Mercedes clinch pole after stunning qualifying; Piastri, Norris with work to do on race day

Mercedes have banked on their pre-season prowess and shown huge pace, with George Russell snatching pole with a flying lap at Albert Park on Saturday.

The British star clocked a blistering lap time of 1:18.518, with his teammate Kimi Antonelli second – a far cry from his crash in practice that threw even his qualifying participation into doubt. In an impressive debut for Red Bull, Isack Hadjar is set to start third.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc will likely start fourth, with hometown hero Oscar Piastri fifth with his McLaren teammate Lando Norris behind him in sixth.

Why all the qualifiers? We just need to wait and see if the stewards penalise Mercedes for an unsafe pit release for Antonelli’s car. He was allowed onto the track with a piece of equipment still attached to the side pod. That then came loose, and was hit by Norris on the track.

Thanks for joining us for the first qualifying session of the 2026 F1 season.

We will be bringing you all the action from Albert Park again tomorrow so make sure you tune in to our live blog.

Thank you, and have a lovely night.

Throughout pre-season testing and earlier practice sessions this week, Mercedes were hit with sandbagging accusations in an effort to disguise their pace.

When asked directly if Mercedes were “holding anything back” during earlier sessions, George Russell said this:

“Well, I think it wasn’t a case of us sandbagging and I think it was more a case of some of the other teams showing more than we would have expected in testing which testing we’ve seen this on numerous occasions in the past.

“Obviously, the red ball looks quick, and we know, you know how incredible a driver Max is as well.
So you know, I’m sure you know, Isaac has done an amazing job to be in this position. Who knows where Max would have been?

“And I think we said this from the outset, they look to be one of the biggest threats. But, yeah, I can’t even remember what the question was. Hopefully that answers it.”

George Russell (pole): It was a great day. We knew there was a lot of potential in the car… it really came alive this afternoon.
It’s not easy to drive [the new cars], and not easy for some of the fans to understand, however I’m excited for the race tomorrow.
Hopefully we can deliver a good race.

Kimi Antonelli (second): It’s been a very, very stressful day. Unfortunately in Fp3 I went into the wall, but the mechanics are the heroes... on the front row [after qualifying], I’m really, really happy with that.
We have a race tomorrow to look ahead, and a good result is possible.

Isack Hadjar (third): It was a very smooth qualifying. The run-up to qualifying, the whole weekend, was difficult.
They’re [the Mercedes] are just too fast at the moment.

Kimi Antonelli will likely be investigated by stewards after a piece of his car was left on track, even though it was a team error.

The young Italian locked up during his lap and went wide but was able to recover. However, it’s had a big impact on his lap time.

His teammate George Russell still leads the session, with Norris and Leclerc behind him – with a gap of six tenths.

Oh dear.

Cameras have shown a piece of Kimi Antonelli’s car has been left on track, triggering a red flag with less than 10 minutes to go.

Lando Norris then proceeded to hit the debris, smashing it to pieces and triggering fear of damage to his own car.

The first grand prix weekend of each F1 season is always particularly dramatic, but this is truly something else.