podium of the year with George. He lost one place in the first corner, which meant that McLaren could control the race and realistically, third was the best we could achieve today. There was still a threat to defend from behind with the Ferraris and Verstappen, but it was encouraging that we had the pace to keep them at arm’s length today.

Kimi was unlucky to pick up debris damage to his underfloor on lap one when he likely ran over some bits of the Ferrari front wing. That really hurt his performance today. We're nevertheless pleased that he could bring home some points, but it's a shame as he would have had fun racing with Verstappen and the Ferraris had it not been for that damage.

Overall, we're pleased with how the first two races of the season have gone. The car is working well over a range of conditions and whilst we'll always hope for more, the performance we've seen is encouraging as we can certainly improve from here. This is the most solid start to a season that we've had for three years. We have a big task ahead of us to catch McLaren but we're not short of motivation and very excited for the season ahead.

2025 Chinese GP Race Result