I am not going to lie, I arrived in China expecting Russell to continue from where he left off in Australia.
He won the Sprint as well, so it felt like a fair expectation. Then Kimi took pole and basically said, “Move aside, this weekend is mine.”
The radio after his pole was probably my favourite moment of the weekend. You could hear the disbelief in Kimi’s voice, while Toto sounded less like his boss and more like a proud father.
That moment felt real. No prepared speech, no media answer. Just a 19-year-old boy understanding that he had made F1 history.
Even away from the track, Shanghai looked alive. Aaron Kwok attracted a huge crowd in the paddock, while fellow racing enthusiast Jimmy Lin was also there enjoying the weekend. F1 in China is definitely becoming a proper show.
When the race began, Hamilton surprised Kimi and took the lead. I immediately sat up because Ferrari at the front always makes things more interesting.
Kimi did not look worried.
He waited, took the position back on Lap 2 and controlled everything from there. One late lock-up gave him and all of us a small heart attack, but he recovered and won his first Formula 1 race.
Russell deserves credit as well. He won the Sprint, recovered past both Ferraris and finished second. It was a brilliant Mercedes weekend for him, but Kimi simply stole the story.
Hamilton finally took his first Grand Prix podium for Ferrari, and his fight with Leclerc gave us some enjoyable action behind Mercedes.
McLaren, meanwhile, could not start either car because of electrical problems. Piastri had now reached two races without completing a single racing lap.
At that point, even he must have been wondering whether his 2026 season had actually started.
And then came the part that ruined my mood.
Max had another terrible start, fought his way back to sixth and looked ready to rescue some points. With only 10 laps remaining, his ERS cooling problem forced him to retire.
I actually stared at the screen thinking, seriously?
In Australia, Max fought from 20th to sixth. In China, he fought his way back again and the car simply refused to let him finish.
I rate the Chinese Grand Prix an A2W 7.5/10.
Kimi arrived in China as Mercedes’ young driver. He left as the driver everyone was talking about. Max left early, and yes, I am still annoyed about it.
aKi Malik
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