Formula 1: Australian Grand Prix

The 2026 season begins with newly designed cars, new regulations and a new playing field. 

It’s important to note that all the teams have built these cars from scratch, desperate to create the next rocketship, but time will tell who will be on top. From testing, it looked like Mercedes might be the top contender, but we can’t underestimate the other teams. 

22 Cars, 2 New Teams and 1 New Rookie

We begin with the Australian Grand Prix, where Aston Martin is in some serious trouble. The car vibrates so heavily when driven that it can damage the nerves in the driver’s hands. They’re predicting to only be able to complete between 15 and 25 laps on race day. What a disastrous beginning. Let’s hope the newly signed Adrian Newey can solve this problem fast.

Some excitement in the practice sessions. In FP1, we began with the home hero Piastri having no power and unable to drive his car; this was quickly fixed, and several cars found the gravel, including Colapinto. 

It was nice to see Perez back in action; however, in the Cadillac, he was spinning out of control as Williams couldn’t get their car going due to an engine issue. Ferrari and Redbull looked strong. FP2 started off rocky as Russel went into the pit lane at Lindblad, with both Red Bulls going wide into the gravel and grass. Piastri and Mercedes take the top spots for this practice. 

In FP3, Antonelli had a massive crash, spinning out into 2 barriers, sustaining considerable damage to his car, and his engineers didn’t have long until qualifying. It’s going to be a race to the clock to see if they can fix it in time. 

Qualifying Starts Ferociously

Hulkenberg goes out sporting the new Audi livery after his first podium last year. Let’s hope for good things for him and the newly transformed Sauber. The brilliant blue of Williams shines brightly as Albon sets the first time in qualifying. 

Hadjar is hoping not to crash out on the formation lap like last season, especially now in the 2nd Redbull seat, and rookie Lindblad is setting quick times as the qualifying is ramping up. Tragedy strikes as Verstappen loses control of the car and flies into the barrier. He hits the brake, and the car spirals off. Not a driver error, but unfortunate for him and his team.

A brief red flag whilst they clear the track and remove the damaged car. Now Red Bull’s hopes are on Isack Hadjar. This allows Antonelli to now be ready to complete qualifying after his previous incident in practice 3. 

However, Stroll will not be taking part in this qualifying and neither will Sainz due to an engine failure, such a shame for Williams. Cadillac, although they suffered in the qualifying, at least took part, but still only managed 18th and 19th, not a great debut for them so far. 

The final few minutes of Q1 and the track is ramping it up, and Colapinto just improved enough to reach Q2 and knock out Alonso. In Q2, Russell and Antonelli show excellent performance, with Russell achieving a 1.18.934, the first person to do so this quickly so far. 

Albon went off on his last quick lap, driving through the grass, ruining any chance of making it to Q3. It was a double elimination for two teams in Q2 as Haas and Alpine’s drivers couldn’t set any quicker laps. 

Bortoleto gets through into Q3, but as he comes into the pit lane entrance, he has a problem and is driving very slowly, but Lindblad hadn’t been told about the slow-moving car and nearly crashes into him and his teammate. Luckily, the quick reaction prevents further incidents. 

Unfortunately, Bortoleto can’t get his car moving, so he’s out in 10th place.  The Q3 session is quickly stopped as Antonelli’s car has two cooling fans fall off on track, and Norris runs over it, breaking the part and causing a lot of debris. 

The session is red-flagged whilst they check Norris’ car, and Antonelli will be investigated by the stewards (the only result being a team fine). We’re back running as Antonelli goes wide and aborts his first run, but his teammate Russel is flying around. 

Russell secures first position, with a Mercedes 1-2, and Hadjar is in 3rd. An excellent effort from the top 3 and an exhilarating start to the season so far. Leclerc is in 4th with the McLaren duo in 5th and 6th. Hamilton slots into 7th and then the RB’s in 8th and 9th, a great job from the team. 

Home Town Misery

We’re down to 20 cars before we’re across the line as home favourite Piastri crashes on his way to the grid. It looked like it was a similar incident to Verstappen in qualifying – not a driver’s fault. Hulkenburg also did not start due to an engine failure; they had to wheel him off the grid and to the pit lane since his car wouldn’t start.

