Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Mercedes crushed their Formula 1 rivals in the opening qualifying session of 2026 at the Australian Grand Prix, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli locking out the front row. Their nearest challenger was half a second adrift.
Mercedes have long been regarded as the favourites for the sport’s new era, just as they were in 2014. Qualifying at Albert Park had distinct echoes of that campaign, one of the most dominant seasons ever.
There were moments during testing where Red Bull and Ferrari looked to have the fastest car, but Mercedes’ superiority never looked in doubt when the competitive action started.
Half a second between Mercedes and the rest
Are you concerned about the 2026 season not being competitive?
Max Verstappen warned in testing that Mercedes would ‘suddenly’ show up
In Bahrain, Toto Wolff said Red Bull had the best engine, while George Russell called their energy deployment advantage ‘scary’. These comments were laughed off by Laurent Mekies’ team.
Verstappen was certain that Mercedes would ‘suddenly’ make a leap in Australia, and the accusation that the Silver Arrows were sandbagging now appears to be well-founded.
He said, via Motorsport.com: “Well, I can tell you one thing: just wait until Melbourne and see how much power they suddenly find. I already know that right now.”
Max Verstappen called it
Did Mercedes' rivals show too much in testing?
Russell regards Verstappen as a title threat, and Isack Hadjar’s P3 in qualifying shows the potential of the Red Bull package despite the infancy of their Powertrain department. One wonders how close the Dutchman could have been to pole without his Q1 crash.
Still, the perceived difficulties that Mercedes encountered in Bahrain after an ominous Barcelona Shakedown are now a distant memory.
Lewis Hamilton made a mistake leaving Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton is suspicious of Mercedes’ engine superiority, suggesting it may be down to their heavily-publicised fuel compression ratio trick. He wants an explanation.
But deep down, there must be part of Hamilton wondering whether he made the right decision to quit the team at the end of 2024. Given the timing of his exit, he was clearly betting on Ferrari to have the edge at the start of the new ruleset.
Perhaps if he had stayed, and struggled as he did in his final season at Brackley, Wolff would have signed Kimi Antonelli for 2026 regardless. The Austrian has hinted that it would have been a genuine dilemma, despite Hamilton’s record-breaking feats.
But if Wolff had embedded Antonelli at a customer team instead – the same route Russell had to take – then Hamilton could still have been in the car for 2026. And based on what we saw in Australia, it’s a ticket to the world championship.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
