Max 9th in sprint race in Shanghai: 'Everything that could go wrong, went wrong'

Published on 14 March 2026 by Misha van der Kroon

Max Verstappen finished ninth in the sprint race for the Chinese Grand Prix. The four-time World Champion had a poor start, but managed to fight his way forward to ninth place, just outside the points. After winning the Australian Grand Prix, George Russell also claimed victory in the first sprint race of the year, finishing ahead of both Ferraris.

After the race, Max briefly reflected on the result. The four-time World Champion immediately lost a lot of ground at the start. “I had no power. I think it was the same thing Lawson had in Australia.” He is equally critical about the rest of the race: “It was nothing. There’s no point talking about it. We had no balance, no grip and the tyres were gone.” He adds: “I don’t have a lot of words at the moment. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. The start is one problem we have to fix, but after that the balance was all over the place. We probably had the highest degradation of everyone out there, which is uncontrollable. Plus, some other things on the car that were not well prepared.” Looking ahead to qualifying, he concludes: “We’ll try a few things.”

The first sprint race of the year is about to get underway. Max starts from P8 on the medium tyres. Only his Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Isack Hadjar opts for a different compound (softs) in the top ten. When the lights go out, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) makes a strong start. From P4 he immediately moves up to second place behind George Russell (Mercedes). Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) drops from P2 to P8. Max also has a poor start. By the first corner, the four-time World Champion has dropped to twentieth. By the end of the opening lap, however, Max has already fought his way back up to fifteenth place.

At the front, a battle for the lead unfolds. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton trade positions and overtake each other several times. After around six laps, Hamilton’s resistance fades. Russell begins to pull away, while Hamilton has to look behind him. Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc launches an attack on his teammate and takes over second place. A fierce battle follows, with barely any space between the two Ferraris through the opening corners. Meanwhile, Max finds himself stuck in the midfield halfway through the sprint race. After overtaking Carlos Sainz (Williams) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine), he moves up to thirteenth position. Russell leads, ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton.

Antonelli is on the move as well. The young Italian steadily works his way forward and by lap fourteen has climbed to second place. However, the Mercedes driver receives a ten-second penalty for a collision with Hadjar. Max also makes progress from thirteenth place. He pulls off a double overtake on Esteban Ocon (Haas) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) to move up to eleventh. He then finds himself battling with teammate Hadjar. Max complains that his tyres are gone and that he can no longer brake properly. He brakes too late at one point, but later manages to pass Hadjar. During their fight, Ocon manages to overtake both Red Bulls and takes tenth place.

On lap fourteen, the race is neutralised. Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) stops in turn one, bringing out the safety car. Several drivers decide to pit. After the pit stops, Russell leads the restart ahead of Leclerc, Lando Norris (McLaren), Hamilton and Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls). Lawson has not pitted and is running on the hard tyres, while the others have switched to softs. Max also changes to the soft compound and drops back to P14 as a result.

The safety car comes in with three laps remaining. Max begins another charge through the field and starts the final lap in tenth place. He overtakes Ocon in the closing lap, but falls four tenths short of eighth place and finishes just outside the points. Russell takes the Mercedes to victory ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton. Norris loses a position to the seven-time World Champion in the closing stages. Lawson’s gamble pays off as he finishes seventh.

Results sprint race China: