2026 Australian Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell
22 hours ago
4 min read

Russell Wins to Kickoff New Era in Style

After months of hype, anticipation, and trepidation, it was George Russell who started Formula 1’s newest era with a bang as he took victory in the 2026 Season Opener! Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed a Mercedes 1-2 (despite a difficult start), whilst Charles Leclerc rounded out the Australian GP Podium for Ferrari!

The Biggest Talking Points

We always knew that the new Race starts had potential to change the order up, and that’s exactly what happened here as despite qualifying 4th, it was Charles Leclerc who found himself in front at Turn 1! Things were that crazy that Arvid Lindblad was running third at one point during the opening lap, and things didn’t calm down anytime soon as we got multiple swaps for the lead between Leclerc and George Russell! This was frantic, with the Battery/Overtake Mode combo meaning we got some relatively easy passes, but also a few really great wheel-to-wheel battles! Max Verstappen, in particular, made a couple of great overtakes (including one around the outside of Alex Albon), whilst Charles was finally holding off George after Russell’s big lock-up (into Turn 1)! After neither Oscar Piastri nor Nico Hulkenberg were able to start the Race (due to very different reasons), Isack Hadjar found himself retiring just 10 laps in as smoke continued to pour out of the back of his Red Bull! This brought out a Virtual Safety Car, leading to most drivers pitting, except the two Ferraris! This very much proved to be the wrong call by the Scuderia (it didn’t take them long), with both Mercedes’ getting cheaper pit stops in comparison to what Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton received later on!

Another VSC was soon brought out for Valtteri Bottas’ stricken Cadillac, with Max Verstappen almost overtaking Arvid Lindblad as they entered the pit lane! Ferrari again elected to stay out (partly because the pit lane was quickly closed soon after Verstappen’s pit stop), meaning by the time they did pit, the Mercs were well clear! Hard racing then continued lower down in the field, with Liam Lawson and Sergio Perez rekindling their rivalry, whilst Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were also scrapping over the last remaining point available! Franco Colapinto was also super aggressive with his defending against Carlos Sainz, whilst Max was starting to hunt down Lando Norris for P5 after finally clearing Lindblad’s Racing Bulls! Speaking of the World Champion, Norris was nowhere here, finishing over 50 seconds off the lead, but he was at least able to hold off his biggest rival! In the midfield, Oliver Bearman, Arvid Lindblad, and Gabriel Bortoleto were all having decent fights together, whilst back out in front, Ferrari’s chances of winning were ended by the fact that Mercedes’ car is so good, both Russell and Antonelli could do 46 laps on one set of tyres and still be quicker than Leclerc! In fact, Lewis Hamilton was also quicker than Charles Leclerc, finishing just 6 tenths off the Podium at the line!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out three 10’s for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for George Russell! I think most of us have known that George has been ready to fight for a World Championship for a while, and based on this weekend’s performance, Russell is definitely the man to beat! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Oliver Bearman, simply because he deserves it! Whilst Qualifying didn’t go quite as well as Haas had hoped, Ollie massively delivered today, finishing best of the rest and well clear of his teammate! And the final driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Arvid Lindblad, and well done, young man; what a debut! Arvid was third at one point, and he was even fighting hard with 4-time World Champion Max Verstappen! Whilst he did eventually drop down to 8th, 4 points is a stellar achievement on debut! Elsewhere, Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed great pace after a difficult start, whilst Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton made the fight at the front interesting (at least to begin with)! Max Verstappen recovered well to finish 6th (after starting 20th), whilst Gabriel Bortoleto should be proud of scoring Audi’s first-ever points in Formula 1!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

I’ve only given out one 1 for the first Race of 2026, and that is unfortunately for Oscar Piastri! Yes, I am aware that Oscar didn’t even compete in the Race today, but that was because he crashed on the reconnaissance laps! Unlike Verstappen’s incident in Qualifying, this looked more on Piastri than it did a car failure, and until I hear anything different, I have to be harsh on Oscar (just like I would anyone else)! Also, what a horrible Home Race for the young Aussie! Elsewhere, Franco Colapinto didn’t do himself any favours by getting a “Colapinto-and-Go” penalty, but I won’t be super harsh on Franco as I thought that his defensive driving against Carlos Sainz was quite good! Also, we haven’t even talked about them yet, but Aston Martin literally used today as a test session, with Fernando Alonso entering the garage before coming back out again, whilst Lance Stroll finished 15 laps behind Russell (how on earth am I supposed to grade these two?)!