George Russell begins 2026 F1 season in dominant fashion at Australian Grand Prix

The worst-kept secret in the Formula 1 paddock over the past year was that when the 2026 season began and the new regulations went into effect, Mercedes would be at the front of the field.

The first race weekend of the 2026 season confirmed that belief.

After Mercedes locked out the front row in qualifying on Saturday, with George Russell taking pole position ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli, the pair delivered another front-row lockout in the Australian Grand Prix itself. The pair navigated a tough challenge put forth by the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, and Antonelli overcame a brutally-slow start off the line, to open the 2026 F1 season with a one-two finish.

Ferrari managed to lockout the second row, as Leclerc took third to round out the podium while Hamilton finished fourth. A fierce battle between two of last year’s title contenders — Lando Norris and Max Verstappen — played out for fifth, with Norris ultimately holding on for fifth in that fight.

Oliver Bearman, Arvid Lindblad, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Pierre Gasly rounded out the points finishers, with Lindblad securing an eighth-place finish in his F1 debut.

It was the first time Mercedes locked out the front row to begin a season since the 2019 Australian Grand Prix.

Perhaps the biggest story of the afternoon in Melbourne was the impact of the new regulations. F1 implemented the biggest overall of the technical regulations in the history of the sport, leading to some reliability issues for several teams. Six drivers retired from the race, starting with Oscar Piastri who crashed on his reconnaissance lap, ending the hometown hero’s day before it even began.

Then Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg stalled on the formation lap, forcing the veteran driver to watch the entire race from the garage. Other retirements came from Fernando Alonso, Isack Hadjar and Valtteri Bottas. Alonso stopped hias AMR26 for an extended period early in the race, before returning to the track for additional laps to record more data for Aston Martin. Teammate Lance Stroll did the same, parking the Aston Martin challenger in the garage for an extended period before turning to the track for the final laps, as Aston Martin treated the Australian Grand Prix as a test session.

But at the front of the field, the new regulations did lead to some inspired racing, particularly between Russell and Leclerc over the opening laps. Under the new regulations drivers can use Overtake Mode, deploying extra battery power to try and catch the car in front of them. But that comes at a cost, as the driver will then need to recharge the battery under braking conditions, leaving them vulnerable later in the lap.

That pattern unfolded several times early in the race, as Leclerc and Russell swapped positions on Lap 8, for example. 

Returning to Mercedes, this was the kind of dominance many expected to see from the Silver Arrows when the year began, reminiscent of what we saw from the team after the beginning of the turbocharger era in 2014. That set of technical regulation changes sparked a period of dominance from Mercedes, as the team ripped off eight consecutive Constructors’ titles and seven straight Drivers’ Championships. 

And this weekend was one that, if you listened to Mercedes themselves over the past year, you might have expected to see. Russell and Antonelli arrived in Austin for last year’s United States Grand Prix with new contracts in hand, and when the Mercedes veteran met the media in the team’s hospitality space on the  Thursday ahead of the race, you could tell that Russell was more than confident in what Mercedes would be bringing to the grid in 2026.

“Well for me I’m really happy to be continuing [with Mercedes] because the truth is if every single seat was available for next year and I could choose any single team to race for, I believe Mercedes is my best chance of winning the championship next year, and for me winning is is more about winning than it is about money or sponsor days or anything,” said Russell to the media, including SB Nation, on Thursday in Austin last October. 

“I want to win, and this is what I’m fighting for.”

Pressed on assurances beyond 2026, Russell pointed to his performance, and again to the idea of winning next season.

“What allows me to sleep well at night is knowing that my performances are strong and that is what will keep you in the sport as any driver,” continued Russell. “As I said, our intention and my goal is to continue with Mercedes indefinitely, and we’re here to focus on winning in 2026.”

Russell then emphasized that his happiness with the news had little to do with the money, but everything to do with winning.

“Sitting here now very happy and excited about continuing with Mercedes, not because of the money or freedom or whatever it may be, but because I believe this is my best chance to win,” added Russell.

It seems he might have been telling the truth. 

Here are the full results from the 2026 Australian Grand Prix: