George Russell headed Andrea Kimi Antonelli in a Mercedes one-two finish at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix.
Russell survived an early scrap with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and an early pit stop on lap 13 before he passed Leclerc’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton on lap 28 for the lead, which he controlled to the finish ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli for his sixth F1 victory of his career.
Leclerc and Hamilton settled for third and fourth respectively ahead of Lando Norris, as the reigning champion fought off Max Verstappen for fifth.
Oliver Bearman, Arvid Lindblad, Gabriel Bortoleto and Pierre Gasly completed the top ten.
Amidst scrutiny over the race start procedure in pre-season, drama unfolded before the lights went out as hometown hero, Oscar Piastri crashed on the way, whilst Nico Hulkenberg didn’t even start due to a mechanical failure.
At lights out, Russell lost the lead on the inside to a fast-starting Leclerc but repassed the Monegasque on lap 2 for the lead, only for Leclerc to regain the lead a lap later round the outside into Turn 9.
Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar settled into fourth after he has been passed by Hamilton who jumped from seventh to third in the opening laps, whilst Antonelli slipped from second to seventh but passed Lindblad and Norris by lap 5 for fifth.
Up front, Russell kept Leclerc under pressure until he tried to retake the lead into Turn 1 on lap 9 but locked up upon arriving at the corner, which allowed Leclerc back through into the lead.
The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) however had to be deployed on lap 11 after Hadjar’s power unit blew up on the run towards Turn 9, and was withdrawn on lap 14 just as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso retired for mechanical reasons only for the Spaniard to rejoin later down for data gathering.
Cadillac managed to navigate their first start in F1 until Valtteri Bottas came to a half at the pit entry on lap 18 which necessitated a second VSC period.
Up front, Mercedes pitted Russell and Antonelli on lap 13 in a double-stack stop for hard on an intended two-stop strategy, whilst Ferrari left Leclerc out until lap 26 when Hamilton assumed the lead, but the seven-time champion was passed at Turn 9 by Russell just two laps later.
Russell meanwhile built a lead of over six seconds to Antonelli once Hamilton made his pit stop on lap 29 and proceeded to control the gap to his Italian teammate.
Aston Martin meanwhile retired Lance Stroll and Alonso on laps 36 and 34 respectively to conserve their parts amidst a supply shortage.
Verstappen meanwhile was on the alternate two-stopper of hard-to-medium-to-hard tyre strategy as he recovered from 20th on the grid to fifth by the time of his last stop,
With 14 laps left, Mercedes instructed Russell and Antonelli to go the end of the race on the hard tyres that they had put on on lap 13, which saw them achieve a first one-two finish not featuring Lewis Hamilton since the 1955 Italian GP.
Leclerc had to settle for third ahead of Hamilton whilst Norris survived a late charge from Verstappen to finish fifth ahead of the Dutchman
Bearman drove a tactful race to finish seventh ahead of fellow Brit, Arvid Lindblad who is the youngest British driver to had competed in a F1 race as all five Brits who began the race finished in the top eight, whilst Bortoleto and Gasly rounded out the top ten.
F1 now heads to China from 13-15 March for the first sprint weekend of the season at Shanghai International Circuit.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 58 | 1h 23m 06.801 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 58 | + 2.974 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 58 | + 15.519 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 58 | + 16.144 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 58 | + 51.741 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 58 | + 54.617 |
| 7 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 57 | + 1 Lap |
| 8 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | 57 | + 1 Lap |
| 9 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 57 | + 1 Lap |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 57 | + 1 Lap |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 57 | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Alex Albon | Williams | 57 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 57 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 56 | + 2 Laps |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 56 | + 2 Laps |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | 55 | + 3 Laps |
| NC | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 43 | + 15 Laps |
| RET | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 21 | Power Unit |
| RET | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | 15 | Power |
| RET | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | 10 | Power Unit |
| DNS | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 0 | Crash |
| DNS | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | 0 | Mechanical |
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