A new era of F1 rules and racing returns immediately to action for the second race of the season in China this weekend, as both participants and fans of the sport continue to grapple with the sweeping changes introduced in 2026.
Shanghai will also host the first of six sprint events this season. This is an alternative, often unpredictable format that features one practice session before the pressure of a competitive session.
Add in F1’s new cars and different track layouts with different requirements for the power units, and it will mean that nothing can be taken for granted for teams and drivers who are still in their infancy with the sport’s new ruleset, which saw last weekend’s divisive Australian season opener for good, bad and indifference.
“China will be a completely different story,” said Ferrari’s Frédéric Vasseur. Ferrari’s team, along with race winners Mercedes, got off to their best start to the new season in Melbourne last week.
“In terms of energy (deployment), it’s almost the opposite (of Australia).
“The climate in China will probably be colder and we will adopt a sprint format, which means we will have much less time to adapt our strategy.
“It’s going to be a completely different practice.”
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2026 Australian Grand Prix Highlights.
Why China’s challenges are different from Australia’s
The Shanghai International Circuit will be the fourth circuit to be run by F1’s all-new 2026 cars and engines, following pre-season testing in Barcelona and Bahrain and last week’s season opener at Albert Park.
All four tracks are quite unique in terms of their respective layouts and the demands placed on the cars, which is nothing new, but unlike Barcelona or Melbourne, Shanghai is closer to Bahrain in that it is not considered an “energy depleted” circuit. In other words, it is a circuit where cars struggle to replenish their power unit batteries through braking.
While China has wider braking zones than Albert Park, helping drivers store their batteries in a more natural way, there are also fewer straights where drivers can tap into the electrical energy stored to varying degrees within the field.
“The interesting thing about this car is that it’s not always like this at every track we go to,” Melbourne winner George Russell said after what he described as a “yo-yo” race with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc over the first 10 laps last Sunday.
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At the Australian Grand Prix, George Russell and Charles Leclerc battle for P1, while Mercedes and Ferrari race.
“You know, we’re going to Shanghai next and there’s a big, long straight there, so a lot of the drivers are going to use their energy on that straight.
“There’s no need to split it into four people like in Melbourne.”
There are only two straights of note in the Shanghai lap, but its back straight is quite long at 1.1km, making it one of the longest on the entire calendar.
“It should be a simpler race in terms of how you distribute your energy,” Russell’s Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli said.
“(Australia) was probably the most difficult race of the season opener because it’s energetically very difficult because it’s one straight after another. I think it was a big learning experience for us as drivers and for the team.”
‘A big challenge for everyone’ – How will the first sprint of 2026 spice up your weekend?
A further challenge for the weekend in Shanghai, with potential surprises in the competitive standings even compared to Melbourne, comes from the adoption of a sprint format for the first time in the season.
Unlike in Australia, where teams and drivers held three hours of practice to fine-tune new energy implementation strategies at that track, as well as the usual key tasks of car set-up and tire management, the Sprint schedule means there will be just 60 minutes of preparation time before Sprint qualifying, the first competitive session of the weekend, begins.
New demands for 2026 will put even more weight than usual on the squad, which starts in earnest on Friday morning.
“I think it’s going to be very important to do everything straight. It’s going to be very difficult,” said Ferrari’s Leclerc, who finished third behind the Mercedes in Melbourne.
“So that’s what we were trying to do heading into this (Melbourne) weekend and going into the race not everything was great.
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Let’s take a look back at the race in 2025, when Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish and took Ferrari’s first victory in the sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix.
“So having a sprint race this early in the season is going to be a big challenge for everyone. It’s going to be very difficult.”
And as Bassoor pointed out, “When we started[testing]in Bahrain, it was much easier.
“We were practicing for six days dealing with the same track and improving lap by lap. After six days and doing 150 laps a day, there’s a ton of opportunity to make tweaks.
“It will be different[in China]. We will have to do 20 laps of FP1 and stick to our strategy for qualifying and the rest.”
“This exercise will be difficult.”
Even without challenges to new regulations, and even with rules that have been fixed for years, it’s never easy for teams to ace a sprint event. That was certainly highlighted by Ferrari’s own rollercoaster weekend in Shanghai last season.
The red-marked 24 hours was a record for Lewis Hamilton, who took pole position in sprint qualifying and won the sprint race itself, but Ferrari suffered a double humiliation on Sunday when both cars were disqualified for separate technical violations due to miscalculated race developments (up from fifth and sixth place after what had already been an underwhelming race day for the team).
Ferrari will not be the only team hoping to avoid such pitfalls during one of the most productive weekends of the season.
Sky Sports F1 China GP Schedule
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A look back at the wildest moments captured on Chinese Grand Prix in-car cameras over the years.
Thursday, March 12th
5am: Driver press conference
8am: Paddock uncut
Friday, March 13th
1:05am: F1 Academy practice
3:00am: Chinese GP Practice (session starts at 3:30am)*
5:30am: Team boss press conference*
6am: F1 Academy Qualifying*
6:45am: Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 7:30am)*
Saturday, March 14th
2:25am: Chinese GP sprint build-up*
3am: Chinese GP Sprint*
4.30am: Ted’s Sprint Notes*
5:30am: F1 Academy Race 1*
6:30am: Chinese GP qualifying build-up*
7am: Chinese GP Qualifying*
9am: Ted’s Qualification Notebook*
Sunday March 15th
2:35am: F1 Academy Race 2*
5:30am: Preparation for Chinese Grand Prix: Grand Prix Sunday*
7am: Chinese Grand Prix*
9am: Chinese GP reaction: Checkered flag*
10am: Ted’s Notes*
*Also held at Sky Sports Main Event
F1 heads to Shanghai this Friday for the first sprint weekend of the 2026 season, the Chinese Grand Prix, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
