The 2026 F1 season kicked off with the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne. George Russell’s 2026 F1 Australian GP victory gave Mercedes the top spot in the Constructors’ Championship and put Russell in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, with his teammate Kimi Antonelli finishing second for a 1–2 finish. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari completed the podium in third place.
With the win, Russell currently leads the Drivers’ Championship for the first time in his Formula One career. Speaking in the post-race press conference, the Briton reflected on his battle with Leclerc, the race and a strong start to the 2026 season with his Australian GP win.
Russell reflects on the most impressive part of his Australian GP weekend
Russell explained that the race start was the most impressive part of the weekend. He noted that the pace and the battle with Ferrari during the race matched what the team had predicted ahead of Melbourne and during testing. Russell also admitted that qualifying was a surprise for the team.
“I think definitely our race starts were the most impressive part of the weekend! No, I think qualifying was a real surprise to us.“
“I think the pace we saw today and the fight we had with Ferrari was more like what we were expecting and what we had predicted pre-Melbourne and after testing. Qualifying was a real shock, but yeah, Ferrari definitely, yeah, they’re in the mix.”
Russell on the intense Ferrari fight in the opening laps and his thoughts on the new car
The Mercedes driver said the new 2026 F1 cars offer more opportunities on track but require careful strategy. Russell reflected on the opening laps of the 2026 Australian GP, noting how managing overtakes and energy use played a key role in the close battle with Ferrari. While some moments were risky, Russell said he enjoyed the challenge and the intense racing.
“There’s definitely more opportunity and you do have to be more strategic. I think on a circuit like this where you have four straights and you’ve got to split… Let’s say you’ve got 100% of battery, you’ve got to split that between four straights. No team is splitting that, you know, 25% per straight.”
“Some teams are doing it more on one straight, some other teams are doing it more on the other, and if you use your Overtake Mode, your boost button, you will pass the driver in one straight and he will then pass back. So it was, yeah, it was dicey for the two of us, but I hope you enjoyed it.”
His thoughts on leading the World Drivers’ Championship for the first time
Russell said it felt like just another race win, as the F1 season is long. Although race wins are an added bonus, Russell and Mercedes remain focused on returning the team to its dominant and championship-winning form from before the ground-effect era, a goal they’ve been working towards for several years now. Russell also acknowledged areas where the team underachieved, primarily in race start and battery management.
“It just feels like another race win, to be honest. I mean, we’re racing one into a very long season. Of course, I want to fight for race wins week in, week out, but we’re all here now to fight for a World Championship, and that’s what we’ve been working so hard towards.”
“And if we want to do that, we still need to raise our game because there were a lot of areas today that we underachieved, mainly around the race start, having the battery in the right place, and we were lucky not to come worse off.”
