F1 2026: George Russell secures pole, leads Mercedes 1-2 in Qualifying for Australian Grand Prix
George Russell took pole position and teammate Kimi Antonelli locked up the front row for Mercedes at Formula One’s season-opening Grand Prix in Australia on Saturday.
Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen crashed out of the first qualifying session.
Briton Russell lapped the circuit in one minute, 18.518 seconds, 0.293 seconds ahead of Italian Antonelli, who came back from a huge crash in final practice earlier on Saturday.
It was Mercedes first pole in Melbourne since Lewis Hamilton’s in 2019. “It was a great day, we knew there was a lot of potential in the car,” said Russell. It really came alive this afternoon. Also really happy that Kimi’s here… All in all, a pretty good day.”
Antonelli faces a nervous wait for his position to be confirmed after his patched-up car dropped cooling-fan parts at the start of Q3 and Norris ran over one, sending debris flying and triggering a red flag. Stewards are investigating the incident.
Verstappen’s Red Bull partner Isack Hadjar came third in chaotic qualifying, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fifth.
Home racer Oscar Piastri and defending champion Lando Norris were fifth and sixth for McLaren. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, Racing Bulls’ :iam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, and Ausi’d Gabriel Bortoleto rounded the top 10.
Published on Mar 07, 2026