‘Very dangerous by Leclerc’: Inside an epic battle for supremacy at Albert Park

After a 2025 Formula 1 season of two teams fighting for the title, Melbourne’s 2026 season-opener painted a familiar picture, but one with a different hue.

After the McLaren v Max Verstappen championship battle last season, the first race of a new regulation regimen was a throwback to the past, Mercedes and Ferrari locked in a battle for Albert Park supremacy that went the way of the former and George Russell, the Englishman converting his pole position into his sixth F1 victory.

It was a race far less straightforward than the results suggest – these were the five moments that mattered most.

1. The start: Leclerc shoots into the lead

Ferrari’s jack-rabbit getaways caught the eye in pre-season testing, the Prancing Horse’s 2026 engine having a smaller turbocharger than its rivals and spooling up faster, the reduction in turbo lag paying immediate dividends at Albert Park.

From fourth on the grid, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc stormed down the inside to ambush Mercedes’ duo Russell and Kimi Antonelli, plus Red Bull Racing’s Isack Hadjar, to take the lead into the first corner.

By the end of the lap, Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton was up to third, and what looked like a Mercedes romp to victory after qualifying suddenly appeared problematic, Leclerc’s slower Ferrari proving stubborn to shake with the cars on full fuel and managing tyre life in the early stages.

2. Lap 8: Russell and Leclerc go toe-to-toe

Leclerc repelled numerous Russell advances in the opening laps, the English driver decidedly unimpressed when the Ferrari chopped across the bow of the Mercedes at turn 11 on lap six. “Very dangerous by Leclerc,” Russell said, suggesting the Ferrari slowed down too abruptly into the corner.

Two laps later, Russell reclaimed the lead at the slow right-hand turn three before Leclerc stormed back past on the run to the turn 9-10 chicane, Russell’s lock-up into the first corner on the next lap allowing Hamilton to close on the front-running pair.

It was the most ferocious fight in a wild opening 10 laps where the lead changed hands seven times, and their squabble brought Antonelli – who dropped to seventh in a madcap opening lap after battery deployment issues stymied his start – back into play in fourth.

3. Lap 11: Hadjar retirement opens strategy game

Running in a solid fifth place on his debut for Red Bull Racing, second-year French driver Hadjar crawled to a halt at turn eight with smoke billowing from his car, the first race of his second F1 season over on the debut of Red Bull’s in-house engine collaboration with Ford.

With a virtual safety car called to neutralise the field to move Hadjar’s car to safety, Mercedes elected to pit Russell and Antonelli from first and fourth place respectively, Ferrari choosing to keep Leclerc and Hamilton on track to assume first and second places.

Hamilton was unimpressed. “At least one of us should have come in,” the Briton said, understanding his chances of a first podium finish for Ferrari depended on taking an alternate strategy to his teammate ahead given the raw pace advantage Mercedes clearly had over the best of the rest.

4. Lap 25: Leclerc pits, Hamilton briefly leads

Ferrari’s chance of potentially pitting under the race’s second virtual safety car period, when Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac ground to a halt at the final corner of the 14-turn layout, was scuppered when race direction temporarily closed the entry to pit lane as the Finnish driver’s stricken car was deemed to be in a dangerous position.

Leclerc carried on in the lead until lap 25 before pitting, Hamilton getting his way and pleading to stay out rather than lose time in the pits stacked behind his teammate waiting for new tyres.

A fast-closing Russell then passed Hamilton, on tyres 17 laps older, for the lead three laps later, Hamilton pitting himself and rejoining behind Leclerc once more.

5. Lap 53: Verstappen’s chase of Norris peters out

After his Saturday qualifying crash, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen had made startling progress from 20th on the grid to rise to sixth, launching a late-race chase of last year’s title rival Lando Norris (McLaren) after his second pit stop on lap 41.

The Dutchman hacked his deficit to Norris to just half a second on lap 48, but Norris steadied as Verstappen’s charge finally faded with six laps left, opening up a gap of 1.4 seconds and pushing on to cross the line 2.8secs ahead at the chequered flag.

After Norris beat Verstappen to last year’s title by just two points and the duo combined to win 15 of the season’s 24 Grands Prix, Norris was 51.7secs behind race-winner Russell at the finish, while Verstappen was the final driver not lapped as Mercedes flexed its pre-season muscle in Melbourne.

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