George Russell dominated qualifying to take pole position ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, as Verstappen suffers from early crash.
Triumph for Mercedes
It was an absolute dream start to the year for Mercedes as driver George Russell claimed pole position, while teammate Kimi Antonelli finished P2 in what is likely the first of many 1-2 finishes for the team this season.
Russell spent the entirety of the qualifying session at least half a second clear of the rest of the competition, with only Antonelli getting within 3 tenths of his time on the final run. With all three sectors of his final lap going purple, Russell was untouchable. As the favourite for the championship going into the season, this is the type of performance from Russell that we love to see.
After early doubts about whether or not Antonelli would even be able to take part in the session due to his earlier crash in FP3, Mercedes managed to send him out towards the end of Q1 with the help of a red flag. Though this led to a great session from the young driver, Antonelli is under investigation after the session for two separate issues. The team left two pieces of cooling equipment on his car before sending him out, therefore he was released in an unsafe condition. The team could be facing a fine, or alternatively Antonelli could be subjected to a grid drop.
Mixed emotions from Red Bull
Isack Hadjar made a brilliant start to his time at Red Bull by qualifying in P3 behind the Mercedes drivers. In filling a seat that notably comes with bad luck, Hadjar is immediately proving himself to be the second driver that Red Bull have been long searching for.
However, on the other side of the garage, Max Verstappen had a nightmare opener to the season as an early crash saw him out of qualifying in Q1. On the first corner of his first flying lap, Verstappen faced a huge spin off into the gravel, and ultimately the barrier. When breaking into the corner, the rear axle of car locked up, leaving Verstappen as a sitting duck, unable to do anything to prevent it.
Struggles for the reigning world champs
At his home race where he would have been dreaming of taking pole position, Oscar Piastri finished in P5. Though he had some very strong laps, in the end he was unable to compete with the dominance of the Mercedes.
For reigning world champion Lando Norris, so far the Australian Grand Prix weekend has been one to forget. After struggling all throughout practice, in qualifying Norris found it hard to find the pace he needed. Team boss Zak Brown clarified that Norris had to deal with some deployment issues, therefore hindering his performance. To make matters worse, he ran over one of the cooling pieces that flew off of Antonelli’s Mercedes, causing damage to the front wing end plate, and leaving the British driver in P6.
Ferrari hoping to bounce back
After showing promising pace early on in qualifying, Ferrari seemed as though they would challenge for pole, or at the very least the front row. However, there was a significant pace drop as both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton failed to reach the front row of the grid. Hamilton believed that the battery wasn’t deploying as well as it should have been, along with suffering slightly with his rear tyres at times.
Highs and lows for the rest of the grid
It was a brilliant first outing for rookie Arvid Lindblad, qualifying in P9 for his debut race weekend, only one place behind teammate Liam Lawson in P8. This should make for a promising performance from the rookie driver in his first race tomorrow.
A strong start from Gabriel Bortoleto saw him make it through to Q3 in P10, however, upon entering the pit lane at the end of Q2, his car suffered issues which meant that he couldn’t participate in the Q3 session. Therefore he remained P10 and will start tomorrow’s race from there.
In the case of Aston Martin, it’s safe to say it’s going to be a long season. Lance Stroll never once made it out onto the track due to the ongoing power unit and parts issues, which is a dreadful start to the season. Fernando Alonso on the other hand, managed to get out onto the track to compete in Q1, but only managed P17 and so was out after the first session. Having such detrimental issues this early on in the season makes it clear that Aston Martin are in for a rough time in 2026.
Feature image courtesy of Formula 1