Russell surges to victory Down Under, Antonelli recovers from awful start to take P2 as Mercedes claim first blood of new era; Ferrari impress with Leclerc in P3, Hamilton P4; Norris holds off Verstappen for P5 but Piastri bins it on reconnaissance lap
The Mercedes factory team laid down the first marker of Formula1’s new era at Round 1 of the 2026 season, with George Russell excelling to a dominant win at Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix in his new W17, and teammate Kimi Antonelli rallying from a terrible start to take P2 after making a slew of passes to get back to the front. It was fast and frantic action from Down Under in Melbourne, with the new 50-50 internal combustion-battery power unit providing a host of technical complications for the drivers, not least of which being where within the lap to harvest power for the battery. The answer appeared to be by slowing a bit prematurely when entering the corners and even down certain straightaways, with the resulting yo-yoing effect creating a lot of nose-to-tail action throughout the field. Additionally, for all their evident raw pace, Mercedes struggled to get away solidly when the lights went out to begin the contest. The pole-sitting Russell found himself quickly overtaken by the absolutely flying Prancing Horse of Charles Leclerc, who steamed by not only Russell but also the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar and the second Merc of Antonelli en route to the point. Antonelli, meanwhile, had a terrible getaway and plunged like a stone from his P2 grid position all the way down to P7. As Leclerc and Russell went at it hammer and tongs at the front for the honor of leading the race, Antonelli showed the Silver Arrows superior race pace by easily picking off those he had initially lost positions to, elevating himself to a respectable P4 by Lap 6.
The race’s first break in the action happened when young Hadjar’s new Ford-manufactured engine blew up on Lap 11, resulting in a Virtual Safety Car to retrieve the stricken Red Bull. McLaren’s Lando Norris, the reigning World Champion, was first to dart into the pits a lap later, doffing his opening set of Mediums in favor of the more durable Hards in anticipation of running to the finish of the 58-lap tilt on a one-stopper. Russell and Antonelli came in the next lap for the same switch but Ferrari elected to have both cars stay out, with Leclerc maintaining the lead and Hamilton now promoted to P2. Hamilton forcefully argued that one of them should have come in to split the strategy, and in hindsight he may have been right, but the die was cast, as the short VSC ended on lap 14. Just four laps later, there was another VSC when the Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac, making its F1 debut, came to a halt on track. Racing resumed on Lap 20, with Leclerc still leading and Hamilton still in P2 but Russell and Antonelli in hot pursuit on fresher rubber. Indeed, Ferrari conceded the point and made the call on Lap 25 to call Leclerc in for his first stop, the Monegasque pitting from P1 for the preferred Medium to Hard Pirelli switch and emerging in P4. Hamilton inherited the lead and managed to keep it for a few laps longer but Russell blew by him on Lap 28 as Hamilton headed to the pits for his own new set of Hards with which to finish out the race. From there it was smooth sailing for the Briton, with teammate Antonelli comfortably behind by around 4 seconds as the laps wound down and the Ferraris unable to close up and take the fight to the Silver Arrows.
The battle for best of the rest, and indeed one of the best battles in the closing stanza of the Grand Prix, was between Norris’s McLaren and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Verstappen had the most impressive drive of the day, starting as he did from way down in 20th on the grid after a crash in the first session of qualifying on Saturday. The Dutch Master put in a vintage effort, making a multitude of passes all race long that finally saw him right on the gearbox of Norris and a fight for fifth place after a second pit stop for new Hards on Lap 42. But Norris, who had made the same rare second stop for new Hards on Lap 35 right after a third, very short VSC for debris, was able to hold off the best efforts of the four-time champ to retain that valuable P5. McLaren clearly lacked the outright pace of either the Mercedes or the Ferraris and to make matters worse for the reigning Constructors’ Champions, second driver Oscar Piastri scored zero points and failed to even take the green flag after locking up the rear axel on the reconnaissance lap and completely binning his new MCL40. It was an embarrassing end to the young Aussie’s day at his home race to say the least. Piastri was the first of five retirements in Australia, not entirely a surprise as the teams come to grips with the new regulations and the reliability and drivability issues that go along with them.
Top 10 finishers of the Australian GP:
| 1 |
 George Russell
|
Mercedes |
1:23:06.801 |
58 |
1 |
— |
| 2 |
 Kimi Antonelli
|
Mercedes |
+2.974 |
58 |
1 |
— |
| 3 |
 Charles Leclerc
|
Ferrari |
+15.519 |
58 |
1 |
— |
| 4 |
Lewis Hamilton
|
Ferrari |
+16.144 |
58 |
1 |
— |
| 5 |
Lando Norris
|
McLaren |
+51.741 |
58 |
2 |
— |
| 6 |
 Max Verstappen
|
Red Bull |
+54.617 |
58 |
2 |
1:22.091 (43) |
| 7 |
Oliver Bearman
|
Haas |
+1 Lap |
57 |
1 |
— |
| 8 |
Arvid Lindblad
|
Racing Bulls |
+1 Lap |
57 |
1 |
— |
| 9 |
 Gabriel Bortoleto
|
Audi |
+1 Lap |
57 |
2 |
— |
| 10 |
 Pierre Gasly
|
Alpine |
+1 Lap |
57 |
1 |
— |
Complete race results available via Formula1.com.
The next race is in but a week’s time, as the teams take what they learned from Melbourne, pack it up and head directly to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix. With a somewhat similar long straights/difficult to recharge layout as the temporary Albert Park Circuit, the purpose built Shanghai International Circuit could also favor Mercedes’ strengths. But Ferrari’s race pace will still be worth keeping an eye on, especially if the Silver Arrows struggle off the line again at the start. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!
