Charles Leclerc led Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari first practice 1-2 as the Scuderia threw the gauntlet down to its rivals ahead of Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
The Monegasque driver delivered a 1:20.267s late in the session to finish 0.469s faster than his teammate, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third.
But McLaren and Mercedes failed to impress despite preseason favoritism as F1‘s new-for-2026 machinery took to the track in anger for the first time.
Ferrari sets benchmark
Scuderia Ferrari
As was to be expected at the start of the season, there was a rush to get on track to gather as much data as possible.
There was an early scare for Oscar Piastri, who reported no power on his out lap before his McLaren kicked into life.
But Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad failed to reach the pitlane merge with the track and triggered an early virtual safety car as marshals ran out to push the Briton backwards.
Arvid Lindblad is pushed back into the pit lane, and we briefly saw a VSC deployed 🟡#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/XpmD3FYuvL
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 6, 2026
Lando Norris was also complaining in his McLaren, with “shocking downshifts” meaning he was quickly returning to the garage to find a solution. While he did return to the track briefly, he missed out on soft tire running as the team opted to change the gearbox.
Nine minutes into the session, Aston Martin revealed a Honda power unit issue that would prevent Fernando Alonso from completing any running at all, continuing a difficult start to 2026 for the squad.
Franco Colapinto was the first driver to find the gravel this season when running wide at Turn 3, though the Alpine driver was able to continue.
George Russell was the first driver onto the soft tires, but the favorite for the title this season failed to beat either of the Ferrari or Red Bull efforts on mediums, suggesting Mercedes has some work to do ahead of qualifying.
When Verstappen followed suit, he became the first driver into the 1:20s, with teammate Isack Hadjar a tenth down, though it seemed that there was little time difference between the softs and mediums on first glance.
A second virtual safety car was deployed when Alex Albon had a suspected hydraulic pressure issue and stopped at the exit of Turn 10, the Thai-Briton helping to push his Williams behind the barriers under the neutralization.
🟡 VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR 🟡
Alex Albon stops out on track, with the team reporting a hydraulic issue over the radio #F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/em7Y9T4xmJ
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 6, 2026
When the checkered flag fell, it was Leclerc who was fastest, followed by teammate Hamilton, and Verstappen third.
Isack Hadjar survived a trip through the gravel in his Red Bull to finish fourth, three-tenths down on his teammate and two-tenths ahead of Lindblad, who overcame his early issue to impress in his first session as an official F1 driver.
Piastri was sixth for McLaren but a second off Leclerc’s best effort, with the Mercedes duo of Russell and Kimi Antonelli underwhelming in seventh and eighth.
Audi was anything but underwhelming, though, as Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg finished ninth and 10th fastest as the German marque made its F1 bow.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi F1, 2026 season launch | Audi Revolut F1 Team
Esteban Ocon was the lead Haas in 11th, six-tenths up on teammate Oliver Bearman who was 14th. They were separated by Carlos Sainz’s Williams and Liam Lawson’s Racing Bull – the latter setting his best time on the mediums.
Albon was 15th fastest ahead of Colapinto and Valtteri Bottas, who set plenty of laps as Cadillac put together a solid first practice – albeit he and 20th-placed Sergio Perez both lost a mirror each. The Mexican also suffered a spin with an apparent engine-braking issue at Turn 3.
Pierre Gasly was 18th, Norris 19th after missing the soft tire running at the end of the session and, as expected, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was 21st having failed to complete a representative lap.
F1 Australian Grand Prix 2026 – FP1 Results
Position / Driver / Team
Gap [s]
1. Charles Leclerc / Ferrari
1:20.267
2. Lewis Hamilton / Ferrari
+0.469
3. Max Verstappen / Red Bull
+0.522
4. Isack Hadjar / Red Bull
+0.820
5. Arvid Lindblad / Racing Bulls
+1.046
6. Oscar Piastri / McLaren
+1.075
7. George Russell / Mercedes
+1.104
8. Kimi Antonelli / Mercedes
+1.109
9. Gabriel Bortoleto / Audi
+1.429
10. Nico Hulkenberg / Audi
+1.702
11. Esteban Ocon / Haas
+1.894
12. Carlos Sainz / Williams
+2.056
13. Liam Lawson / Racing Bulls
+2.346
14. Oliver Bearman / Haas
+2.415
15. Alex Albon / Williams
+2.863
16. Franco Colapinto / Alpine
+3.058
17. Valtteri Bottas / Cadillac
+3.755
18. Pierre Gasly / Alpine
+3.768
19. Lando Norris / McLaren
+4.124
20. Sergio Perez / Cadillac
+4.353
21. Lance Stroll / Aston Martin
+30.067
22. Fernando Alonso / Aston Martin
No Time