Just four days after claiming a one-two victory around the streets of Melbourne, Mercedes have set the pace once again in China on Friday.

But there is good news for Australian Oscar Piastri and his McLaren team after a bitterly disappointing Australian Grand Prix that saw the hometown hero crash before even making it to the grid.

Formula One’s new era of cars is still finding its feet with multiple teams working through teething issues as the second round of the season got underway in Shanghai.

The field’s sole rookie, Arvid Lindblad, was an early casualty as smoke poured out of his cockpit after pulling up at the hairpin at the end of the back straight.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz continues to have no luck with his Williams, a data issue leaving him in garage purgatory.

As George Russell and Kimi Antonelli blasted around the circuit to give Mercedes the top two times through the weekend’s lone practise session, reigning champion Lando Norris and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton came to blows in a bizarre incident.

At the final corner, Norris appeared to assume the Ferrari veteran was heading towards the pit lane, having taken a wide line on entry.

However, Hamilton then turned into the corner, taking the apex and making contact with the McLaren.

It left the floor of Hamilton’s car damaged, and race control noted the incident for further investigation.

Ferrari was also in the news for deploying their new rotating rear wings, which have been coined “macarena” wings, throughout the session.

It didn’t make much difference to their times with Charles LeClerc clocking the fifth-fastest lap and Hamilton nearly a half-second behind his teammate in sixth.

Piastri’s 2025 Shanghai Grand Prix proved a redemption victory, having spun out in the final laps at Albert Park to finish ninth, and hopes of a repeat in 2026 were lifted on Friday.

McLaren were the second-fastest team, with Norris third-fastest and Piastri fourth, comfortably ahead of the Prancing Horse.

However, they were both more than half a second behind Antonelli and even further off the blistering pace of last weekend’s winner, Russell.

Cadillac driver Sergio Perez finished with the worst time as they continue working towards competitiveness in their debut campaign.