George Russell of Mercedes won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday, heralding a new era for Formula 1 after a sweeping regulation change that has sparked polarizing reaction among the drivers.
Finishing in second was fellow Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
The result establishes Mercedes as the clear championship favorite at the outset of the 2026 season after its drivers qualified first and second and achieved maximum points.
It will boost Russell’s hopes of a first ever driver’s championship and his team’s prospects of winning its first constructors' title since 2021. F1 history indicates that teams that nail a new regulations set early hold a lasting advantage.
“Feeling incredible. It was a hell of a fight at the beginning,” Russell said in a postrace interview. “We knew it was going to be challenging. I got on the grid, I saw my battery level, I had nothing in the tank, made a bad start, and then obviously had some really tight battles with Charles. So I was really glad to cross the finish line.”
Antonelli called it “the best start we could have wished for.”
The season began with immense intrigue and anticipation due to a sweeping regulation change that has caused each team to build brand-new cars, resetting the order of the grid.
The new rules alter the balance toward battery power that drivers can deploy with a button on their steering wheel or replenish by “harvesting” and slowing down, creating more strategy games. It turns the emphasis away from raw one-lap pace and toward the long game, forcing drivers to save power for opportune moments.
“There’s definitely more opportunity and you do have to be more strategic. I think on a circuit like this where you have four straights and you’ve got to split,” Russell said after the race. “If you use your overtake mode, your boost button, you will pass the driver in one straight and he will then pass back.”
At one point during the battle, Leclerc made a quip about the new tools on the radio, “This is like the mushroom in Mario Kart.”
Finishing in fifth was reigning world champion Lando Norris of McLaren, ahead of four-time world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who started 20th after crashing in qualifying but recovered well during the race.
“We’re nowhere near where we need to be,” Norris said of the McLaren car, an ominous assessment for his prospects of winning a back-to-back championship.
Norris and other drivers called the racing “artificial” with its reliance on battery deployment.
“No, not really,” Verstappen told Sky Sports when asked if he enjoyed the race. “Of course the overtakes were fun, but I mean I’m also racing cars that are 2 seconds slower.”
Verstappen, a vocal critic of the new regulations, told Dutch media after qualifying a day earlier that they are antithetical to the spirit of racing.
“I’m not enjoying it at all,” he said. “Emotionally and feeling-wise, I’m completely drained. This has very little to do with racing.”
Norris, too, was unhappy after qualifying, telling Sky Sports on Saturday that the regulation shift “already sucks.”
“We’ve gone from the best cars to the worst,” he said.
