George Russell wins an enthralling Australian Grand Prix | Report

George Russell began the 2026 F1 season in perfect fashion. He won from pole position ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli. The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc completed the podium, finishing just six tenths ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

It was the first Mercedes 1-2 in the opening race since Valtteri Bottas blew Hamilton out of the water to win at Albert Park in 2019.

Here is everything that happened:

Oscar Piastri’s pre-race heartbreak

Home hero Oscar Piastri was due to start the race in P5, but disaster struck on his lap to the grid when he got onto the kerb at Turn 4, and lost control, which led to the car crashing into the barrier.

The car was too heavily damaged, meaning his race was done before it had even started.

In his interview with Sky F1 in the media pen, Piastri took responsibility for the crash but admitted that other factors also led to the incident.

“We had a bit of an issue out of the pits with no battery basically,

“Then, with the actual crash, there was a combination of a couple of things; there was a large element of just me with cold tyres, clipped the exit kerb, but I also had 100kW more power than I expected.

"You put all of those together, and it ends in the result we got.

"Obviously, just disappointing and a scenario that shouldn't be happening.”

Lightning starts and closes shaves

The most notable starts came from the Ferrari pair. Leclerc flew off the line to take the lead of the Grand Prix at the first corner. Hamilton would have been in third, but he went deep into Turn One, which allowed rookie Arvid Lindblad and World Champion Lando Norris to get past him heading into Turn 3.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto needed lightning reactions to avoid smashing into the back of Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls car. Lawson struggled to get off the line.

Despite the massive car issues that they were suffering from, Fernando Alonso managed to drag the Aston Martin into P10 by the end of the first lap.

Leclerc and Russell’s fight for the lead

The opening laps of the Grand Prix at Albert Park were scintillating to watch from a fan's perspective; both Russell and Leclerc exchanged the race lead seven times in the first 10 laps.

The benefit of the Overtake Mode helped the Monegasque be able to blast past the Mercedes on multiple occasions.

Hadjar’s car failure gives an opening for Mercedes, but Ferrari blunders the strategy

Despite a very strong qualifying position of third, and a good opening stint which saw him running in fifth, Isack Hadjar suffered a cruel bit of luck when his Red Bull broke down on lap 11, leading to the first Virtual Safety Car of the new season.

Mercedes saw this opportunity to pit both Russell and Antonelli, while Ferrari chose to leave out both of their drivers.

The Scuderia then had another brief opportunity to pit under another VSC after Bottas’ Cadillac broke down right next to the pit-lane. It quickly closed so the Marshalls could move the car, but not before both cars went past the pit lane once.

Mercedes brilliant management to the finish

Both ended up pitting on lap 25 and lap 28, thinking that Mercedes would not be able to perform a one-stop strategy all the way to the end; however, they managed their tyres brilliantly, and Russell crossed the line 2.9 seconds ahead of his teammate Antonelli.

Hamilton may have finished in third ahead of Leclerc if he had another lap or two of racing at his disposal; he still awaits that first podium in red.

Lindblad’s brilliant debut

Britain’s latest F1 driver, Arvid Lindblad, had a sensational first weekend in Melbourne. He qualified in P9, just behind Lawson, but had a sensational start and was running P3 at one stage on lap 1.

Eventually, he would drop back from the highs of the podium fight, but still came home in a brilliant eighth place, becoming the third youngest points scorer in the history of the sport (18 years 7 months 0 days).

Lindblad believed that he showed people that he was a driver without any fear:

“I think I was P3 or something on Lap 1, which is pretty nuts.

“I definitely showed people that if there’s an opportunity, I’m going to get stuck in and I’m not going to hang about.

“I am very happy with the weekend. I think I have almost got the maximum out of the car in every session, so I’m looking forward to China now.”

Bearman and Borteleto impressed in the Haas and Audi

Two performances which seem to have gone under the radar from Melbourne were Oliver Bearman in the Haas and Gabriel Bortoleto in the Audi.

Both began the race outside of the top ten, but performed superb drives to end up in the points. Bearman coming home in P7, while Bortoleto’s P9 was a landmark moment for Audi, as it was their first points in Formula One.

