How to follow Chinese Grand Prix on the BBC

Round two of the 2026 Formula 1 season heads to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix, from 13-15 March, which is also the first sprint event of the campaign.

At the opening race in Australia, George Russell took a comfortable win ahead of his team-mate Kimi Antonelli to hand Mercedes a one-two finish, with Charles Leclerc sealing third place for Ferrari.

Home driver Oscar Piastri failed to start the grand prix in Melbourne after he crashed in his McLaren on his way to the grid.

Saturday's 100km sprint race begins at 03:30 GMT, while lights out for Sunday's main grand prix is at 07:00.

Commentary of the race will be available across BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app.

You can also listen by asking most smart speakers to "play BBC Radio 5 Live".

Make sure to listen to every episode of the Chequered Flag podcast. For the first time this year, the post-race show for every grand prix will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer and YouTube.

All times GMT

Friday, 13 March

First practice: 03:30-04:30 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Sprint qualifying: 07:30-08:14 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Saturday, 14 March

Sprint: 03:00-04:00 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Qualifying: 07:00-08:00 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Sunday, 15 March

Race: 07:00 (BBC Radio 5 Live coverage from 06:30, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

The early forecast predicts the weather for the Chinese Grand Prix should be settled across the three days of action at the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit.

Saturday's 19-lap sprint race and main qualifying are set to be sunny with a gentle breeze, with temperatures reaching a high of 17C.

For Sunday's race, the forecast is for more cloud cover and a very small risk of rain for lights out at 3pm local time.

Drivers get to put the new cars to the test over a shorter race distance this weekend, with China hosting the first of six events this season for a third consecutive year.

Following Shanghai, Miami is also holding its third sprint in a row, while the Canadian, Dutch and Singapore Grands Prix are maiden sprint events in 2026.

The British Grand Prix at Silverstone is returning to the format for the first time since its introduction in 2021.

1. China - 14 March

2. Miami - 2 May

3. Canada - 23 May

4. Silverstone - 4 July

5. Zandvoort - 22 August

6. Singapore - 10 October

The format has one slight tweak for the 2026 campaign because of Cadillac's arrival as the 11th team on the grid.

Sprint qualifying has three sessions, where now the six slowest cars are eliminated from the first two instead of five - just like we saw in main qualifying for the first time in Melbourne.

These sessions, known as SQ1, SQ2 and SQ3, last 12, 10 and eight minutes respectively.

This will make up the grid for the sprint race, which is 100km.

The top eight finishers score points, from eight for first place to one for eighth spot, which will get added to the overall drivers' championship standings.