Mercedes took a 1-2 finish in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with George Russell stretching to a confident win ahead of team-mate Kimi Antonelli after early battles with eventual third-place Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
There was heartbreak before the start for hometown hero Oscar Piastri crashed on his laps to the grid. The Australian driver lost control of his McLaren MCL40 at the exit of Turn 4 and hit the barriers. He wouldn’t take the race start and neither would Audi’s Nio Hülkenberg, the German driver encountering a PU issue on his way to the grid.
After the new race start procedure and lights out, it was Leclerc who got away quickest. The Monegasque driver confirmed Ferrari’s pre-season testing supremacy in this area by rocketing from fourth to first by Turn 1, with both Mercedes drivers suffering with undercharged batteries.
Russell recovered to settle into P2 on lap but Antonelli dropped behind Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar who kept his starting position of third. Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad also had a superb start to challenge for a top five spot as lap one unfolded.
At the front, Russell began to pressure Leclerc and across the opening laps the pair exchanged the lead several times as F1’s new era of strategic energy recovery and deployment, Overtake and Boost Modes thrillingly kicked into gear.
Further back, Max Verstappen was also making moves. After crashing in Q1, the Red Bull driver started from 20th but within 10 laps he had hauled his way into the points, the four-time champion piling up one opportunistic move after another as he carved his way through the pack.
It was a less exciting race for his new team-mate, however. Hadjar, who had been complaining of poor energy recovery and a strange sounding Red Bull Powertrains Ford PU lost ground and after being passed by Antonelli the Red Bull driver suddenly lost all power on lap 11 and pulled over at the side of the track with smoke pouring from the back of his RB22.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed and Mercedes immediately reacted, stacking Russell and Antonelli in the pits as the pair bolted on Hard tyres. Ferrari opted to stay out, however, and though Leclerc and Hamilton led the race, they would slowly be reeled in by the Mercedes pair.
The Hadjaer incident promoted McLaren’s Lando Norris to sixth but the reigning world champion also immediately took advantage of the VSC to make a pit stop and that meant Verstappen, who had started on Hard tyres, stayed out and flew past the world champion.
At the front, and with Mercedes having won time with a cheap stop under the VSC, Hamilton was questioning Ferrari’s decision to stay on track. The Scuderia were soon presented with another chance to do so, when Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas stopped close to the pit entrance. But once again Ferrari opted to stick to their target strategy. Verstappen did take the opportunity and he pitted for Medium tyres for a middle stint that once again dropped him behind Norris.
Leclerc ended up pitting at the end of lap 25 and rejoined 16 seconds down on Russell, who quickly began to put pressure on new leader Hamilton. On lap 27 he made his way past his former team-mare and Hamilton immediately pitted for fresh tyres. Russell now led again, comfortably ahead of Antonelli and with Leclerc in third ahead of Hamilton who had slightly fresher tyres than his team-mate.
In total control Mercedes then cruised to a comfortable 1-2 ahead of the Ferraris, with Russell taking the flag three seconds clear of Antonelli and 16s in front of Leclerc and Hamilton.
Behind the top four, Verstappen continued to hunt Norris and after taking on a final set of Hard tyres, the Dutchman got to within the 1s required from him to use Overtake Mode. Norris was solid in defence, however, and through careful use of his battery power and his boost button the world champion was able to hold off his 2025 title rival to take P5. However, of more concern to their teams will be the fact that the pair crossed the over 50 behind Russell.
Haas’ Oliver Bearman took P7 ahead of impressive Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad who took four points on his F1 debut. P9 went to Gabriel Bortoleto and Pierre Gasly took the final point on offer for Alpine.
Sergio Perez finished 16th for Cadillac, while behind the F1 newcomers Aston Martin saw Lance Stroll limp to 17th. The Canadian managed half the race in a continuous stint but then spent a long time in the pits before rejoining 15 laps adrift. He eventually crossed the line but was not classified. Team-mate Fernando Alonso retired at the end of lap 13.
2026 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix – Race
1 George Russell Mercedes 58 1:23’06.801
2 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 58 1:23’09.775 2.974
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 58 1:23’22.320 15.519
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 58 1:23’22.945 16.144
5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 58 1:23’58.542 51.741
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 58 1:24’01.418 54.617
7 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 57 1:23’11.394 1 lap /4.593
8 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 57 1:23’18.617 1 lap /11.816
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 57 1:23’19.576 1 lap /12.775
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Mercedes 57 1:23’35.828 1 lap /29.027
11 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 57 1:23’36.651 1 lap /29.850
12 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 57 1:24’02.876 1 lap /56.075
13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 57 1:24’03.974 1 lap /57.173
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Mercedes 56 1:23’15.288 2 laps /8.487
15 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 56 1:23’43.687 2 laps /36.886
16 Sergio Pérez Cadillac/Ferrari 55 1:23’14.651 3 laps /7.850
Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Honda 43 1:24’27.834 Retirement
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Honda 21 48’25.789 Retirement
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac/Ferrari 15 24’31.911 Retirement
Isack Hadjar Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 10 14’25.525 Retirement
Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 0 – Not started
Nico Hülkenberg Audi 0 – Not started
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