Formula 1’s first grand prix in the new regulation era had chaos and drama before the drivers got to the grid.
Australia’s collective hearts sank as Piastri went into the wall, while race winner George Russell pulled off a prediction that Nostradamus would have been proud of.
Catch up on the F1 Australian Grand Prix with the ABC Sport blog
Here are the key moments from the 2026 F1 Australian Grand Prix.
1. Albert Park left ‘pretty silent’ after Piastri crash
The fanfare for Oscar Piastri was on another level this week.
After a 2025 season where he won seven grands prix and came oh so close to winning the world title, hopes were high for the Melburnian that he could be the first Aussie to finish on the podium of their home F1 event.
Piastri qualified fifth, and pre-race seemed upbeat about what he could accomplish in front of an enormous crowd, most of whom were there to cheer for him.
Then disaster.
You could almost feel the collective heart of the crowd sink as Piastri’s McLaren spun and crashed into the wall on the lap to the grid. His hopes of finishing on the podium, gone. He never made it to the starting grid.
Fans were left in disbelief. Stunned that the driver they came to see was not even going to race.
One of those fans was Australia’s men’s Test cricket captain, Pat Cummins.
“Devastating,” he told Sky Sports on the grid.
“Pretty silent crowd here after that. Shame to see.”
It was a massive shame, and Piastri cut a dejected figure as he spoke to the media while the noise of the race he should have been in echoed around Albert Park.
2. Russell becomes Nostradamus and predicts the Ferrari ‘rocket’ launch
It was described as a “rocket” by pole sitter and eventual race winner, George Russell.
Ferrari was tipped in the preseason to be the best team at the race starts. During preseason, they looked much better at it than every other team.
With the new power unit regulations, launching a car off the grid is much more difficult than last year, because drivers need to spool more energy.
But Ferrari appeared to have produced a power unit that makes it much easier for their drivers to launch off the line.
Despite starting on pole, Russell declared pre-race that Ferrari would lead at the first corner.
“Ferrari can be starting anywhere in the top 10 and they’ll probably be leading by turn one. We need to keep our eyes out for them, they’re a rocket off the line,” he said.
Well, George “Nostradamus” Russell absolutely nailed that prediction.
Charles Leclerc flew off the line from fourth and took the lead at the first turn.
Lewis Hamilton was seventh, and was up to third by the end of the first lap.
A rocket indeed.
3. Ferrari gets the pit strategy wrong
Ferrari has a long and well-documented history of questionable pit strategies.
And it has happened again to start the 2026 F1 season.
Charles Leclerc and George Russell produced 10 of the finest racing laps seen in a long time, trading the lead multiple times to the delight of the crowd.
Albert Park stunned into silence by Piastri crash
Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate, Lewis Hamilton, was right there with them.
Despite Mercedes’ dominance on the Saturday, the Prancing Horse was taking the fight to them on Sunday.
And then they didn’t.
At Albert Park, you lose about 23 seconds to your rivals when you pit under green flag conditions. But when the virtual safety car is called, your loss to rivals is reduced to around 13-15 seconds, because all cars are going slower.
There were three VSCs called in the opening 20 laps, and Mercedes pitted both drivers when the first yellow flags came out on lap 11.
Ferrari did not pit then, and they didn’t do it during either of the other two VSCs.
Instead, Ferrari pitted Leclerc (lap 25) and Hamilton (lap 28) under green flag conditions, effectively losing around 10 seconds in the pit stop phase.
Leclerc finished third, 15.519 seconds behind Russell. Hamilton was fourth, 16.144 seconds adrift of the race winner.
Mercedes did need to be brave with their call, as Russell and Antonelli were able to limit the graining on their tyres that other teams struggled with. Perhaps Ferrari did not think Mercedes could pull off a one-stop strategy when pitting so early.
The pit strategy did not cost Ferrari the win; it just eliminated their chance of winning.
4. Aston Martin retires, then un-retires both cars
At the start of the weekend, there were genuine concerns that Aston Martin would not even start the Australian Grand Prix.
The Silverstone-based outfit is having a torrid time in 2026.
This is the first year Honda is supplying Aston Martin with power units, and the relationship is off to a rocky start.
F1 team in ‘scary place’ as risk of missing Melbourne GP grows
Power unit issues restricted the running Aston Martin could do in the preseason, and severely curtailed their time on track in Melbourne.
Team principal Adrian Newey said on Thursday the vibration from the power unit was so bad his drivers feared “permanent nerve damage” to their fingers, and on Friday, two of the four batteries the team brought to Melbourne were defunct.
Despite all of that, the Aston Martins did make it to the starting grid.
Fernando Alonso called into the pits after 14 laps. But after some time in the garage, re-emerged to continue.
The Spaniard, a winner in Melbourne in 2006, was able to achieve seven more laps before retiring for good.
The team did the same thing with Lance Stroll. The Canadian came in shortly after Alonso’s second retirement, then emerged when the leaders had about 10 laps to go.
In the end, Stroll got through 43 laps and did see the chequered flag, albeit 15 laps behind the leader.
But to be classified, you need to complete 75 per cent or more of the grand prix. You won’t believe it, but Stroll was one lap short.
5. A record year for the grand prix at Albert Park
Formula 1 is hot in Australia.
Never mind the hefty prices to be part of the action; thousands of people made their way to Albert Park for this weekend’s action.
Across the four days of the event, an official attendance of 483,934 was recorded.
That is a new record for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
The record attendance for a Formula 1 weekend in Australia is over 500,000, achieved in 1995 when Adelaide hosted the race for the final time.