What the teams said – Race day at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix

Mercedes

Russell was sluggish off the line and lost out to Leclerc, but fortunately kept a charging Hamilton behind. He then engaged in a multi-lap fight with Leclerc, the two exchanging the lead a handful of times as they attempted to out-brake each other. Antonelli had an even poorer start than his team mate, dropping to seventh before climbing back to fourth to tag onto the battle.

Mercedes then pitted both drivers under the first Virtual Safety Car period, dropping behind the Ferraris. Russell regained the lead when Leclerc and Hamilton pitted, and had a comfortable margin to one-stop his way to victory. Antonelli backed him up to make it a 1-2 for Mercedes, as they had the dream start to the 2026 season.

George Russell, 1st

“That wasn’t a straightforward afternoon, but this win feels very sweet! Congratulations to the whole team; they’ve done an incredible job and this victory is for them.

“We had a difficult and chaotic start and from there, were yo-yoing with the overtakes between Charles and me. I could have perhaps used my energy more smartly to defend when I first overtook him and that cost me when he passed me back. It was quite stressful from in the car but hopefully meant we put on a good show for the fans.

“We stopped quite early on when the Virtual Safety Car was deployed and knew we were going to have to manage our tyres from there. We were not clear on whether the one or the two-stop was going to be quickest or which one was the right decision to help us take victory. The strategy team made a great call though and I am really happy we could take the victory and the 1-2. It’s a perfect way to start the season and we will enjoy this moment, but it is still very early days in the championship, and we know our rivals will be trying to close the gap quickly. It wasn’t easy for us so let’s see how we perform in China next week.”

Kimi Antonelli, 2nd

“What an afternoon and what a weekend! It has not been easy on my side of the garage here in Melbourne, but we’ve come away from here with a great result. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone at Lauda Drive and Morgan Drive; they’ve produced a really strong car and a platform for us to build on. This 1-2 is for them and due to all the hard work and effort they’ve put in over several years.

“Coming to the grid, I had a lower battery level so the start was very stressful! We obviously made a slow launch but from there our recovery was good and our pace was strong. That enabled us to fight our way back to the Ferraris and ultimately, after we went through the pitstops, to take a 1-2 for the team.

“There is a lot we’ve learned about our car and how to operate within these new regulations this weekend. Whilst we were the strongest team in Melbourne, we are going to have to work really hard to stay ahead. I’m now looking forward to China and seeing what we can do in Shanghai.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“We feel a lot of contentment coming away from Melbourne today. It is great to see Mercedes back at the front of the field at this opening race of the season. The teams at Lauda Drive and Morgan Drive have done a brilliant job to get our package to Australia in such a strong place. To see us take a solid 1-2 in race one with the season ahead hopefully means we can try and fight for a world championship. It will take a lot of hard work, and we know our competitors will be chasing us down, but this is exactly how we wanted to start the year. Congratulations to the whole team, the drivers, and everyone involved on this result.

“We were going into the unknown this weekend, but I think F1 put on a good show with some exciting racing today. The back-and-forth fight between George and Charles (Leclerc) in those early stages was fun to see and I am looking forward to seeing how things play out in Shanghai next weekend. There is lots we learned here in Melbourne, and I am sure it will only get even more interesting from here.”

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

“It’s a great result for everyone at Lauda Drive and Morgan Drive to start the new era of F1 with a 1-2. Preparing for this year has been a long road, with many difficult moments, but every member of the team should be proud that the effort has paid off.

“The start was difficult; we didn’t do a good enough job of managing the limited energy around the formation lap and both drivers ended up at with low battery on the line. Kimi in particular became a sitting duck off the line. George fared slightly better but still lost a lot of ground. The drivers did a great job to stay out of trouble but dropped a lot of places and we had to go into recovery mode. The strategy team did well reacting to the incidents and ultimately the car had good pace.

“We weren’t quite sure if the one stop was a possibility having pitted so early but both drivers managed the tyres well. It was nice to see that we could hold the gaps to the chasing cars in the final stint. There is plenty that we need to improve on, but the team and drivers should be pleased with a great start to the season.”