Here are the complete F1 qualifying results from the 2026 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, at the Albert Park circuit.

Mercedes has taken a dominant 1-2 in qualifying for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix, with George Russell claiming pole position ahead of Kimi Antonelli, but the all-Mercedes front row might not yet happen as the Italian driver is under investigation for a team error during Q3.

Q3:

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The session began with just nine cars, as Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto’s technical issue at the end of Q2 saw his team confirm the Brazilian driver would be unable to take part in the session.

Just as the drivers were about to start setting flying laps, the red flag was shown as Mercedes came under investigation for releasing one of its cars in an unsafe condition.

Antonelli had left the pits with cooling equipment still attached to his sidepods, with the equipment falling onto the track – one going into the gravel at Turn 1, and another onto the racing line exiting Turn 2.

With sizeable equipment on the circuit, the session was red-flagged to allow for retrieval, but McLaren’s Lando Norris took care of one of the pieces by driving over it with his left front wheel and smashing it to smithereens.

Antonelli resumed the session as the car at the front of the queue in the pitlane, knowing he was now facing a potential grid penalty for his team’s error.

Despite being first on track, it was Russell who put in the first flying lap with a 1:19.084 as Antonelli made a mistake in the first sector and ran through the gravel, while Norris slotted into second behind Russell.

The gap was half a second, while Hadjar popped into third for Red Bull, a further two-hundredths back from Norris.

Leclerc went fourth ahead of Piastri and Hamilton, with the other four drivers not setting a time as the final four minutes began.

Antonelli, having returned to the pits to regroup, then punched in a 1:18.811 to go quickest of all, before Russell took over at the front again with a 1:18.518 to make it a Mercedes 1-2 in the final seconds.

Piastri moved up to third with his final attempt, before being immediately usurped by Leclerc, before Hadjar brightened Red Bull’s day as he slotted in behind the two Brackley cars.

With Hadjar heading the Mercedes chase ahead of Leclerc, it was Piastri and Norris in fifth and sixth.

Seventh went to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, ahead of Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.

1. George Russell Mercedes 1:18.518
2. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.293
3. Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing +0.785
4. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.809
5. Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.862
6. Lando Norris McLaren +0.957
7. Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.960
8. Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1.476
9. Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +2.729
10. Gabriel Bortoleto Audi No time

FULL REPORT: Australian GP: Russell storms to pole as Verstappen crashes out in Q1

Q2:

The two Mercedes drivers showed imperious pace on their first runs in Q2, with Russell popping in the first sub-1:19 lap as he clocked a 1:18.934 with his first attempt.

This was almost seven-tenths of a second clear of Antonelli, whose Mercedes didn’t appear quite as happy through the lap as his teammate’s – perhaps unsurprising, given his hefty crash and hasty repair after FP3.

Piastri managed to get between the two Mercedes drivers with his first attempt, but was over six-tenths down on Russell, while Hadjar gave Red Bull hope by jumping into fourth with a time almost eight-tenths off the Mercedes.

Having not put in a representative time on his first attempt, it took until three minutes remaining for Hamilton to follow his teammate into the top 10, jumping up to sixth to slot in behind Norris.

Into the final laps, and the drop zone consisted of both Alpines, both Haas, Albon, and Bortoleto.

Leclerc’s final attempt moved him up into second, four-tenths down on Russell, while Hadjar remained fifth ahead of Norris – the McLaren driver suffering from energy deployment issues, according to Zak Brown.

The bottom six remained unchanged, aside from Bortoleto and Hulkenberg swapping places as the German driver was the Audi driver to be eliminated.

An unusual incident returning to the pits saw Bortoleto come to a halt in the entry lane, with Lawson being blocked in behind the Audi as a consequence. Entering the pits at normal speed, Lindblad almost collided with the back of his teammate as he took to team radio to exclaim his surprise at finding two cars almost stationary in the entry.

1. George Russell Mercedes 1:18.934
2. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.423
3. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.501
4. Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.591
5. Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing +0.719
6. Lando Norris McLaren +0.948
7. Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.987
8. Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1.037
9. Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1.210
10. Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1.287
11. Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1.369
12. Oliver Bearman Haas +1.377
13. Esteban Ocon Haas +1.557
14. Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.567
15. Alex Albon Williams +2.007
16. Franco Colapinto Alpine +2.336

Q1:

With 22 cars in F1 2026, the rules have been tweaked to remove the bottom six drivers from the first part of qualifying.

The Ferrari drivers used the medium tyres for their first attempts in Q1, with Hamilton half a second off the quick times initially set by Russell, Piastri, and Lindblad on the soft tyres.

Halfway through Q1, the session was red-flagged due to a crash as Max Verstappen went off in his RB22.

Approaching Turn 1, the rear axle of his Red Bull appeared to lock as he hit the brakes, and he spun off the track before colliding with the tyre barriers. Verstappen took to the team radio to state that he’s suffered rear locking, leaving him facing the wrong way even before the corner apex.

The crash resulted in a short intermission in the session, before resuming 10 minutes later.

The stoppage did help Mercedes finish its repairs to Kimi Antonelli’s Q17 after his FP3 crash, allowing the Italian driver to join the action when the session resumed with just over seven minutes remaining.

Still on the medium tyres, Hamilton went quickest with a 1:19.811 to get ahead of Russell, while Antonelli’s first attempt saw him leap into third place behind his teammate.

With two minutes remaining and times dropping, Piastri went quickest, before Russell took back top spot with a 1:19.507, while replays showed Leclerc hadn’t been able to match Hamilton’s time as he slid wide at Turn 3.

Russell’s time went unbeaten at the chequered flag, with the two Ferrari drivers making it through into Q2 on the medium compound tyres.

With Verstappen knocked out due to his crash, joining him on the sidelines were Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in 17th, and the two Cadillac drivers, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, in P18 and P19.

Neither Williams’ Carlos Sainz nor Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll managed to make it into the session, having been unable to get their cars ready in time to take part.

1. George Russell Mercedes 1:19.507
2. Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.157
3. Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.304
4. Lando Norris McLaren +0.516
5. Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing +0.516
6. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.613
7. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.719
8. Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +0.902
9. Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +0.984
10. Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +0.988
11. Esteban Ocon Haas +1.252
12. Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1.517
13. Alex Albon Williams +1.544
14. Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.631
15. Franco Colapinto Alpine +1.693
16. Oliver Bearman Haas +1.740
17. Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +2.462
18. Sergio Perez Cadillac +3.098
19. Valtteri Bottas Cadillac +3.737
20. Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing No time
21. Carlos Sainz Williams No time
22. Lance Stroll Aston Martin No time

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