2026 Australian Grand Prix

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.^[6] Arvid Lindblad made his debut as a full-time driver with Racing Bulls,^[7] while Cadillac and Audi made their Formula One debuts. Cadillac's entry as the eleventh team made this the first Formula One race with 11 teams since the season ending 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.^[8]

After last supplying Jaguar, Jordan and Minardi in 2004, Ford returned to the grid after a 21-year absence, supplying Red Bull and Racing Bulls through Red Bull Powertrains. Honda made their full return to the sport after having pulled out following the 2021 season, supplying engines to Aston Martin. After acquiring the Sauber team, Audi made their Formula One debut, supplying their own power unit.^[9][10]

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the three softest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.^[11]

Qualifying report

A red flag was flown after during the opening segment after Max Verstappen (Red Bull) locked his rear axle braking into the opening corner, sending him into a hig speed spin into the gravel. He did not set a time, leaving him in twentieth ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. (Williams) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), neither of whom went out due to power unit issues. The crash benefitted Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), whose car was repaired during the red flag period, following his crash during the final practice session. While the second session ran without issues, another red flag was observed early into the third session after Antonelli was released with two cooling devices attached to his car. While the first device was rolled into the turn one gravel trap, the second fell off on a straight and was run over by Lando Norris (McLaren), damaging his front wing endplate and creating debris which needed to be removed.^[18][19]

Mercedes recorded their first front-row lockout since the 2024 British Grand Prix. George Russell's pole lap of 1:18.518 was eight-tenths faster than third-placed Isack Hadjar's (Red Bull) 1:19.303. The BBC said Mercedes's qualifying advantage sent "shockwaves through the paddock".^[20] After the race, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) commented that the gap in race pace would not be quite as large.^[21]

Qualifying classification

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Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:19.507	1:18.934	1:18.518	1
2	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:20.120	1:19.435	1:18.811	2
3	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	1:20.023	1:19.653	1:19.303	3
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:20.226	1:19.357	1:19.327	4
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.664	1:19.525	1:19.380	5
6	1	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.010	1:19.882	1:19.475	6
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:19.811	1:19.921	1:19.478	7
8	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	1:20.491	1:20.144	1:19.994	8
9	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	1:20.409	1:19.971	1:21.247	9
10	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:20.495	1:20.221	No time	10
11	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Audi	1:21.024	1:20.303	—N/a	11
12	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	1:21.247	1:20.311	—N/a	12
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas-Ferrari	1:20.759	1:20.491	—N/a	13
14	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Mercedes	1:21.138	1:20.501	—N/a	14
15	23	Alexander Albon	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	1:21.051	1:20.941	—N/a	15
16	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine-Mercedes	1:21.200	1:21.270	—N/a	16
17	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	1:21.969	—N/a	—N/a	17
18	11	Sergio Pérez	Cadillac-Ferrari	1:22.605	—N/a	—N/a	18
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac-Ferrari	1:23.244	—N/a	—N/a	19
107% time: 1:25.072
—	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	No time	—N/a	—N/a	201
—	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	No time	—N/a	—N/a	211
—	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	No time	—N/a	—N/a	221
Source:[22][23]

Close

Notes

• ^1 – Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lance Stroll failed to set a time during qualifying. They were permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.^[23]

Race report

20 of the 22 entrants started the race. Nico Hülkenberg's Audi suffered technical issues before the start.^[24] Oscar Piastri crashed his McLaren on a reconnaissance lap after expirencing an unexpected power surge.^[25][26]

