George Russell was ecstatic at the end of the race when he said ‘I love this car.’ You wouldn’t be surprised to hear that from the British driver as he went on to claim the Chequered flag at Albert Park to win the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, March 8. Kimi Antonelli kept Russell on his toes at the end as Mercedes completed a one-two at the top, holding off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third and Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
Ferrari held the edge over Mercedes at the start but their decision to not pit the cars during two virtual safety car windows backfired in the end with Russell taking the early lead in the driver’s championship.
Reigning World Champion Lando Norris had to fend off a challenge from Max Verstappen to finish fifth in the race with the Red Bull star taking sixth. Oliver Bearman secured the seventh spot as Arvid Lindblad enjoyed a fine start to life in F1 with an eighth-place finish.
Gabriel Bortoleto and Pierre Gasly rounded off the top ten in the end.
AUSTRALIAN GP: TOP 10
- George Russell — 1:22.670
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli — +2.974
- Charles Leclerc — +15.519
- Lewis Hamilton — +16.144
- Lando Norris — +51.741
- Max Verstappen — +54.617
- Oliver Bearman — +1 Lap
- Arvid Lindblad — +1 Lap
- Gabriel Bortoleto — +1 Lap
- Pierre Gasly — +1 Lap
HOW DID THE AUSTRALIAN GP UNFOLD?
There was drama before the race even started as Oscar Piastri crashed into the wall on his way to the track. Once the five red lights went off, it was Ferrari who made the best possible start with Leclerc taking the lead and Hamilton moving into third.
Arvid Lindblad may have been racing in his first grand prix, but showed no signs of being a rookie and expertly moved into the fourth spot.
Isack Haijdar kept tumbling down the pack while Kimi Antonelli made up for his poor start and quickly made his way up the grid and into the top four.
The new regulations promised the F1 2026 season to be more exciting and that is what we got in the first nine laps. Russell and Leclerc swapped leads almost five times before the Mercedes driver had his tyres locked up and allowed the Ferraris to overtake him.
Verstappen, who started the race in 20th, made his way to ninth but the same luck didn’t shine on his teammate Hadjar, who had to stop his car in Lap 12.
This made the cars to pit as a virtual safety car was deployed but Ferrari decided to keep both their cars out. This was a call Hamilton wasn’t happy about and he complained about it over the team radio.
They had another chance when Bottas’ Cadillac had to be stopped, but once again, Leclerc and Hamilton stayed out. This proved to be a slip up from them as Russell caught up to Hamilton in second by the time Leclerc finally came into the pits and took the lead of the race by Lap 29.
While both Ferraris found pace by the 40th lap, Russell and Antonelli continued to keep them at bay. By the time the 50th lap came in, Hamilton was getting quicker than Leclerc, who was in the third spot.
Norris and Verstappen, who were fighting for the title last season, was relegated to battling for the fifth spot in the race with the reigning champion keeping the Red Bull away.
This became the most exciting battle on focus as the Mercedes kept pulling away from the Ferraris at the end. Leclerc admitted at the end that even with the VSC coming into play, Mercedes were too powerful for them.
“It looked like Mercedes had a bit more pace than us today, but maybe not as much as what we saw yesterday, so that’s a good thing but I don’t think we could have won,” said Leclerc.
The action will now shift to China for the Chinese GP on March 15.
