Australian GP starting grid as Verstappen crashes and penalty looms | F1 | Sport

March 7, 2026 2,806

George Russell lived up to the pre-season hype with a dominant qualifying performance to take pole position for the Australian Grand Prix. Meanwhile, one of those who hopes to rival him for the Formula 1 title this season suffered an early blow as Max Verstappen crashed out before he even had the chance to complete one flying lap.

That meant the Dutchman was condemed to a start towards the back of the grid on Sunday, but there was some joy for Red Bull as new team-mate Isack Hadjar got off to a brilliant start by qualifying third. But no-one ever looked likely to stop the Mercedes cars and Russell in particular, who topped the timesheets in final practice and converted that into pole.

Verstappen wasn’t the only one who didn’t set a time – Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz both spent the whole of Q1 stuck in the garage and ran out of time before Aston Martin and Williams could fix their respective issues. Cadillac pair Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez were the two slowest of those who did complete a flying lap, while Fernando Alonso was the other driver in the bottom six.

Last year’s bottom feeders Alpine will have been pleased to get both cars into Q2, but that was where their day ended with Franco Colapinto 16th and Pierre Gasly qualifying only two places higher. Alex Albon split them to end Williams’ participation in qualifying while both Haas cars also failed to make the top 10, with Nico Hulkenberg 11th in the Audi.

Team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto made it into Q3 but crept into the pit lane at the end of that middle part of qualifying, nursing a problem that denied him a chance to get back out on track. Antonelli’s eventful day continued, Mercedes leaving two cooling parts on his car when he exited the garage. Both of them fell off, one onto the track which was then smashed to pieces by Lando Norris‘ McLaren, sending debris flying and causing more red flags.

Nine cars hit the track when Q3 properly got going, and Arvid Lindblad went quicker than team-mate Liam Lawson to cap a fine F1 qualifying debut by going eighth fasters in the Racing Bulls. Lewis Hamilton managed seventh behind the two McLarens with Norris sixth and Melburnian Oscar Piastri only starting fifth in front of his home crowd.

Charles Leclerc managed fourth but was beaten by Hadjar who put in a superb performance to help ease Red Bull’s pain having seen Verstappen crash out earlier. But it looks set to be an all-Mercedes front row on Sunday with only Antonelli able to get within seven-tenths of Russell’s best time, though the Italian could be at risk of a grid drop as he is under investigation for a pit lane infringement and also an unsafe release from what was a very eventful qualifying session for the teenager.