Formula One’s new superstar has arrived much quicker than most expected as Oscar Piastri’s title hopes went down skid row.
Already tipped as a future world champion, Italian teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli has let rev heads the world over know that he’s already the real deal by winning Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.
At 19, he became the second youngest race winner in history, finishing comfortably ahead of his Mercedes team mate George Russell, who leads the championship standings with 51 points to the Italian’s 47.
Ferrari appears the only likely challenger after Lewis Hamilton finished third and Charles Leclerc fourth at the high-speed Shanghai International Circuit.
McLaren appear to be long shots of winning either drivers or the constructors title after another disastrous weekend where both cars failed to even start the race, leaving Piastri and Lando Norris to watch the action unfold from the pits.
After crashing during the warm up before last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Piastri still hasn’t completed a single lap this season, leaving his chances of contending for this year’s title already in ruins.
“It was an electrical problem on the power unit, different to Lando’s,” Piastri said.
“Just very unfortunate to both have issues but we don’t fully know any more than that at this point. So obviously disappointing.
“Obviously the problems today have been annoying but I think besides that we know we’ve got work to do to find more performance so that’s what we’ll try and fix.”
For Norris, the defending world champion, it was the first time in his eight seasons in F1 that he didn’t make it to lights out.
“Yeah, it’s just frustrating,” he said. “My first non-start in F1. Tough to take.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said both cars experienced sudden electronic problems to their engines that could not be fixed in time.
“We came here to go racing and today we were not in condition to do so because of technical problems,” Stella said.
“This is very frustrating and disappointing for the team, for the drivers, for our technical and commercial partners, and for our fans.
“We’re sorry for that and we will regroup and understand these technical problems, and we will go again in Japan.”
Stella said was hopeful the issues would be repaired by the next race, in Japan on March 29, but the clock is already ticking for the two-time defending constructors’ champions.
The new season will be delayed for five weeks after Japan with both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix cancelled because of the conflict in the Middle East.
That’s more bad news for Piastri, who won both those races in 2025.
McLaren is not the only team battling with its cars. Two other drivers also didn’t make it to the starting grid in China, while three more conked out before the end.
Other teams have also missed qualifying and practice sessions, triggering complaints about the fairness of all the technical changes.
F1 officials have said they will review the regulations after the Japanese Grand Prix but with the majority of teams adapting to the changes, it’s not expected that any major changes will be made so it’ll be on McLaren to find a way to catch up.
The sport is in rude health with Antonelli’s win a momentous day for the sport.
Aged 19 years 203 days, Antonelli is only the second teenager to win a Grand Prix.
The only other is Verstappen, who was 18 years and 228 days when he won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
“You’ve made me achieve one of my dreams,” Antonelli told his pit wall when he crossed the line.
“I’m speechless. I’m about to cry to be honest,” he added at his post race interview. “Thank you so much to my team. They helped me to achieve this dream.”
“I said yesterday I really wanted to bring Italy back on top and we did it today
“Even though I gave myself a little bit of a heart attack towards the end with a bit of a flat spot, but it was a good race.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who signed Antonelli, said the Italian was already ahead of what he thought he could do.
“I think it’s maybe come earlier than I thought,” Wolff said.
“Last year we said that it’s going to be a very difficult year with many ups and downs and mistakes.
“Then, bang, second race (he wins). He has controlled it in the front, he has driven very well today, so he’s probably a little bit better than the trajectory I thought.
“He was actually quite calm and jovial before the race but then, on the grid, you see the eyes.”
Relive the action from the Chinese Grand Prix in our live blog below.
Originally published as Chinese Grand Prix 2026: Piastri title hopes up in smoke as Italian teen makes F1 history