2026 Australian GP: Russell takes an easy Pole Position

Season-opening qualifying always attracts great interest, especially in a year like this with radical regulation changes. Many teams hid their true pace during winter testing, but the qualifying session in Melbourne gave the first clear picture of the competitive order at the start of the season.

Practice sessions had not been trouble-free. Aston Martin suffered the most — strong vibrations from the Honda power unit damaged the car and prevented normal running. Fernando Alonso missed the first session, Sergio Perez the second, and Carlos Sainz the third.

On Friday, Oscar Piastri set the fastest time, while on Saturday morning George Russell showed the true pace of the Mercedes for the first time, finishing 0.6 seconds ahead of his closest rival.

The car of Kimi Antonelli, who had a heavy crash in final practice, was repaired just in time for qualifying — in fact only after the session had already begun.

The grandstands at Albert Park have been full since Friday, and by qualifying, there were almost no empty seats. Formula 1 is hugely popular in Australia, and the organisers expect nearly half a million spectators over the weekend. Last year Melbourne ranked second in total attendance across the calendar.

Pirelli brought its usual soft trio for the event — C3, C4 and C5 — used as Hard, Medium and Soft, respectively.

Q1

Ferrari drivers chose Medium tyres while the rest of the field started on Softs. Three drivers — Antonelli, Stroll, and Sainz — initially remained in the garages.

Russell set the early benchmark with a 1:19.840, but red flags soon interrupted the attempts of others to beat the time. Max Verstappen had just started a fast lap when he lost control at Turn 1.

Under braking at the end of the straight, the rear brakes locked, causing the car to spin, cross the gravel trap, and hit the barrier. Locking the rear brakes means that the brakes on the back wheels stopped rotating, which can lead to a loss of control. Verstappen reported he was fine, though he was seen holding his right hand after climbing out of the car.

The session was halted for about ten minutes. After the restart, Mercedes mechanics had managed to repair Antonelli’s car, and he joined the fight.

Hamilton briefly took the lead with 1:19.811, then Piastri improved to 1:19.664, before Russell responded with 1:19.507.

Leclerc made a mistake, aborted his lap and returned to the pits. After Q1, the eliminated drivers were: Stroll, Sainz, Verstappen, Bottas, Perez, and Alonso.

Q2

This time everyone ran on Soft tyres. Russell again took control of the session, setting 1:18.934. No one came closer than six tenths on the first runs.

The fight intensified on the second attempts, but the leader did not change. Russell remained on top, with Leclerc the closest challenger, though still clearly behind.

Colapinto, Albon, Gasly, Ocon, Bearman and Hülkenberg were eliminated.

Q3

The start of the final session was delayed because Gabriel Bortoleto’s car stopped in the pit lane. The Audi driver had reached Q3 but could not take part due to a technical issue. Behind him Lawson also had to stop, and Lindblad narrowly avoided hitting his teammate.

Drivers headed out on Soft tyres, but only Piastri managed to complete a lap before red flags were shown again. Cooling elements had come loose from Antonelli’s car and remained on the track — Mercedes mechanics had forgotten to remove them in the pits. The stewards noted the incident.

Norris ran over the loose ventilation piece, which shattered into small fragments across the asphalt. Marshals worked to clean the circuit while McLaren mechanics quickly repaired Norris’s damaged car.

Ten minutes later the session resumed, and Russell again moved to the top with 1:19.084. His teammate Antonelli ran wide into the gravel during a quick lap and ruined his attempt.

In the final minutes, everyone had only one more push lap, and the battle became extremely intense. Antonelli briefly took the lead with 1:18.811, but Russell responded with an even faster lap — 1:18.518. The rest of the field fought for positions behind the Mercedes drivers.

George Russell therefore won the first qualifying session of the season and secured the eighth pole position of his career. Mercedes drivers locked out the front row for the 85th time in history.

Isack Hadjar finished third, achieving the best qualifying result of his career and ending Max Verstappen’s streak of 24 consecutive races in which he beat his teammates during qualifying.

A very exciting race awaits tomorrow.