2026 Australian Grand Prix Qualifying Review

Linus O'Howell
2 days ago
3 min read

The first Qualifying Session of 2026 was not to be missed, with all new cars meaning that everything was up in the air heading into Australia!

Q1

In Qualifying 1, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, and Lance Stroll were the six slowest drivers! Whilst 17th might actually look alright on paper, it’s worth noting that Fernando Alonso was still 7 tenths off making it into Q2! Cadillac were the slowest team on their debut, with Sergio Perez smashing Valtteri Bottas by well over 6 tenths of a second, whilst Max Verstappen will start all the way down in P20 after crashing out at Turn 1 due to his rear axle failing on him! Both Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll also failed to get a lap time on the board, with both drivers sitting out of the session due to reliability issues! George Russell topped Q1 for Mercedes, about a tenth and a half ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri!

Q2

In Qualifying 2, Nico Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, and Franco Colapinto all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout! Nico Hulkenberg wasn’t too far off, missing out on a spot in Q3 to his teammate by just under a tenth of a second, whilst Oliver Bearman was only 8 thousandths of a second back in 12th! Esteban Ocon will start behind his Haas teammate in P13, but ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, whilst Alex Albon could only manage 15th for Williams! Franco Colapinto ended up slowest in Q2, but the biggest concern is the fact that he was 0.769s slower than his teammate (which is pretty bad)! Russell was again clear in Q2, this time from the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc!

Q3

In Qualifying 3, a stunning 1:18.518 was more than enough for George Russell to put a marker down to the rest of the field! George looked like a class above everyone else today, and that’s actually a bit of an ominous sign for everyone watching/competing! Despite a messy day, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was still able to complete a Mercedes 1-2, whilst Isack Hadjar starred on his Red Bull debut to earn his way into the Top 3! Charles Leclerc will start 4th, ahead of Oscar Piastri, whilst the reigning World Champion, Lando Norris, could only manage P6! Lewis Hamilton qualified 7th, just 3 thousandths of a second behind Norris, whilst Racing Bulls had a brilliant day to end up P8 with Liam Lawson, and P9 with Arvid Lindblad! A great job from both, but it wasn’t quite a perfect debut for Lindblad as his one and only lap in Q3 was pretty poor! Gabriel Bortoleto ended up last in Q3, mainly because he didn’t get to set a lap as his Audi gave out on him at the end of Q2!