The Race F1 Podcast · The Race Media Ltd

Chinese GP: Antonelli stars, but did Ferrari in-fighting stop them getting second?

March 15, 2026·1 hr 20 min·5 clips

Kimi Antonelli breaks free at the start to claim his first Grand Prix win, becoming the first Italian winner in nearly two decades.

The transcript starts with advertising. Once the racing talk arrives, Kimi Antonelli is the named hook, but the excerpt soon lands on Red Bull's rough weekend. Verstappen is the center of it. The panel treats his attack on the rules as hard to separate from a car weekend they describe as a horror show. Red Bull had no grip, and the issue comes across as bigger than a normal balance complaint. The team never seemed to understand it. The starts went badly twice. Verstappen says it was not the battery issue from Australia, so the launch procedure takes more of the blame. He had to recover from the back. The analysis puts Red Bull around fourth quickest when things go right, with a clear warning: small mistakes now drop them straight into the pack. For a team used to setting the terms, that feels like a sharp change. Hadjar's lap-one spin adds to the mess. It nearly involved Oli Behrman and makes the wider Red Bull weekend sound even more unsettled. Then comes the paddock clue. The panel notes that Christian Horner usually briefs media after bad days, and cancellations normally come with a reason. This time, no reason came. The hosts do not turn one absence into a crisis, but they do treat the silence as worth noticing. The tone stays careful. Verstappen's broadside and the brief Toto Wolff mention both lead back to the same practical question: can a bad car weekend warp a driver's view of the racing rules?

As heard by us

Antonelli's China win gives The Race a sharp way into Ferrari tension and Red Bull unease.

The Race F1 Podcast has a big result to work with in China: Kimi Antonelli's breakthrough Grand Prix win, clear of George Russell, with Ferrari left to wonder whether the Hamilton-Leclerc tension cost them a better shot at second.

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Why you'd press play

Antonelli's breakthrough win, Ferrari's internal drama, and a Red Bull weekend that fell apart.

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