Hamilton has a plan to topple Mercedes in Chinese GP despite daunting task

The Briton enjoyed a strong qualifying session for both himself and Ferrari, taking third place and edging his teammate by just a few thousandths, positioning himself as the closest challenger to the two Mercedes heading into tomorrow’s race, which will see Kimi Antonelli start from pole.

Asked whether he believes he has any chance of beating the two Mercedes in the race, the Briton responded with frank realism: “I think it's highly unlikely that we'll be able to beat them in the race. They've got, in our statistics, something between 4 and 6 tenths on race pace. Whether or not we saw that in the first race or not, I think in clear air, they're just above us at the moment."

Nevertheless, Hamilton - who is still chasing his first Grand Prix podium with Ferrari - has not completely given up, pointing to a few scenarios that could potentially put Antonelli and Russell under pressure.

The seven-time world champion has admitted he cannot quite explain Mercedes’ speed advantage at the start of the 2026 campaign, suggesting the Silver Arrows seem to possess a qualifying ‘party mode’ that the rest of the field simply cannot match.

Hamilton and Russell fought a thrilling duel in the opening laps of the Sprint Race in Shanghai just hours before qualifying. In the end, however, it was the Mercedes driver who emerged victorious, while Hamilton dropped to P3 following a hard-fought battle with Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

After the race, Hamilton highlighted Mercedes’ superior straight-line speed as a key factor, later reiterating in the press conference that this is exactly where Ferrari and the other teams are currently losing time.