The 2026 Formula 1 season is two weeks old. Mercedes have already made their intentions clear.
George Russell took pole position in Melbourne by eight tenths of a second over the nearest non-Silver Arrows car. He and Kimi Antonelli converted that advantage into a commanding one-two finish, with Ferrari following them home in third and fourth. The gap was real. The question heading into the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit is whether it tells the whole story.
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton do not think it does.
Leclerc and Hamilton Address the Mercedes Gap
GettyLewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari and Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Scuderia Ferrari.
Leclerc was direct about what Australia showed and what it did not.
“In Qualifying, it’s going to take a lot of work in order to change the advantage that they have,” Leclerc said. “Eight tenths in Melbourne was absolutely huge. There are things we are optimising that we haven’t optimised in Melbourne, so it will get better, but they still have a significant advantage.”
The race pace told a different story. Once the cars were running in clean air, the gap between Ferrari and Mercedes narrowed considerably. Leclerc believes that is the more representative picture of where the two teams actually stand.
“In the race, we are closer, so I hope that starting from this weekend we can put them under a bit more pressure.”
Hamilton arrived in Shanghai sounding more optimistic than at any stage of a difficult 2025 campaign. He had genuine pace in Melbourne, closing on Leclerc in the final laps, and came away from Australia with a clearer sense of what the SF-26 is capable of.
“We knew that Mercedes were looking really strong, and little did we know it was as big a gap that we saw, but not an impossible gap to close,” Hamilton said. “It’s just going to take all hands on deck, and I’m confident in my team doing absolutely everything back at the factory to try and close that gap.”
Why Shanghai Presents a Different Challenge for Ferrari
GettyLewis Hamilton of Scuderia Ferrari.
China adds another layer of complexity. The Shanghai International Circuit’s 1.2 kilometre back straight between Turns 13 and 14 is one of the most demanding stretches on the entire calendar under the new 2026 regulations. Battery deployment decisions that barely registered in Melbourne will matter enormously here.
The Sprint format makes an already complex weekend harder still. Teams get one practice session before parc ferme locks the car’s setup for Sprint Qualifying. Miss the window in that single hour and the rest of the weekend becomes damage limitation.
Leclerc was realistic about what that means.
“On a Sprint weekend, it’s probably double the work, because we’ve got very few laps before needing to be optimal for Qualifying,” he said. “It’s going to be very important to do a good job during FP1 and to be ready in Sprint Qualifying in order to have the best result.”
Ferrari are also arriving in Shanghai with aggressive updates to the SF-26, reportedly including multiple rear wing specifications as the team push to find the performance gap they know exists.
Hamilton, who won the Sprint in Shanghai last season before being disqualified from the main race, knows the circuit well. He also knows the expectation that comes with it.
“I think it will still be very tough to beat the Mercedes this weekend,” he said. “You also have to assume that the others are going to be picking up pace, like McLaren picking up pace, the second Red Bull being in the fight as well. I think we’ll just focus on doing the best job we can and extracting the most from the car.”
Final Word for Ferrari
Melbourne provided one answer. Shanghai will provide another.
The eight-tenth qualifying gap to Mercedes is the headline. The race pace, the early updates, and the words of two drivers who believe the deficit is closable tell a more complicated story.
Ferrari are not where they want to be yet. They know it. Both drivers said so plainly.
But they also believe the gap is not permanent. China is the first real test of whether they are right.
Ferrari’s Leclerc and Hamilton Have Strong Words About Mercedes Challenge