F1 2026, 01 Melbourne, Australia

We are 58 laps into the 2026 season, and over the excitement of the first race.
As I expected, Mercedes built a rocket ship, and they are comfortably ahead of the field. However, Ferrari seems closer than I expected, with Red Bull and McLaren chasing them not far behind. Further down the road are Haas and Audi, and in the hunt in the midfield are Redbull Racing and Alpine. For now, Williams, Cadillac, and Aston Martin are painfully out of contention. Williams has the best chance for recovery, while Honda might compromise Aston Martin. Cadillac is somewhat in a no-man’s-land.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The first shock came at the first qualifying session when four-time World Champion Max Verstappen lost control of his Red Bull and crashed into the barriers. That meant P20 for the frustrated Dutch driver. Meanwhile, on the other side of the garage, Hadjar managed a surprising P3 and proved the strength of the Red Bull car.
The two Mercedes drivers, Russell and Antonelli, qualified one-two, with Charles Leclerc fourth, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris for McLaren fifth and sixth. Hamilton made his race day harder by only qualifying seventh, while the top ten was completed by Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto.
Drama and tragedy started on the lap to the starting grid when home hero Oscar Piastri crashed out. Nico Hulkenberg was another pre-race casualty as his Audi stalled while entering the last corner on his way to the grid.
The remaining 20 cars had a relatively clean start. Colapinto’s excellent reaction time saved the start from a massive crash. Instead of a medal, he received a stop-and-go penalty for an infringement of the start procedure, which he served on lap 10 and practically ruined his race.
Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari had a flying launch and got him into first place in turn one. Eventually, Hamilton settled into third with Hadjar in fourth. Antonelli had a poor start and fell back to seventh, behind Norris and Lindblad. Russell took back the lead on lap two, and for the next few laps, Leclerc and Norris battled every corner and every straight for the lead, until eventually Leclerc came out on top. It was pretty entertaining.
Drama struck again on lap 12 when Hadjar’s Red Bull-Ford engine broke down, fuming. That brought out the virtual safety car, with Norris pitting first, followed by Russell and Antonelli. The two Ferraris stayed out, given track position advantage at the moment, but Hamilton questioned the strategy call. “At least one of us should have come in,” he stated.
Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac broke down on lap 18, bringing out another VSC. The two Ferraris once again stayed out, while Lindblad and Verstappen pitted.
Verstappen had a solid race, driving from P20 to P12 by lap 5 and P5 by lap 35. Eventually, he settled into P6, while constantly putting pressure on Norris, who was driving for P5, 35 seconds behind Hamilton in P4.
Predictably, Russell took the win, followed by Antonelli and Leclerc. Oliver Bearman finished P7, Lindblad finished P8, Bortoleto finished P9, and Gasly took the last point for Alpine. It was an outstanding performance for Bearman in the Hass, and for Lindblad in the Racing Bulls. Bortoleto scored two valuable points with a promising debut for Audi.
However, things would look different in the top ten with Hadjar and Piastri still in the race.
Unsurprisingly, Lawson and Perez didn’t miss the opportunity to screw each other again, picking up their fight from where they left off two seasons ago. Lawson will have to man up quickly because Lindblad had an incredibly strong start. At the end of the day, only the performance and points matter.
Lewis Hamilton had a better opening to the season, came very close to Leclerc in the final laps of the race, but still doesn’t seem strong enough to outperform his younger teammate.
Somewhat in the mirror, Russell’s experience will represent an advantage over Antonelli’s raw talent.
Isack Hadjar had bad luck, but didn’t disappoint. Probably will not be a match for Max, but he will stay close.
Just like last year, it will be an intense competition between Norris and Piastri. A solid car development can bring them back into contention by the Miami race in May.
Alonso and Stroll had another test session for Aston Martin-Honda. Time isn’t on their side, I’m afraid. Miracles, however, sometimes happen.
5 British drivers started the race, and they all finished in the top 8. Russel first, Hamilton fourth, Norris fifth, Berman seventh, and Lindblad eighth. Incredible performance!
With the new method for measuring the compression ratio set to be implemented in June, Mercedes will hold an edge over the other teams until the Monaco race. However, two of the next five races, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, may be wiped out of the calendar due to the war in the Middle East. If this unexpected one-month spring break from March 29 to May 1 occurs, it will be an enormous advantage for the teams on the back foot. FIA does its best to chip away at Mercedes’ wings. Honestly, in the worst-case scenario, I would love to see the races in Imola and Portimao replacing Bahrain and Jeddah.
More than that, I would prefer peace.
Meanwhile, China is only one week away, and it also brings the first sprint race. Buckle up and pedal to the metal!

Australian Grand Prix results:

01 George Russell, Mercedes 1:23:06.801 58 laps, 25 points
02 Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes +2.9, 18 points
03 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +15.5, 15 points
04 Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari +16.1, 12 points
05 Lando Norris, McLaren +51.7, 10 points
06 Max Verstappen, Red Bull +54.6, 8 points
07 Oliver Bearman, Haas +1 lap, 6 points
8 Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls +1 lap, 4 points
9 Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi +1 lap 2 points
10 Pierre Gasly, Alpine +1 lap, 1 point

11 Esteban Ocon, Haas +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 +2 laps
17 Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +12 laps

Did not finish:

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin – engine
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac – engine – lap 18
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull – engine – lap 12
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi – technical – did not start
Oscar Piastri, McLaren – crash – did not start

Teams standing:

Mercedes – 43 points
Ferrari – 27 points (-16)
McLaren – 10 points (-33)
Red Bull Racing – 8 points (-35)
Haas – 6 points (-37)
Racing Bulls – 4 points (-39)
Audi – 2 points (-41)
Alpine – 1 point (-42)

Williams – 0 points (-43)
Cadillac – 0 points (-43)
Aston Martin – 0 points (-43)

#F1 #FormulaOne