Mercedes and George Russell make the perfect start to the 2026 season as they complete a 1-2 in front of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton for Ferrari.
Home Favourite Doesn’t Make the Start
There was drama before the start as home favourite Oscar Piastri crashed on his way to the grid. The Australian lost control on the exit of Turn 4, crashing heavily into the barrier. His race was over before it even began.
He described the crash as a, ‘combination of a few things’ and that he had, ‘100 kilowatts more power’ than expected in his post-race interview with Sky Sports.
Ferrari Make Lightening Start
The sprint off the line that promised so much didn’t disappoint for the first time in 2026. The Ferrari’s pre-season advantage was in full effect. Charles Leclerc jumped from 4th to take the lead from George Russell into Turn 1 in an electric start.
Lewis Hamilton followed his teammate, jumping into 3rd as Hadjar and Lindblad battled between themselves.
The front two battled it out for the first few laps, with the lead swapping hands multiple times. It was a great fight between George and Charles. This new era of F1 brought the action as Mercedes and Ferrari swapped the lead in the first 10 laps. Despite George’s best efforts, Charles maintained the lead in the early stages.
The battery management was giving lots of opportunities to overtake. This could be a great battle for the whole season.
Hadjar Retirement brings out VSC
Isack Hadjar brought out the virtual safety car on Lap 12, retiring with a mechanical failure. This brought about the first strategic decision of the season. Mercedes seemed to get it right as they pitted both drivers. Both Ferraris stayed out. Advantage Mercedes, as both drivers got their mandatory stops out of the way.
Lewis Hamilton questioned the decision at the time.
“At least one of us should have come in”
Despite all the changes to F1 in 2026, a cheap pit stop under VSC still remains.
Bottas causes more pit stop Drama
Bottas retired from the race on Cadillac’s debut on Lap 19, bringing out the VSC but the Ferrari’s still couldn’t take advantage with the pit lane closing before they could get in and change their tyres.
Verstappen Makes Progress
After a disastrous qualifying session on Saturday, which saw Verstappen crash out before he could post a time, the Red Bull driver quickly moved through the field. Having started on the hards he went long in the first stint to take advantage of Bottas’ VSC to get up to 6th place. Some of his overtakes were fantastic in the opening stages as he showed it doesn’t matter the formula, he still is a top driver of the series.
Once Verstappen had cleared most of the field, he and Norris then had a great battle for 5th place throughout the second half of the race. Norris would eventually hold on to lead them home, despite Verstappen’s best efforts.
Ferrari’s Questionable Strategy
Once again, Ferrari’s strategic calls were brought into question as they didn’t take advantage of early safety cars and lost track position to the Mercedes.
Leclerc pitted on Lap 26 as George Russell closed in, having stopped during the first VSC of the day. Lewis Hamilton went even further. He pitted on Lap 29, after Russell had caught and overtaken the 7-time World Champion. It felt like Ferrari were waiting for a safety car after not using the early VSCs to gain track advantage over Mercedes.
Both Ferraris pushed hard with their tyre advantage to try and catch the Mercedes after their stops. Hamilton and Leclerc traded fastest laps as they closed in slowly on the Mercedes but weren’t able to make the tyre offset count.
By Lap 45, Mercedes had confirmed they were going to the end, and George began to extend his lead over the Ferraris.
Elsewhere, the British duo of Bearman and Lindblad put on quite the show battling for 7th. Bearman pulled off a great move into Turn 1 on the rookie before holding off his reaction into Turn 3. They were then overtaken by World Champions Norris and Verstappen as they made their way through the field having pitted for a second time to go onto the mediums.
Mercedes Make Perfect Start to F1 2026
Despite the drama behind them, Mercedes took a comprehensive 1-2 at the Australian Grand Prix to put down a marker to the rest of the field. However, it wasn’t as comfortable as some feared after Qualifying.
Ferrari put up more than a fight and without some different strategic decisions, could have been well within the battle for the victory.
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen took 5th and 6th, ahead of Bearman, Lindblad, Bortoleto and Gasly to round off the top 10.