George Russell wins the Australian Grand Prix as Mercedes claim one-two finish ahead of Ferrari

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George Russell won a thrilling season-opening Australian Grand Prix, under three seconds ahead of Kimi Antonelli as Mercedes secured a dominant one-two finish in Melbourne.

The 2026 F1 season couldn’t have got off to a worse start for the home hero Oscar Piastri in Melbourne, with the Australian causing terminal damage to his McLaren MCL40 during his warm-up laps.

Nico Hulkenberg joined Piastri on the sidelines for the season-opener after his Audi F1 car suffered a technical issue, effectively ending the German’s day before it had even started.

As the five lights dropped at the Victoria-based circuit, the Ferraris got off to a highly anticipated hot start.

Charles Leclerc usurped the race lead from pole-sitter George Russell at turn one, while F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad briefly got himself up to third on the grid’s first rotation of the Albert Park Circuit.

Fernando Alonso also put himself into the top 10 during the opening laps of the race, as Leclerc and Russell duked it out at the front of the pack by trading blows for first place.

The new F1 regulations snatched their first victim on lap nine. After a strong start to his Red Bull debut, race directors were forced to call out the first virtual safety car of the season as Isack Hadjar suffered an engine issue on the straight before turn 11.

With speeds limited, Mercedes chose to call both of their drivers in for a new set of tyres, while Ferrari opted to keep both Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton out.

The seven-time world champion was quick to question the decision from the Scuderia pit wall, and the Silver Arrows emerged hot on the gearbox of their Italian rivals upon exiting the pit lane.

All eyes were on Aston Martin ahead of the race to see how long their Honda power unit would last following a tumultuous pre-season. Fans got their answer on lap 15, with Alonso trundling into the pits to retire the AMR26.

Another VSC was put out on lap 18 after Valtteri Bottas was left stranded at the final corner. Due to the position of his retirement, the pit lane was subsequently closed to allow for a safe recovery of the stricken Cadillac F1 car, scuppering Ferrari’s chances of securing a cheap pit stop.

Leclerc was called in seven laps later instead, and Russell was able to regain the lead of the race and stretch the legs of the W17 as clean air presented itself to him.

Remarkably, Alonso emerged from the pits on lap 26, despite retiring the car 11 laps earlier. The Spaniard managed to get a few more laps of data in for Aston Martin engineers before he was recalled alongside Lance Stroll to end the Silverstone-based outfit’s Australian Grand Prix.

Mercedes decided to pull the trigger on a one-stop on lap 45 following Russell’s confident verdict on the state of his hard-compound tyres. Kimi Antonelli was sat around six seconds behind his counterpart in second place, while Lando Norris and Max Verstappen duelled for P5.

The two protagonists from the 2025 title fight continued to put on a show for several laps, with the reigning world champion managing to hold off last year’s runner-up in the closing laps of the race.

Russell and Antonelli continued to impress at the front of the field and took the chequered flag to mark Mercedes’ first one-two at a season-opener since the 2019 Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton put Leclerc under pressure on the final lap as he searched for his first podium in Ferrari colours. Despite his every attempt, the Monegasque held on to complete the top three in Melbourne.

Norris and Verstappen finished P5 and P6, respectively, while Oliver Bearman took a strong P7, some 33 seconds behind the Red Bull star.

Lindblad collected his first points in P8, while Gabriel Bortoleto and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 finishers.

Full race results for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix