Formula 1 Australian GP
F1 Australian GP: George Russell takes pole by 0.3s as Max Verstappen crashes out
A dominant Russell was untouchable in Melbourne’s qualifying session, which ended early for Verstappen
Ben Vinel
Edited: Mar 7, 2026, 8:42 AM
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George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
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George Russell took a dominant pole position at Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix, with nobody competitive enough to challenge Mercedes in Melbourne.
Russell topped all three segments and led team-mate Kimi Antonelli by three tenths in Q3, with third-placed Isack Hadjar eight tenths slower; Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri made up the top five.
Max Verstappen’s qualifying session ended prematurely when he crashed out on his very first flying lap.
Q1 was red-flagged when Verstappen’s accident occurred, with less than eight minutes remaining. The four-time world champion spun at high speed when braking for Turn 1, with his rear wheels presumably locking.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing crash
Photo by: Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images
At that moment, Russell led the classification by nearly four tenths in 1m19.840s; his Mercedes team-mate Antonelli was in the drop zone after his FP3 crash, joined by Verstappen, Carlos Sainz – who had a technical issue in FP3 – and Lance Stroll, amid Aston Martin’s dire engine hardship. None of the four had a lap time on the board; they were led by the Cadillacs, which were also at risk in 17th and 18th, and were one second slower than Aston’s Fernando Alonso in 16th.
As Russell improved to a 1m19.507s, Antonelli easily made it to Q2, leaving Franco Colapinto on the brink of elimination. However, a last-ditch improvement by the Argentine ended Alonso’s – and Aston Martin’s – session by a substantial margin.
Russell set the pace in Q2 again with the first 1m18s lap of the weekend, namely a 1m18.934s, leading Piastri by 0.648s; with five minutes remaining, Pierre Gasly, Oliver Bearman, Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Colapinto and Lewis Hamilton were in the drop zone; the seven-time world champion had gone fastest in the first sector but backed out of his lap.
Russell went on to set the only other 1m18s lap in that segment, though he failed to improve on his benchmark by half a tenth; he still led everyone else by four tenths. Further back, Hamilton jumped to seventh, while Esteban Ocon’s lack of progress saw him demoted to 13th. Gasly and Albon also failed to improve, with the Thai driver running wide in Turn 1.
Gabriel Bortoleto narrowly made it through for Audi, but he stopped with a technical issue at pit entry, meaning only nine cars took part in Q3 – the Mercedes, Ferraris, McLarens, Racing Bulls, and Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull.
The top-10 shootout was red-flagged early on after a cooling fan was left on Antonelli’s car. Part of it flew away in the Turn 1 braking zone, while another section of the fan was dislodged on the straight towards Turn 3; Lando Norris’ left-hand wheel ran over the latter, and it disintegrated. Antonelli is under investigation over his car being released in an unsafe condition.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: William West / AFP via Getty Images
Russell’s first Q3 attempt was slower than both his Q2 markers, a 1m19.084s, but he still was half a second faster than Norris and Hadjar, with Leclerc, Piastri and Hamilton more than a second off. Antonelli ran wide into the Turn 3 gravel trap and backed out.
The Italian sophomore, however, set a 1m18.811s on his last lap – but Russell reigned supreme and went three tenths faster in 1m18.518s.
Hadjar took third for Red Bull in 1m19.903s but was nearly eight tenths away; he narrowly outpaced Leclerc and Piastri, with Norris and Hamilton just under a second off pole position.
Racing Bulls duo Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad battled for eighth position, with the Kiwi coming out on top as the rookie lost a second in sector two.
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Australian GP - Qualifying results
GRID
All Stats
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Time Tyres km/h 1 G. Russell Mercedes 63 Mercedes Mercedes
1'18.518
241.992 2
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 Mercedes Mercedes
+0.293
1'18.811
241.093 3 I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing 6 Red Bull Red Bull
+0.785
1'19.303
239.597 4 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 Ferrari Ferrari
+0.809
1'19.327
239.525 5 O. Piastri McLaren 81 McLaren Mercedes
+0.862
1'19.380
239.365 6 L. Norris McLaren 1 McLaren Mercedes
+0.957
1'19.475
239.078 7 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44 Ferrari Ferrari
+0.960
1'19.478
239.069 8 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30 RB Red Bull
+1.476
1'19.994
237.527 9 A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41 RB Red Bull
+2.729
1'21.247
233.864 10 G. Bortoleto Audi 5 Audi Audi
11 N. Hulkenberg Audi 27 Audi Audi
+1.785
1'20.303
236.613 12 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87 Haas Ferrari
+1.793
1'20.311
236.590 13 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31 Haas Ferrari
+1.973
1'20.491
236.061 14 P. Gasly Alpine 10 Alpine Mercedes
+1.983
1'20.501
236.031 15 A. Albon Williams 23 Williams Mercedes
+2.423
1'20.941
234.748 16 F. Colapinto Alpine 43 Alpine Mercedes
+2.752
1'21.270
233.798 17 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 Aston Martin Honda
+3.451
1'21.969
231.804 18 S. Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 11 Cadillac Ferrari
+4.087
1'22.605
230.019 19 V. Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 77 Cadillac Ferrari
+4.726
1'23.244
228.254 20 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3 Red Bull Red Bull
21 C. Sainz Williams 55 Williams Mercedes
22 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 Aston Martin Honda
View full results
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Australian GP - Saturday, in photos
Australian GP - Saturday, in photos
Australian GP - Saturday, in photos
Australian GP - Saturday, in photos
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