What the drivers said after the race

George Russell - Mercedes

“That wasn’t a straightforward afternoon, but this win feels very sweet! Congratulations to the whole team; they’ve done an incredible job, and this victory is for them.

"We had a difficult and chaotic start, and from there, we were yo-yoing with the overtakes between Charles and me.

“I could have perhaps used my energy more smartly to defend when I first overtook him, and that cost me when he passed me back.”

Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes

“What an afternoon and what a weekend! It has not been easy on my side of the garage here in Melbourne, but we’ve come away from here with a great result!

“Coming to the grid, I had a lower battery level, so the start was very stressful! We obviously made a slow launch, but from there our recovery was good, and our pace was strong.”

Charles Leclerc - Ferrari

“We were quite strong in the race, which was a positive given that our expectations yesterday were not that high. I had a good start and learned a lot on those opening laps.

“There are lots of things to manage at the same time, energy deployment, tyres, overtakes, and I’m happy with how I handled the situation from inside the car.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace to hold on to P1 later on.”

Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari

“I'm generally really proud of the team," the seven-time world champion said, speaking to Sky Sports after the race.

“They have done an amazing job to get the car to where it is. Of course, we are not as fast as Mercedes, and we have work to do, but we are right in the fight.

“It was a really fun race, and it felt good for me. A couple more laps and I would have had Charles, so I had a great pace.

“Lots of positives to take from today.

“There are lots of positives, but we have a lot of work to do to catch Mercedes, but it's not impossible.

"I believe we can close the gap. It's not going to be easy; it's got a lot of work to do because it's quite significant, particularly on a single lap."

Lando Norris - McLaren

“We finished where we deserved to, it is clear that the Red Bull was a bit quicker because Max came from last, and almost beat us, so not the best race in terms of pace.

“We struggled with some things in the car during the beginning, but we made some tweaks to things.

“We are nowhere where we need to be from a car perspective, clearly, and today showed that we are still a long way off, and that we have a lot of work to do.”

Race Stats

George Russell completed the fastest pit-stop of the race, with his only pitstop, switching from the medium to hard tyres under the VSC in just 2.17 seconds.

Max Verstappen performed the fastest lap of the entire race on lap 43 with a time of 1:22:091, +0.267 ahead of Lando Norris’ time set ten laps later.

Franco Colapinto completed the longest tyre stint before pitting, going till lap 46 on a set of Hards before switching to the Soft tyre for the final 12 laps.

Race Classification

1 George Russell Mercedes 1:23:06.801

2 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +2.974s

3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +15.519s

4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +16.144s

5 Lando Norris McLaren +51.741s

6 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +54.617s

7 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +1 lap

8 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1 lap

9 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1 lap

10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap

11 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1 lap

12 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap

13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1 lap

14 Franco Colapinto Alpine +2 laps

15 Carlos Sainz Williams +2 laps

16 Sergio Perez Cadillac +3 laps

NC Lance Stroll Aston Martin +15 laps

DNF Fernando Alonso Aston Martin

DNF Valtteri Bottas Cadillac

DNF Isack Hadjar Red Bull Racing

DNS Oscar Piastri McLaren

DNS Nico Hulkenberg Audi

Championship Standings

Drivers

George Russell (Mercedes) - 25

Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) - 18

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 15

Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) - 12

Lando Norris (McLaren) - 10

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 8

Oliver Bearman (Haas) - 6

Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) - 4

Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) - 2

Pierre Gasly (Alpine) - 1

Esteban Ocon (Haas) - 0

Alex Albon (Williams) - 0

Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) - 0

Franco Colapinto (Alpine) - 0

Carlos Sainz (Williams) - 0

Sergio Perez ( Cadillac)

Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) - 0

Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) - 0

Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) - 0

Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 0

Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) - 0

Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) - 0

Constructors

Mercedes- AMG Petronas Formula One Team - 43

Scuderia Ferrari HP - 27

McLaren Mastercard F1 Team - 10

Oracle Red Bull Racing - 8

TGR Haas F1 Team - 6

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team - 4

Audi Revolut Formula One Team - 2

BWT Alpine Formula One Team - 1

Atlassian Williams F1 Team - 0

Cadillac Formula One Team - 0

Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team - 0