An exhilarating start as the cars were quick off the line, Russel had a strong start, trying to cover Hadjar, who was lurching for the attack, but he missed Leclerc, who came weaving through and took the lead. 

Antonelli got stuck with a wheel spin at the start and fell down several spaces. Hamilton had a fierce start as he moved up into 3rd position and moved past Hadjar. Russel moves ahead of Leclerc briefly before Leclerc takes back the lead. 

Verstappen is crawling up the grid, overtaking several cars. Russel squeezes past Leclerc and leads the race at lap 8, but a few corners later, Leclerc takes it back. Russel locks up, and Leclerc is desperate to overtake him, and Hamilton nearly overtakes him too.

Colapinto received a stop-and-go penalty for the start of the race. On lap 1, Hadjar is out of the race due to an engine failure, with smoke billowing from his car. The safety car is out, and a flurry of cheat pit stops happen, but both Ferraris decide to stay out bout whether or not that will be the right decision, we’ll see. 

Alonso retired on lap 15. We knew they wouldn’t be able to finish the race, but it was unfortunate for Aston Martin. Antonelli overtakes Lindblad on lap 16, and he’s up into 4th behind his teammate. As Lawson and Perez bang tyres trying to overtake each other, Lawson ends up falling behind.

Unfortunate news for Bottas and Cadillac as he pulls to the side as his engine stops, and he’s now the 5th car out. The virtual safety car comes out briefly, and Verstappen pits, but both Ferraris still stay out. 

Verstappen, on new tyres, overtakes Lindblad and moves up into 6th place from 20th as Bortoleto moves up into 9th. On lap 21, 7 different teams are in the top 10. Gasly and Ocon (an old rivalry) bang wheels as Gasly musters a pass, which is being reviewed by the stewards. 

Norris is in 5th place, 16 seconds behind Antonelli. The McLaren pace is not looking as strong as it did last year. On lap 25, Leclerc is called in to the box, but they’re doing a one-stop strategy, so we’ll see if it pays off as he comes out 4th. 

Alonso has returned to the race after making some adjustments to the car. On lap 28, now we’re waiting for Hamilton to pit, and Russel overtakes him and is now the race leader. He pits a lap later and comes out as his teammate in 4th. 

Bearman and Lindblad are fighting hard for 7th and 8th place. Some teams are debating doing a one-stop; Norris says no, but Mercedes believes they can. Verstappen and Norris were fighting, but a piece of carbon flew off Perez’s car, and a brief virtual safety car came out, which stopped the battle, and Norris came into the pit. 

Along with both Williams drivers, who are seemingly not going that fast and are unhappy. Alonso is now out, as is his teammate Stroll. Ocon and Gasly are back fighting, but this time Ocon takes the lead into 9th, only to lose it shortly and move back down whilst Norris overtakes Lindblad and goes up into 6th.

Lindblad and Bearman, the 2 young drivers fighting hard on lap 42, and we’re still waiting to see if Mercedes will pit again, as they’re losing their chance if they want to. Mercedes is committing to the one-stop and confirming they will be on these tyres until the end, as Russel sits in 1st with Antonelli in 2nd and both Ferraris behind them. 

On lap 49, we’re back with Norris and Verstappen fighting for 5th place. Hamilton is gaining on his teamate and we might see a battle between them for 3rd place. With 2 laps to go, all the cars are desperate to finish. Verstappen is still trying to get to Norris, but he’s losing time. 

Russel is the first winner of the 2026 season; it’s a Mercedes 1-2 victory. Leclerc snags 3rd place as Hamilton finishes just behind in 4th. 16 cars finished this Grand Prix, a learning curve for a lot of teams. 

Norris finished in 5th with Verstappen just behind, a superb drive from him since he started 20th. Bearman finished 7th with an excellent points score for Haas and Lindblad on debut, secured 8th place, and scored his first-ever points in Formula 1. Audi had success with Bortoleto in 9th, and Gasly snags the 10th-place point for Alpine. 

A very exciting first race in this new era, a tough battle between Mercedes and Ferrari, and hopefully, this will continue. 

See you next week in China, the first Sprint of 2026, you don’t want to miss out!