Russell hangs onto Melbourne victory as Mercedes secure 1-2 finish

George Russell led home a Mercedes one-two finish to win the season opening race in Australia as Formula One’s new, and much anticipated, era finally debuted in front of a record Melbourne crowd.

Rhonan Colquhoun 8:15am 8th March 2026

Russell, who had claimed a comfortable Pole Position with a margin of nearly a second over rival teams, tussled back and forth with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during the opening stint of the race after an electric getaway from the Monegasque.

One of the biggest challenges for the drivers was getting their cars off the grid once the lights went out with teams beforehand cautious as to how every driver’s start would differ. A slow-moving Liam Lawson caused Alpine’s Franco Colapinto to take incredible cat-like action to avoid rear-ending the Racing Bulls driver and causing a horrific crash.

Mercedes chose to decisively react under the races’ first Virtual Safety Car which was called for a retiring Isack Hadjar whose Red Bull suffered an engine failure with Russell diving for the pits to change onto the Hard tyres.

Ferrari kept both Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton out and waited longer into the race before pitting both however Russell, confident in life of his tyres, fully committed to a one-stop strategy and nursed his rubber for 46 laps until the chequered flag.

"I got on the grid, saw my battery level had nothing in the tank, made a bad start and then obviously some really tight battles with Charles, so I was really glad to cross the finish line." - George Russell

Antonelli, who had initially fallen from second to seventh at the start, worked his way back into contention with Mercedes choosing to double-stack both the Italian and Russell which meant that Antonelli was able to jump both Ferrari’s once they had pitted.

Leclerc rounded out the podium in third despite being caught in the latter stages by team-mate Hamilton with Reigning Champion Lando Norris finishing a distant fifth albeit completing two pit-stops.

There was massive disappointment around the Albert Park circuit before the race began when on his lap to the grid from the pits, home-favourite Oscar Piastri suffered a power spike as he made his way through Turn 4 which saw the McLaren driver lose control and end up in the barriers – ending his race before it even began.

The World Champion held onto his top five finish ahead of a charging Max Verstappen who climbed his way after an unexpected Q1 elimination which seen the Dutchman line up in 20^th place.

For his determined drive, Verstappen was awarded the Driver of the Day and also secured the Fastest Lap of the race but was unable to get the better of his former title rival and settled for sixth.

Oliver Bearman drove a brilliant race for Haas after being “disappointed” by his Q2 elimination in qualifying but fought brilliantly to secure seventh place. The Brit battled hard with fellow compatriot Arvid Lindblad who shone on his rookie debut.

The Racing Bulls driver made a fantastic getaway and for a brief moment on the first lap, ran inside the top three having started the race from ninth.

Gabriel Bortoleto flew the flag for newcomers Audi and converted his top ten start into points with a ninth-place finish as team-mate Nico Hulkenberg failed to start the race with a telemetry issue on his car.

Pierre Gasly piloted his Alpine into the top ten for a solitary point meaning that eight of the eleven teams scored on the opening weekend of the season with the Frenchman getting the better of former team-mate and compatriot Haas’s Esteban Ocon after a race-long battle.

Williams Alexander Albon drove a lonely race to finish in 12^th ahead of a recovering Lawson and Colapinto while Carlos Sainz and a returning Sergio Perez gave newcomers Cadillac their first ever grand prix finish.

The Mexican was the last classified finisher albeit three laps behind race winner Russell and brought out a brief VSC when his Cadillac lost a few pieces of bodywork late on.

Despite enduring a tough Pre-Season and build-up to Sunday’s race where they only thought it was possible to run just until the halfway stage in the race, Aston Martin completed vital laps with both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.

Both drivers looked to have retired from the race at separate points over the course of the 56 laps but incredibly both were able to come back out onto the racetrack and complete laps. Stroll eventually retired on lap 43 and is classified as being 15 laps down.

Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas retired from the race on lap 15 – shortly after Hadjar’s engine failure – with the Finn losing power and stopping before the pit-entry which brought out for the second time a VSC.

As a result of their one-two finish, Mercedes leads the Constructors Championship on 43 points with Ferrari securing a good points haul of 27 to be the closest challenger to the German outfit. Only Williams, Cadillac and Aston Martin are yet to score.

There’s very little respite for the teams and drivers as the sport heads to China for its first Sprint Weekend of the year next week.