George Russell won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to get his world championship bid up and running as Mercedes overcame a gripping early challenge from Ferrari to finish first and second in Melbourne.
Kimi Antonelli finished second after recovering from a poor start, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third and Lewis Hamilton fourth.
Polesitter Russell had lost out to Leclerc and was under pressure from Hamilton too during a wild start to the first race of F1’s new rules era after the Ferraris had, as widely expected, catapulted off the line from fourth and seventh on the grid.
Leclerc overtook Russell into Turn One – the first of seven changes of lead between the pair in the opening nine laps as they traded positions with amazing regularity as F1’s new racing tactics and energy-deployment modes played out in dramatic live style.
Leclerc emerged at the end of that action-packed early phase still in lead from Russell and Hamilton but the race turned on lap 11 when Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull broke down on track to initiate a Virtual Safety Car period.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Mercedes and Ferrari go racing as George Russell and Charles Leclerc fight for P1 at the Australian Grand Prix
Mercedes took the chance to pit both of their cars – including Antonelli, who had dropped back from the front row amid battery issues at the start and now ran fourth – on the next lap but Ferrari stopped neither of theirs.
Leclerc and Hamilton instead pitted on lap 25 and lap 28 respectively in normal racing conditions, with Ferrari seemingly thinking they would have been unable to run to the finish had they changed tyres when Mercedes did.
But despite their tyre advantage for the rest of the race, Mercedes’ pace on older rubber was such that Russell and Antonelli were able to stay ahead and, crucially, avoid having to make another pit stop to secure Mercedes a one-two.
“What Ferrari gave up was track position and they lost control of the race,” said Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle.
“That was the critical thing.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton’s Ferraris rocket away at the start of the Australian GP
With Russell beating Antonelli by 2.9s, Leclerc finished 15 seconds behind the leading Silver Arrow – although only just ahead of Hamilton, whose first Ferrari podium remained tantalisingly just out of reach as the seven-time champion caught his team-mate in the race’s closing laps to offer encouragement for a better second season in red.
“A good race,” said Russell after taking his sixth career win. “Today was more aligned with what we thought. We maybe had a tenth or two advantage but not the seven tenths of yesterday.”
With Mercedes and Ferrari clear of the pack in race trim – as had been expected after pre-season testing – McLaren and Red Bull, the fastest cars at the end of last season, had to settle for a distant battle for fifth between reigning world champion Lando Norris and a recovering Max Verstappen.
Norris won out, although Verstappen could still be content with his recovery drive from 20th after his crash in qualifying. Both drivers made two pit stops.
While Hadjar retired when running well in fourth early on, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri did not even make the start as the Australian suffered home heartbreak when he crashed on the way to the grid before the race.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Home hero Oscar Piastri crashes on way to the Australian GP grid
All five British drivers in the 2026 field finished in the top eight and therefore scored points.
Haas’ Oliver Bearman was seventh while 18-year-old debutant Arvid Lindblad capped a stellar debut weekend in F1 with a fine eighth for Racing Bulls.
Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto – whose team-mate Nico Hulkenberg did not take the start on technical grounds – was ninth ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in 10th.
‘Yoyo overtakes!’ – F1’s new rules deliver Russell vs Leclerc scrap epic
F1’s drivers had said throughout pre-season testing that the sport’s new cars and engines – which feature a 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power – were a far more complex challenge to master and that they would be still effectively be ‘learning on the job’ in the season’s early weeks.
The early laps of Sunday’s Melbourne race certainly bore that out at the front.
After Ferrari lived up to their pre-race billing as the grid’s best starters by moving up to first with Leclerc and third with Hamilton on the first lap, Russell got back ahead of the former for the lead when he blasted past before Turn 11.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Russell was in buoyant mood chatting to Simon and Bernie after triumphing in Melbourne
But Leclerc was back ahead not even a full lap later as he got his energy deployment spot on to repass the Mercedes on the outside at the super-fast Turn Nine.
The duel continued into the start of lap eight when the Mercedes ducked down the inside into Turn Three, only for Leclerc to repeat his earlier move six corners later with Russell having used up his boost.
At the start of lap nine, Russell arrived into the first turn with massive speed to dive down the inside of the Ferrari again, but locked up and could not get his car slowed down in time as Leclerc nipped back through on the exit to lead again.
Russell told Sky Sports F1: “It was kind of a race we were expecting – chaotic start, difficult to match the battery – yoyoing a bit with the overtakes.
“The closing speeds are so big with these new cars but it was mega.
“I was looking at my mirrors at Hadjar [at the start] and I had him [Leclerc] covered but then he come out of nowhere.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Lewis Hamilton says he was happy with the result from the first race but insists Ferrari have work to do to catch up to Mercedes.
Leclerc admitted he was similarly living on his wits in the race’s chaotic early phase.
“It was a very tricky race! Honestly, at the start, none of us knew what to expect with the fights, the energy. It’s even more tricky with the overtakes,” said the Ferrari driver.
“You don’t know when your battery will cut on the straights, so while defending there are massive speed differences.
“It was quite challenging but I was happy to get out of the battle in first. Unfortunately, that didn’t help us for the rest of the race but it was a fun first part of the race. P3 was the best we could do today.”
Ferrari have ‘no regrets’ over strategy
Speaking after the race, Ferrari defended their decision not to pit their drivers under the Hadjar-triggered VSC – insisting Mercedes had the pace, and tyre wear, to beat them whatever they did.
“The pace of Mercedes was better than us,” said team boss Frederic Vasseur.
“I have no regret on the strategy, no regret on the pace of today. We did a decent step compared to yesterday.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Anthony Davidson and Bernie Collins discuss whether Ferrari made a strategy error during the Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton had said over team radio that “at least one of us should have come in” at the time but, speaking after the race, the Briton was more focused on the positivity of Ferrari’s race-one pace.
“Of course, we are not as fast at Mercedes and we have work to do but we are right in the fight,” said Hamilton.
“It was a really fun race and it felt good or me. A couple more laps and I would have had Charles, so I had great pace. Lots of positives to take from today.”
Formula 1 heads to Shanghai for the first Sprint weekend of the 2026 season at the Chinese Grand Prix from this Friday, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
