F1 Chinese GP live commentary and updates - race day

Lap 25: Leclerc is now pushing Russell, commenting on the 'dragster'-like traction of the Mercedes ahead. He gets within DRS range.

Bearman indeed throws the hail mary pass on Stroll at Turn 14 and looks to have it done - but locks up to get the car stopped and Stroll holds on. The 2025 Aston Martin's not too shabby in a straight line.

Lap 24: Norris is now within 4s of Piastri now, as Leclerc is inching closer to the third-placed Russell. Stroll is currently defending from Bearman, with both drivers yet to stop.

Lap 22: The Ferraris have an opportunity to get Russell here now, if they can maintain the speed. Leclerc's doing well despite the broken wing.

Lap 21: The Ferraris swap places at Turn 1, and Leclerc moves up to fourth. Albon pits and rejoins in 14th, but that should be his sole stop.

In the meantime, Ocon is having a pretty impressive race despite the limitations of that Haas. He's stayed ahead of Antonelli, and staying with Tsunoda here.

Lap 19: Piastri cleared Albon a lap or so ago as Williams considers the one-stop, and reclaimed the lead. The Ferraris finally get past Stroll, and will swap places as Leclerc is currently quicker.

Lap 18: Norris does indeed put the move on Russell into Turn 1, hurling his car down the inside with DRS and reclaiming track position. Meanwhile, the Ferraris are struggling to get past Stroll.

Lap 17: Albon is yet to stop, and leads from Piastri. Norris is still trying to catch Russell.

Lap 16: Norris stops, and gets a horrible dose of Stroll-in-the-way on the exit as Russell slips past at Turns 1/2. Meanwhile, Verstappen looks a lot stronger on the hard tyre at the minute.

Ocon put a move on Antonelli with DRS, as the Italian struggled to find a way past Tsunoda. Kicks up some dust in the process, but it's a good move.

Lap 14: Piastri and Russell stop; the McLaren driver has a slightly slow stop as he just overshoots his pitbox marks. Russell comes out in traffic and dispatches Bearman. Norris leads.

Hamilton and Verstappen make their stops; Hamilton comes out ahead of Hulkenberg, Verstappen meanwhile emerges behind - but ahead of Tsunoda.

Lap 13: Antonelli stops, which gets Tsunoda ahead through the force of the undercut. Ocon and Gasly cycle out ahead of Hadjar.

Tsunoda is an early stopper too, as Ocon and Doohan also come in. Gasly is currently now ahead of Ocon, so he appears to have made up some positions. As we post that, Ocon gets back ahead of his former team-mate.

Lap 11: Lawson has stalled out after passing the Saubers, and has dropped outside of DRS range of Doohan. 

Lap 10: Piastri is now 1.8s clear of Norris, while Leclerc has got to within a second of Hamilton. Verstappen is almost 5s off the Ferraris, with Antonelli 1.6s behind him.

Lap 9: Alex Albon suggests his team can relax a bit, that he's "better than everyone" on tyres. Looks like he's gone for early pain for long-term gain, but let's see if he makes some progress on Ocon and Hadjar.

Lap 8: Norris is starting to struggle a bit with his left-front tyre. Bands of graining are starting to form, at about the same time as yesterday. Bet anyone a fiver that someone does a three-stop?

Lap 7: Piastri has 1.1s over Norris, with Russell a further 1.6s behind. The front pack is relatively evenly spaced - everyone in the top 10 is outside of a second of the car in front, except Ocon is 0.7s behind Hadjar.

Bortoleto pitted after the opening lap for hard tyres, after getting caught out by Bearman in the first few corners and ended up in the gravel. The Brazilian is circulating at the same pace as Verstappen and Antonelli at the moment, albeit at the back.

Lap 3: Leclerc is asked if he can survive the "20-30 point downforce loss" for the minor break in his front wing. He answers in the affirmative, but drops to over a second behind Hamilton.

Lap 2: Norris is sitting on the DRS knife-edge to Piastri, as the McLarens try to drop Russell and the Ferraris. He's in and out of that one-second gap.

"Charles has a broken front wing," Verstappen reports. Replays show that Hamilton and Leclerc very briefly coalesced at Turn 3 and nibbled a bit off the Monegasque's wing.

A two-stopper is expected this weekend, per Pirelli; Stroll, Bearman, and Lawson are on hards, everyone else on mediums. 

F1 intro sequence means 'five minutes to go' - and the chance to watch 19 drivers do some poses and Lance Stroll shuffle to the side like he's getting out of your way in a corridor...

10 minutes to go

Are we ready? We're not far off the start of the race - and we're probably going to hear a lot about graining in this race. Getting the lead at the start will be crucial...

Recap from the weekend

Since we've got 25 minutes until lights out, let's run through the weekend. Lewis Hamilton took pole for Saturday's sprint, and held it to take his first win in Ferrari colours - and, amazingly, his first sprint win. 

Oscar Piastri had another 'first', with his maiden grand prix pole position. George Russell split the McLarens in qualifying, as Norris starts third.

Good morning! Welcome to our live blog for the Chinese Grand Prix, the second round of the 2025 F1 season.