Australian Grand Prix: George Russell leads Mercedes one-two, Charles Leclerc completes the podium
F1 NewsSunday, 08 March 2026 at 06:29
George Russell won the 2026 Formula 1 season-opening race, the Australian Grand Prix and led home teammate Kimi Antonelli on a dominant day for Mercedes.
Mercedes managed to follow up on their dominant qualifying from Saturday and converted a one-two on the starting grid to a one-two at the chequered flag.
However, that was not quite straightforward for the eight-time F1 Champions who had to deal with a little hurdle which was the fast-starting Ferraris on the line.
Despite Starting from fourth, Charles Leclerc rocketed off the line make great use of his SF-26's small turbo and took the lead while Lewis Hamilton jumped up to fifth.
With rookie Arvid Lindblad also making a great start from ninth on the grid, third-starting Isack Hadjar soon dropped down which also happened to Antonelli who got caught napping at the start.
As the dust settled after a couple of laps, Leclerc was leading with Russell hustling behind him with Hamilton in third.
Leclerc and Russell had quite a few battles, exchanging positions several times not based on car pace or racing skills, rather on battery levels.
But then Ferrari dropped the ball on Lap 11 as Hadjar parked his RB22 on the side of the track with smoke coming out of the rear.
LAP 11/58
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 8, 2026
🟡 VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR 🟡
Isack Hadjar pulls over to the side of the track at Turn 9, and is out of the race! 😢#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/7NEIt7fH0K
The Virtual Safety Car was out and Ferrari opted keep track position while Mercedes double-stacked their drivers and from there on, it was game over for the Scuderia.
Hamilton knew at that moment that his team messed up and told them over the radio that they should've pitted at least one of the Red Cars.
While the VSC came out two more times, once to recover Valtteri Bottas' Cadillac that broke down at the pit entry and another time to remove a piece of the other Cadillac of Sergio Perez from the track, both instants did not give Ferrari and chance to pit as there wasn't enough time.
Leclerc and Hamilton were both pitted under race speeds and from there on were playing catch up with Mercedes.
However, in the end, Leclerc managed to finish third while Hamilton was fourth. Not so bad given where Ferrari were last year.
Behind the top three
With Oscar Piastri taking himself out on the way to the grid, Lando Norris was the only McLaren remaining and finished fourth as he managed to fend off a late attack from Max Verstappen who was sixth fastest having started from 20th following his crash in Qualifying.
Ollie Bearman delivered a solid performance for Haas and finished the race in seventh ahead of Lindblad, who was seventh for Racing Bulls.
The rookie has impressed on debut with his great start, mixing it up with the big boys and keeping a cool head in battle, with points on debut well deserved.
A bitter sweet result for Audi as well as Gabriel Bortoleto finished ninth while Nico Hulkenberg did not even start the race.
Audi claim points on debut! 👊
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 8, 2026
Gabi Bortoleto secures two points with his P9 finish at Albert Park 😎#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/vbJdlNIKOb
Pierre Gasly gave hope to Alpine finishing tenth and taking the final point.
Williams were 12th and 15th with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz after a troubled weekend for the Grove squad.
Good news for Aston Martin (sarcastic) as they managed more than half the race distance with both cars before calling it a day. Lance Stroll managed a bit more to be honest. Both he and Fernando Alonso were called to the pits at some point for some work and then got released again.
Cadillac managed to get one car across the finish line, that of Perez who finished in 16th.
What the top three said
After taking his sixth F1 career win, Russell said: "I’m feeling incredible. It was a hell of a fight at the beginning. We knew it was going to be challenging.
"I got on the grid, I saw my battery level had nothing in the tank, made a bad start, and then some really tight battles with Charles, so I was really glad to cross the finish line.
"Thank you so much to the whole team, because it’s been a long time coming to have this car beneath us, and we couldn’t have started off in a better way.
"We had this suspicion that it was going to be a bit of a yoyo effect, and as soon as one of us got in front, it just felt impossible to hold it."
That championship leader feeling 👏✨#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/CKk0tn1peL
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 8, 2026
It was a great start for Antonelli in his second season in the sport despite some errors over the weekend.
The Italian commented: "It's the best start we could have wished for. Unfortunately, the start was really bad and I lost a lot of places and I found myself I had to recover.
"Overall, it was a good race. The pace was very strong, especially at the end.
"The racing was incredible in the first few laps. The Overtake Mode is so powerful that it can give a lot of action. It was really good fun at the beginning.
"A bit of rest and looking forward to China," the 19-year-old concluded.
As for Leclerc, he said: "It was a very tricky race! Honestly, at the start, none of us knew what to expect with the fights, the energy. It's even more tricky with the overtakes.
"You don't know when your battery will cut on the straights, so while defending there are massive speed differences.
"It was quite challenging but I was happy to get out of the battle in first. Unfortunately, that didn't help us for the rest of the race but it was a fun first part of the race. P3 was the best we could do today," he admitted.
When quizzed whether Ferrari could've won without all the VSCs happening, the Monegasque said: "I don't think so, but maybe I'm wrong.
"It looked like Mercedes had a bit more pace than us today, but maybe not as much as what we saw yesterday, so that's a good thing but I don't think we could have won."
Australian Grand Prix Provisional Classification
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