At the start, the Ferrari cars shot forward.^[20][27] Polesitter George Russell found himself sandwiched between Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton; Russell's teammate Kimi Antonelli briefly dropped to seventh.^[20] Over the next several laps, Russell and Leclerc repeatedly exchanged the lead. Russell used his electric boosts to overpower Leclerc at various turns, but this drained his battery, allowing Leclerc to respond tit-for-tat with his own boosts and retake the lead each time.^[28] On lap 11, Isack Hadjar, on his debut for the Red Bull team, retired with an engine issue, triggering a virtual safety car (VSC). Both Mercedes drivers pitted, while both Ferrari drivers stayed out.^[29] Ferrari planned a one-stop strategy and was hoping to pit later in the race to gain the tyre advantage over the faster Mercedes;^[20] this decision left Mercedes racing in clear air and Russell rapidly cut into the Ferraris' lead on track.^[30]

From there, Mercedes controlled the race. The next VSC came on lap 16, when the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas retired with mechanical issues. By this time, Russell was too close for Ferrari to pit and retain the lead,^[28] and the pit lane was closed to recover Bottas's car before either Ferrari could make a pit stop.^[31] Ferrari made their pitstop midway through the race without the benefit of a safety car, allowing Russell and Antonelli to take first and second place.^[29] Russell and Antonelli saw off the challenge and completed the race on 46-lap-old hard tyres.^[28] Despite Ferrari's tyre delta advantage, Russell posted essentially identical lap times to Leclerc after the latter pitted,^[28] prompting Leclerc to comment that Mercedes was hiding its true pace.^[21]

In the closing laps, Antonelli cut Russell's lead from six seconds to three, and Hamilton closed in on Leclerc, but neither was able to overtake their teammate, and the top three was formed by Russell, Antonelli and Leclerc.^[29] This marked Mercedes's first 1–2 finish since the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, which Russell also won.^[32] With his victory, Russell picked up his sixth victory in Formula One, and led the Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career.^[33]

Finishing fifth and sixth were the last two World Champions, McLaren's Lando Norris and Red Bull's Max Verstappen, the latter recovering from twentieth place at the start.^[20] The two drivers had a lengthy duel in the final half of the race, though Verstappen suffered tyre wear and dropped off at the end.^[31] The Haas of Oliver Bearman took seventh and Arvid Lindblad, making his debut in Formula One, finished eighth in his Racing Bulls. Gabriel Bortoleto of Audi scored that team's first Formula One points in ninth.^[34] Rounding out the top ten, Pierre Gasly of Alpine picked up the final point of the day after holding off Haas's Esteban Ocon.^[31]

Sergio Pérez recorded Cadillac's first-ever finish in his return to Formula One.^[20] Also noted was the 43-lap stint of Lance Stroll;^[35] due to the ongoing development difficulties at Aston Martin-Honda, neither car had been expected to complete more than 25 laps.^[36] His teammate Fernando Alonso had an explosive start, passing seven drivers, but retired the car.^[31]

Race classification

More information Pos., No. ...

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	58	1:23:06.801	1	25
2	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	58	+2.974	2	18
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	58	+15.519	4	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	58	+16.144	7	12
5	1	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	58	+51.741	6	10
6	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	58	+54.617	20	8
7	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	57	+1 lap	12	6
8	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	57	+1 lap	9	4
9	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	57	+1 lap	10	2
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Mercedes	57	+1 lap	14	1
11	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas-Ferrari	57	+1 lap	13
12	23	Alexander Albon	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	57	+1 lap	15
13	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	57	+1 lap	8
14	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine-Mercedes	56	+2 laps	16
15	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	56	+2 laps	21
16	11	Sergio Pérez	Cadillac-Ferrari	55	+3 laps	18
NC	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	43	+15 laps1	22
Ret	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	21	Vibrations	17
Ret	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac-Ferrari	15	Fuel system	19
Ret	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	10	Engine	3
DNS	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	0	Accident	—2
DNS	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Audi	0	Hydraulics	—2
Source:[23][37][38]

Close

Notes

• ^1 – Lance Stroll was not classified as he did not complete 90% of the race distance.^[37]
• ^2 – Oscar Piastri and Nico Hülkenberg did not start the race, the former due to crashing during a reconnaissance lap, and the latter due to a mechanical problem. Their places on the grid were left vacant.^[24][25]