Mercedes begin F1 2026 Season in style with 1-2 finish in Melbourne

George Russell opened the 2026 Formula One season with a commanding victory at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday, leading a dominant Mercedes one-two finish ahead of rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli at Albert Park. Russell converted pole position into victory and finished 2.974 seconds ahead of Antonelli , while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crossed the line 15.519 seconds behind the race winner in third , highlighting Mercedes’ early pace advantage over the rest of the field in the season opener.

Antonelli impressed in his debut season with Mercedes, finishing just 2.974 seconds behind Russell to secure second place and 18 points . Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the podium with 15 points , while teammate Lewis Hamilton finished fourth to claim 12 points in his first race for the Italian team.

Reigning world champion Lando Norris endured a difficult weekend and finished sixth , earning eight points after struggling to adapt to Formula One’s radically redesigned cars. Haas driver Oliver Bearman took seventh place, followed by Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad in eighth, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto in ninth and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in tenth.

Russell had earlier secured pole position in qualifying , with Antonelli completing an all-Mercedes front row. Ferrari locked out the second row with Leclerc and Hamilton, while Norris could only manage sixth on the grid.

Norris said the sweeping technical changes introduced this season have made the cars significantly harder to drive. Under the new regulations, the power unit now relies on a near 50–50 distribution between the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) the turbocharged 1.6-litre V6 and the MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic) , which harvests energy from braking and redeploys it as electrical power. This shift means drivers must carefully manage when to lift, brake and deploy energy, forcing a very different and often counterintuitive driving style. The overhaul also marks the removal of the MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit-Heat) from the power unit from this year onward, simplifying the hybrid system but placing greater emphasis on energy recovery through the MGU-K.

“We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One to probably the worst,” Norris said after qualifying, adding that managing energy systems and limited track time has made adapting particularly challenging.

With Mercedes emerging as the early benchmark, the Formula One championship now heads to the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit next weekend , where rivals will look to close the gap in the standings.