Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli wins first F1 in China; Russell second | Motor Sports News

The 19-year-old turned his pole position into a historic win to consolidate Mercedes’ hold on the start of the F1 season.

An impassioned Kimi Antonelli won his first ever Formula One Grand Prix in China ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who made his debut podium for Ferrari.

19-year-old Antonelli turned the youngest pole-sitter in Formula One history to victory after both McLarens failed dramatically to start the Shanghai race.

“Thank you, thank you all. Thank you so much. You made one of my dreams come true,” Antonelli said on the radio after taking the checkered flag.

“I’m speechless. I cry to be honest,” he said in his first interview as a winner in front of the Shanghai Circuit crowd.

It was a nervy finish for the Italian, who locked up and went wide with three laps to go, cutting Russell’s lead to 7.4 seconds and finishing 5.515 clear.

It was Mercedes’ second consecutive one-two after leading Russell Antonelli in the Australian opener last weekend.

The first Italian winner since Giancarlo Fisichella for Renault in Malaysia in 2006 with a flat spot (on his tyres) gave me a bit of a heart attack at the end. “It was a good race.”

Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali, also Italian, congratulated Antonelli before onstage celebrations and the playing of the Italian national anthem.

Antonelli lost the lead early on, but once he got ahead, the teenager controlled the pace to cruise to the checkered flag. Charles Leclerc was fourth in the second Ferrari.

Hamilton, as he did in Saturday’s sprint, got off to a good start and was leading by the time the teams emerged from the first complex turns.

Leclerc also had a brilliant launch and managed to overtake Russell who started second on the grid.

The top four swapped places several times before the safety car on lap 11 brought them all to the pits.

Once the dust settled and they were back in the race, Antonelli led Hamilton with Leclerc third and Russell fourth.

By lap 29, Russell had passed both Ferraris and second and tried to catch his young teammate, who was more than seven seconds down the road at the time.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen continued Red Bull’s poor start to the new season when he retired his car on lap 46.

McLaren’s reigning world champion, Lando Norris and teammate Oscar Piastre both failed to start due to problems with their cars.

Oliver Baermann was fifth for Haas ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson.

Isaac Hudger finished eighth for Red Bull after team-mate Verstappen retired. Carlos Sainz was ninth for Williams and Franco Colapinto finally returned in the points for Alpine in 10th after failing to score last year.