2026 Australian Grand Prix

The 2026 Australian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Australian Grand Prix 2026) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 8 March 2026 at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was the first round of the 2026 Formula One World Championship, which brought about major regulation changes revolving around the chassis and power unit.

After surviving an early-stage battle against Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, polesitter George Russell led teammate Kimi Antonelli to Mercedes's 61st 1–2 finish. Leclerc rounded out the podium for Ferrari ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton; both drivers led for at least one point during the Grand Prix. Russell's win made this the first time he led the Drivers' Championship; his team Mercedes led the Constructors' Championship.

The event was held at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne for the 29th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 6–8 March.^[3] As the first round of the 2026 Formula One World Championship, the Grand Prix was the first to be held with the new regulation set – which entailed major changes to the chassis and power unit – for 2026, and marked the 40th running of the Australian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.^[4][5]

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 since 2016 to have more than ten teams being entered, the last being the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.^[8]

After last supplying Jaguar, Jordan (an ancestor of the modern-day Aston Martin team) and Minardi in 2004, Ford returned to the grid after a 20-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. The previous power unit supplier of Red Bull began to supply engines to Aston Martin. After acquiring the Sauber team, Audi made their Formula One debut, supplying their own power unit.^[9][10]

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]

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 6 March 2026, at 12:30 local time (UTC+11), and was topped by Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen (Red Bull).^[12][13] The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 16:00 local time, and was topped by Oscar Piastri (McLaren) ahead of Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), leading his teammate George Russell.^[14][15] The third free practice session was held on 7 March 2026, and was originally scheduled to start at 12:30 local time before being delayed by 20 minutes due to a crash in the F3 round. It was topped by Russell ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc.^[16][17] Red flags were brought out due the stoppages of Carlos Sainz Jr. (Williams) and Antonelli on track, the former due to a power loss and the latter due to a heavy crash.^[18]

Qualifying was held on 7 March 2026, at 16:00 local time (UTC+11), and determined the starting grid order for the race.^[18]

A red flag was flown after Max Verstappen (Red Bull) spun into the gravel in the first session. As he applied the brakes going into the first turn, he locked up the rear axle, which sent him into a high-speed spin that ended his session. He did not set a time, leaving him in his lowest qualifying position of 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), who had his car repaired in time following his crash in the third 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 that dropped into the track. While the first device was rolled into the turn one gravel trap, Lando Norris (McLaren) ran the other device over, 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 was not quite as large.^[21]

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]

The race was held on 8 March 2026, at 15:00 local time (UTC+11), and was run for 58 laps.^[18]

20 of the 22 entrants started the race after Nico Hülkenberg's Audi suffered technical issues before the start,^[24] and Oscar Piastri crashed his McLaren before the race start; he obtained an unexpected engine surge, similar to the incident that befell the Williams of Carlos Sainz Jr. at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.^[25][26]

At the start, the Ferrari cars shot forward, aided by their turbocharger design, which the Italian team had designed specially for the new start procedures.^[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 the Briton's battery, allowing Leclerc to respond tit-for-tat with his own boosts and retake the lead each time.^[28] The battle dissipated on lap 11, when 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] The Scuderia planned a one-stop strategy and was hoping to pit later in the race to gain the tyre delta advantage over the faster Mercedes;^[20] however, 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 due to mechanical issues. By this time, Russell was too close for Ferrari to pit safely,^[28] and the pit lane was closed to recover Bottas's car before Ferrari could come in.^[31] Ferrari was forced to pit midway through the race without the benefit of a safety car, letting Russell and Antonelli inherit first and second place.^[29] At this point, Ferrari's best hope of victory was if Mercedes was forced to stop twice; Antonelli was initially sceptical that Mercedes could pull off the one-stop.^[29] However, 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 podium remained Russell-Antonelli-Leclerc.^[29] It was Mercedes's first 1–2 finish for the first time 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. This result allowed Lindblad to become the first debutant in the Faenza-based team to score points on debut since Yuki Tsunoda finished ninth while driving for Scuderia AlphaTauri at the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix. Gabriel Bortoleto of Audi scored that team's first-ever 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 twice.^[31]

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]

Russell's victory allowed him to take the lead of the Drivers' Championship, making him the first Mercedes driver to do so since Lewis Hamilton led the standings following the 2021 Russian Grand Prix. Mercedes led the Constructors' Championship standings for the first time since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where they won the Constructors' Championship. Ferrari trailed behind them with 27 points, with McLaren holding ten.^[39]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

• 2026 Melbourne Formula 2 round
• 2026 Melbourne Formula 3 round