Live qualifying news from Albert Park as George Russell takes pole position ahead of the likes of Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen

“We knew there was a lot of potential in the car, but you don’t know until you get to the first Saturday of the season. But it really came alive this afternoon and we tend to prefer those conditions when the track temperatures cool down.”

Qualifying pace was unknown until Russell produced a last-gasp lap in Saturday’s practice session that left him on top by a whopping six-tenths of a second, then outpaced the field by calmly sailing to the eighth pole position of his eight-year career, leading all three stages of qualifying.

While Russell moved on, Antonelli put in a good performance at the end of a troubled Saturday and crashed his Mercedes heavily at the second corner of practice, leaving his team racing against time to be ready for qualifying just two hours later.

The Italian driver’s session was not without other incidents; He left the Mercedes garage with a pair of cooling fans fitted to his car’s radiators, which were then spilled onto the track and collected by McLaren’s world champion Lando Norris, prompting post-qualifying scrutiny from the stewards – but Mercedes kept the rest of the group firmly in the rear view; Red Bull Racing’s Isack Hadjar qualified third, but was outpaced by seven-tenths of a second as one of the best by a wide margin. rest.

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Hadjar and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc were ahead of Piastri in fifth; The local hero has been comfortably ahead of world champion team-mate Norris in all track sessions of the weekend so far, but McLaren’s constructors’ championship dominance over the last two seasons has been shaken by the launch of all-new cars under a new regulation set in Melbourne this weekend.

The 24-year-old Melburnian, who was second on the grid at home 12 months ago and was Russell’s closest rival in the first quarter and fourth in the second quarter before rain came down at the end of the race to finish ninth, wobbled into the final corner on his first fast lap in the final 12-minute phase of qualifying, dropping him to third on the grid, 0.862 seconds off pole position.

“It’s about where we think we’ll be. Obviously it’s pretty close behind the two Mercedes, so it’s not a big surprise that we’re where we are now,” Piastri said.

“I think everything went pretty smoothly there today; I think we performed pretty well for the most part. I can’t complain from that perspective.”

“Let’s wait and see what performance we can find, but we can build a solid foundation from this.”

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen made a shocking early exit in qualifying; The Dutch driver crashed heavily at the first corner of Albert Park with seven minutes remaining in the first quarter after losing control of the rear of his Red Bull Racing car during braking.

Verstappen, who had never qualified worse than 12th in Australia in his previous nine visits, was forced to twist his right wrist after keeping his hands on the steering wheel when the car hit the barriers at the first corner, and faces a monumental task from 20th on the grid on Sunday, in addition to his three previous Melbourne podiums, ahead of 2024 Melbourne winner Carlos Sainz (Williams) and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. competed in qualifying with technical problems.

A first win in Melbourne looks set to be Russell’s forfeit, but the 28-year-old has remained cautious for the first race of the new rules era, where reliability could be as important as speed.

“I think the target for us is to get to the finish line, because obviously we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Russell said, effectively dodging the question of whether Mercedes had kept its true pace under wraps until this weekend.

“It wasn’t a case of us sandbagging… I think it was more a case of some of the other teams showing more than we expected in testing, and we’ve seen that many times in the past.

“Red Bull look fast and we know what an incredible driver Max is. Isack has done a great job to be in this position, who knows where Max will be?”

Competitor’s epic accident before qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix

Hannah Kennelly

After weeks of underplaying their pace, Mercedes finally revealed their true pace at Albert Park on Saturday afternoon; George Russell set the fastest lap in a dramatic third practice session marred by red flags and dramatic crashes.

Russell clocked a blistering lap time of 1:19.053, but Mercedes mechanics are racing against the clock to repair teammate Kimi Antonelli’s car after the teenager crashed into the barrier; The young Italian gun walks away unscathed.

Russell’s thrilling lap was six-tenths of a second faster than Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in second, followed by Charles Leclerc and Australia’s Oscar Piastri in fourth.

Piastri completed an impressive second practice session on Friday, setting the fastest lap of the day, but struggled with the pace early on Saturday.

F1 fans watching Saturday’s practice session experienced what the first qualifying session of 2026 could bring: multiple delays, red flags and crashes.

Williams driver Carlos Sainz Jr., whose progress was halted due to power unit failure. It was an unwelcome session for him.

The Spanish driver had to wait awkwardly in his car for officers to help remove the rails from the vehicle, resulting in a red flag being triggered.

The new rules paint a complex picture for many F1 teams; Some drivers seem to be struggling with their new engines and power.

Antonelli’s monster crash occurred near Turn 2, where he crashed into the barrier after accelerating off the curb. This incident also triggered a red alert.

Mercedes have emerged as one of the early favorites for the season after a positive pre-season testing period in Bahrain and are hoping to be at the front of Sunday’s race, with Russell likely to take pole position.

However, the team has a big task ahead of them to repair Antonelli’s car before Saturday’s qualifying session at 16:00 (local time). The first photos taken from the track showed that the gearbox may have been damaged, which would significantly affect the turnaround time for technicians.

Australia’s Piastri’s former performance coach Kim Keedle, who was in the paddock on Friday, has been called in to work with Mercedes rival Russell this weekend as her own trainer remains abroad due to travel disruption due to conflict in the Middle East.

More to come

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