Mercedes dominates first qualifying of F1 2026

George Russell took pole position for the first race of Formula 1 2026, leading a dominant Mercedes 1-2 in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

But Mercedes faces two post-session investigations into Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli, which could mean Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull ends up joining Russell on the front row of the grid for Sunday's race in Melbourne.

That opportunity might have gone the way of Max Verstappen instead, but he failed to set a time in qualifying after his Red Bull locked its rear axle under braking and downshifting into Turn 1 and crashed out in Q1.

After obliterating the field by six tenths of a second in final practice, as Mercedes finally showed its hand, Russell carried that strong form into qualifying and finished up almost eight tenths clear of the best non-Mercedes in Q3.

Antonelli's dramatic route to second

His final pole lap of 1m18.518s was almost three tenths better than Antonelli, who made it provisionally on to the front row of the grid despite a hectic and drama-filled session.

After crashing heavily in FP3, it looked at one stage like Antonelli might not make it out for qualifying at all, but the red flag for Verstappen’s crash afforded Mercedes’ mechanics some extra time to make repairs and Antonelli comfortably made the top six in that segment.

Q2 was relatively clean as Antonelli found his groove, but Q3 began with Antonelli leaving the garage with both of his car’s sidepod cooling fans still attached.

The car deposited one of those in the Turn 1 gravel but the other on the track, which was then collected by Lando Norris’s McLaren, shattering it, littering debris onto the circuit and causing a red flag.

Antonelli is therefore under investigation for being released onto the track unsafely, and for one of his mechanics putting a foot in the fast lane of the pitlane earlier in qualifying.

Hadjar leads tight 'best of rest'

If Antonelli is penalised that will promote Hadjar to the front row on his first weekend as a Red Bull Racing driver.

He qualified nearly half a second behind Antonelli but topped a tight group of five cars behind the dominant Mercedes.

Hadjar, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari were covered by just 0.175 seconds at the end of Q3.

Racing Bulls led the battle of the midfield, with rookie Arvid Lindblad particularly impressive in Q1 and Q2, but it was his team-mate Liam Lawson who qualified eighth in the end, albeit with a lap 0.023s slower than Lindblad managed in Q2.

Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi completed the top 10 but took no part in Q3 after breaking down in the pit entry at the end of Q2.

That almost caused an almighty accident, as Lawson became bottled up behind the Audi and Lindblad arrived to the pitlane at speed, locking up and narrowly avoiding a collision.

How the midfield was formed

Bortoleto’s Audi team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was the fastest of the drivers not to make it out of Q2, ahead of Haas pair Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon.

Despite looking strong in pre-season testing, neither Haas nor Alpine ended up heading the midfield runners, with Pierre Gasly only 14th quickest and Franco Colapinto only 16th, behind Alex Albon’s Williams.

The early exits

The other Williams of Carlos Sainz failed to participate in qualifying at all, after suffering a problem in FP3.

Ditto Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin-Honda, which stayed in the garage with a combustion engine problem that couldn’t be resolved in time.

So they were automatically eliminated in Q1, along with Verstappen’s Red Bull. 

The Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas joined them in the bottom six, with Perez six tenths clear of his team-mate.

Perez’s best lap was a respectable three seconds off the pace in Q1 and 1.4s shy of the Q2 cutoff.

Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin-Honda was the other car eliminated in Q1. Alonso briefly looked like making it through to Q2 before a last-gasp effort from Colapinto knocked the two-time champion out.

That ultimately left Alonso and Aston Martin 0.722s adrift of Bearman’s Haas, which ended up the slowest of the top 15 cars in Q1.

Qualifying result

1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m18.518s
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.293s
3 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.785s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.809s
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.862s
6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.957s
7 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.960s
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.476s
9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.729s
10 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) 1m20.221s
11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) 1m20.303s
12 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m20.311s
13 Esteban Ocon (Haas) 1m20.491s
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m20.501s
15 Alex Albon (Williams) 1m20.941s
16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 1m21.270s
17 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 1m21.969s
18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) 1m22.605s
19 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) 1m23.244s
20 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) no time
21 Carlos Sainz (Williams) no time
22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) no time