F1 2026 began with a 1-2 finish for Mercedes in Australia

George Russell won the 2026 Australian Grand Prix and Mercedes finished 1-2 with Kimi Antonelli in the first race of the new regulatory era in Formula 1. What could have been a Ferrari victory crumbled due to two strategy calls that left Leclerc and Hamilton out on track when they should have pitted.

The battery decided the first laps at Albert Park

The first 10 laps in Melbourne showed us something never seen before in Formula 1. Charles Leclerc jumped from fourth to first at the start because the Ferrari deployed electrical energy better than any other car on the grid, and from there he exchanged the lead with Russell for seven laps in a battle won and lost depending on how much battery charge remained in each sector. Russell was stronger under braking and in traction, but Leclerc recovered everything lost through Lakeside Drive, where his superior deployment allowed him to pass on the outside at turn 9 repeatedly.

On lap 9, Russell out-braked himself at turn 1 with a lock-up that nearly sent him off track and opened the door for Hamilton and Antonelli to join the fight, leaving four cars within less than two seconds battling for the lead under aerodynamic and powertrain regulations that no one had tested in competition. That sequence provided the first real evidence that with these cars, energy management will define overtaking as much as DRS did in the previous era.

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Ferrari bet on Mercedes needing two stops

Isack Hadjar retired with mechanical issues on lap 12, triggering the first Virtual Safety Car, and Mercedes reacted instantly by bringing in Russell and Antonelli to put on hard tires. Ferrari left Leclerc and Hamilton out. Maranello's logic made sense at that moment: if the hards didn't last until the end, Mercedes would have to stop again, and Ferrari could win the race with a single stop later on, capitalizing on their drivers accumulating laps in clean air.

Hamilton disagreed and made it clear over the radio, asking for at least one of them to pit, but when Valtteri Bottas stopped near the pit entry three laps later and the second VSC was activated, Ferrari repeated the same gamble. The pit lane closed shortly after, and there was no turning back.

The calculation failed because Mercedes' hard compound tires performed far beyond expectations. Russell radioed that a one-stop was viable, Antonelli called it brave, and both made it to the end without needing to pit again. When Leclerc finally stopped on lap 26, he returned 16 seconds behind the leader, and Hamilton, who pitted the following lap, found himself 21 seconds down.

Russell took the checkered flag 2.974 seconds ahead of Antonelli, with Leclerc and Hamilton third and fourth separated by just six-tenths of a second. The gap between first and third was 15.5 seconds, and almost all of that margin was built during the two VSC windows where Mercedes pitted and Ferrari did not.

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Piastri and Hulkenberg were out before the first lap

Oscar Piastri couldn't even start, losing control of his McLaren on the reconnaissance lap at turn 4 and damaging the car beyond repair. He had been fastest throughout Friday and was a genuine contender to fight at the front, so his absence left McLaren with just one car and removed one of the potential victory contenders from the race.

Nico Hulkenberg also did not participate because his Audi was withdrawn from the grid due to a technical failure before the lights went out, meaning two of the 22 entrants were out before the first lap.

Max Verstappen, who arrived on Sunday from 20th place paying the price for his Q1 crash, started on hard tires and gained positions for free when the majority of the field pitted under the two VSCs. He fought his way forward with his own overtakes, battling Lando Norris in the final laps for fifth place, and finished sixth — a result that says less about his race pace and more about the cost of a disastrous Saturday.

Points for the debutants and a weekend to forget for Cadillac and Aston Martin

Oliver Bearman was seventh for Haas and the fastest driver outside the four big teams in a race where his teammate Esteban Ocon finished just outside the points in 11th. Arvid Lindblad finished eighth for Racing Bulls in his first Formula 1 race, confirming that the pace he has shown since pre-season is genuine. Gabriel Bortoleto closed out ninth in what was also Audi's first race as a factory team, and Pierre Gasly took the last available point in 10th for Alpine.

Further back, Alexander Albon was 12th for Williams, Liam Lawson 13th in the other Racing Bulls, Franco Colapinto 14th for Alpine after receiving a stop-and-go penalty for an infringement during the starting procedure, and Carlos Sainz 15th for Williams.

Cadillac made its Formula 1 debut with Bottas retiring on lap 15 and Sergio Pérez finishing 16th, three laps down on the leader — a weekend where the team never found pace or reliability, and their immediate priority has to be arriving in China with a package that at least allows them to compete within the same lap as the rest.

Aston Martin has a deeper problem, as both cars suffered Honda power unit failures that made it impossible to complete race distance. Fernando Alonso retired on lap 13 and, although he briefly returned, eventually retired for good. Lance Stroll covered a bit over half the race before stopping, and neither was classified. What Aston Martin faces cannot be solved with work between races; it's a hardware limitation that will likely accompany them for several rounds.

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Mercedes left Melbourne with 43 points and an answer

The team that changed the most between Friday practice and Sunday's race was Mercedes, going from being far off the pace in the first practice session to having the most complete car on the grid on Sunday. That ability to evolve within a single weekend could prove as valuable as raw pace in a season where everyone is learning these new regulations at the same time.

Russell leads the drivers' championship with 25 points and Antonelli has 18, with Mercedes accumulating 43 points in the constructors' standings compared to Ferrari's 27. Formula 1 heads to Shanghai next week for the Chinese Grand Prix, and the central question is whether what we saw in Melbourne was an atypical race decided by Ferrari's errors or whether Mercedes truly has the strongest package on the grid.

2026 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix Results

Pos	Nº	Piloto	Equipo	Tiempo	Puntos	Vueltas	Estado
1	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:23:06.801	25	58	Clasificado
2	#12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+2.974s	18	58	Clasificado
3	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+15.519s	15	58	Clasificado
4	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+16.144s	12	58	Clasificado
5	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	+51.741s	10	58	Clasificado
6	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+54.617s	8	58	Clasificado
7	#87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	+1 vuelta	6	57	Clasificado
8	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1 vuelta	4	57	Clasificado
9	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1 vuelta	2	57	Clasificado
10	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1 vuelta	1	57	Clasificado
11	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+1 vuelta	0	57	Clasificado
12	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	+1 vuelta	0	57	Clasificado
13	#30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+1 vuelta	0	57	Clasificado
14	#43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+2 vueltas	0	56	Clasificado
15	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+2 vueltas	0	56	Clasificado
16	#11	Sergio Pérez	Cadillac	+3 vueltas	0	55	Clasificado
NC	#18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+15 vueltas	0	43	Clasificado
DNF	#14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	-	0	21	DNF
DNF	#77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	-	0	15	DNF
DNF	#6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	-	0	10	DNF
DNS	#81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	-	0	-	DNS
DNS	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	-	0	-	DNS