SHANGHAI - Formula One's new era heads into its first sprint in Shanghai this weekend, with the Chinese Grand Prix promising a very different test to Melbourne, where George Russell led home a Mercedes one-two.
The Silver Arrows dominated the season-opener, Russell winning from Kimi Antonelli and followed home by the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in the first race under sweeping new regulations.
Lando Norris and McLaren struggled, the British world champion trailing home fifth and teammate Oscar Piastri failing to even start after crashing on his way to the grid.
Red Bull's four-time champion Max Verstappen carved his way through the field to sixth after starting 20th on the grid following a qualifying crash.
The Shanghai International Circuit, unlike the Albert Park track in Melbourne, has one long straight and several complexes of turns.
It will require a different approach to battery deployment and energy harvesting in the new cars, which have a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.
But with only one practice session before sprint qualifying on Friday, the teams will have little time to hone their set-ups and strategies.
Saturday morning will see the sprint race over 19 laps of the 5.451km circuit and grand prix qualifying in the afternoon.
Sunday's grand prix will be over 56 laps, and if the race in Melbourne is anything to go by, it could be very eventful.
"Shanghai is going to be important to be straight on point with deployment, with everything, because obviously we get only one practice and then we go into qualifying," said Antonelli.
"The rate of development is going to be massive and it's going to be important to not put any wrong step because the situation can flip very quickly."
Leclerc agreed: "To have a sprint race so early on in a season like this will be a huge challenge for everybody. It's going to be very tricky."
Race-winner Russell said his only reservation about the 2026 cars was a lack of control when the active front wing was opened up under the new "straight mode".
Introduced this season to reduce drag and give a boost of speed akin to the now-defunct DRS system, Russell said it made the cars skittish.