Australian Grand Prix: Mercedes dominated and Colapinto started off on the wrong foot

The 2026 Formula 1 season began at the Albert Park circuit with a landslide victory for George Russell, who led Mercedes' resounding 1-2 in the Australian Grand Prix. The Briton prevailed after an intense initial fight with Ferraris and crossed the finish line ahead of his teammate Andra Kimi Antonelli, while Charles Leclerc

completed the podium.

The race had action right from the start. Leclerc overtook Russell in the first few meters and Ferrari came to the front with both of its cars, as Lewis Hamilton quickly advanced to third place. However, the Mercedes driver regained the lead in the following laps and, after the pit stops, he managed to consolidate himself as the leader on his way to his first victory

of the year.

Behind, Antonelli put in a solid performance to secure second place and complete the double for the German team.

Leclerc finished third, just ahead of Hamilton, while defending champion Lando Norris was fifth after resisting the advance of Max Verstappen, who staged a great comeback from the back of the grid to finish sixth, followed by Oliver Bearman, Arvid Limblad and Gabriel Bortoleto.

For his part, Franco Colapinto had a career that left mixed feelings. The Argentinian driver started 16th, but suffered a "stop and go" penalty for a violation of the starting procedure, caused by a software error on the part of the team.

The penalty forced him to go through the pits without stopping, losing around 30 seconds and falling to 20th place.

Despite the setback, the Pilarense managed to recover with a strategy based on hard tires for much of the race.

With a constant pace, he overtook rivals and resisted Carlos Sainz's attacks in the final stage before finishing in 14th position.

In parallel, Alpine was able to enter the points zone thanks to Pierre Gasly.

After enduring the constant attempts to overtake his compatriot Esteban Ocon in the final stretch of the race, the Frenchman finished tenth and gave the team its first championship point.

The competition was also marked by multiple incidents and abandonments. Oscar Piastri was left out even before the start after crashing on the installation laps, while Nico Hülkenberg couldn't start the race due to a problem with his Audi. During the test, Isack Hadjar, Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso also abandoned

due to different mechanical failures.

In total, only 17 of the 22 drivers managed to complete the race at the start of a season that premiered new regulations and began with Mercedes setting the pace from the first round.

Drivers' Table after Australia

1st - George Russell (Mercedes) - 25 Points 2nd -

Andra Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) - 18 points 3rd -

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 15 points 4th - Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) - 12 points

5th - Lando Norris (McLaren) - 10 points

6th - Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 8 points

7th - Oliver Bearman (Haas) - 6 points 8th -

Arvid Limblad (Racing Bulls) - 4 points 9th - Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) - 2 points

- PIERRE GASLY (Alpine) - 1 11th point -

Esteban Ocon (Haas) - 0 points

12th - Alexander Albon (Williams) - 0 points 13th - Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) - 0 points