Engines are warming up in Shanghai as the Formula 1 field hits the track for FP1 of the Chinese Grand Prix. Follow our live coverage of the first and only practice session.
Formula 1 returns to action in China with FP1, and the spotlight will be on Ferrari’s Macarena rear wing, first introduced in Bahrain and which surprised the paddock. The wing will return in Shanghai as the secret weapon for Maranello as they target Mercedes, currently leading the championship.
Mercedes aims to maintain their edge
After a one-two finish in Australia, Toto Wolff’s team remains the benchmark and the one to beat. George Russell arrives in China fresh from his Melbourne victory, accompanied by teammate Kimi Antonelli. Can they replicate last week’s performance, or will Ferrari take the upper hand?
Focus on power unit management
Attention will also be on power unit management: the Shanghai circuit is not ideal for battery recharge, especially along the long straight, a point even Max Verstappen had previously criticized.
FP1 of the Chinese GP is scheduled to start live at 04:30 Central European Time (CET) , with live session coverage beginning around 04:25 in the video below.
F1 Chinese GP 2026: weather forecast for the weekend
What’s the weather expected to be like in Shanghai for the race weekend? Fans can expect mostly sunny conditions with a very low chance of rain. On Friday, March 13, the maximum temperature will reach 14°C. On Saturday, March 14, for the Sprint and qualifying, skies will remain sunny with slightly higher temperatures, peaking at 16°C.
For the Sunday race, the day will be cloudy but stable, similar to the preceding days, with only a 10% chance of rain.
The 2026 Chinese Grand Prix is set to be a crucial technical crossroads, with the “Macarena” wing acting as the centerpiece of Ferrari’s strategy to dismantle the Mercedes advantage. Because this is a Sprint weekend, the sixty minutes of FP1 are the only chance teams have to dial in their complex energy recovery maps and aero settings before parc fermé conditions lock the cars’ setups. With the track’s unique layout demanding a perfect balance between top speed and low-speed traction, any error in data collection this morning could have catastrophic consequences for Sunday’s points haul. The sun shines over Shanghai and the battle for 2026 supremacy is about to reach a new level of intensity.
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