Six Winners and five Losers from the Australian Grand Prix – who started the season in style?

Mercedes lived up to their billing as pre-season favourites with a dominant performance in the season-opening Grand Prix as George Russell led home teammate Kimi Antonelli at Albert Park. But as the Silver Arrows popped the champagne, a few of their rivals couldn't wait to move on and forget the last few days down under ...

Winners: Mercedes

Russell has cut a relaxed and confident figure since he realised just how good the 2026-spec Mercedes was in the first few laps of pre-season testing – and he delivered on expectation in a fine way with some scintillating pace at Albert Park.

His lap for pole was unreal, the Briton ending up around 0.8s clear of the next non-Mercedes car – and while he battled Charles Leclerc for the lead in the first 10 laps, he was able to stretch away thereafter to secure his sixth career Grand Prix win.

Russell, who has won the last four Grands Prix in which he has led at least one lap, became the seventh different winner in the last seven Australian Grands Prix – and claimed the championship lead for the first time in his career.

His teammate Antonelli recovered from a crash in FP3 to secure a superb front row start (that was Mercedes' 83rd front row lock-out) and after a battery issue at the start allowed the chasing pack to swallow him up, the Italian battled back with alpomb to finish second, equalling his best-ever finish in Formula 1.

Loser: Oscar Piastri

Albert Park's grandstands were packed to the rafters with Oscar Piastri fans, dressed head to toe in his signature green and yellow – with a hint of papaya – colours and they were hopeful of a first podium for an Australian driver in his home race when he lined up fifth.

But they never even got to see the home hero race as a combination of cold tyres and unexpected torque delivery on the kerb pitched the Australian into a spin on the first reconnaissance lap to the grid, putting him out of the race before it had even begun.

Understandably he cut a downbeat figure when he spoke to the media after the race but, as his McLaren boss Andrea Stella said, the Australian is a strong character and will find a way to regroup heading to the next race at China.

Winners: Ferrari

Ferrari may not have had the pace to fight Mercedes on pure performance for the entirety of the Australian Grand Prix but they certainly gave it a good go.

Leclerc made a lightening getaway to leap into the lead before engaging in a thrilling battle with Russell that saw seven changes for the lead in the first 10 laps.

While he ultimately lost the fight, he was a comfortably third to take the final podium place (Ferrari didn't take a podium in any of the first seven races last year) while his teammate Lewis Hamilton drove well, too, to finish a close fourth.

Yes, they have lots of work to do to catch Mercedes but they are a clear second-best right now and in the boxseat to hunt down the Silver Arrows if they can get on top of their package and deliver a strong in-season development path.

Losers: Williams

Williams arrived in Australia on the backfoot despite catching up on mileage in Bahrain testing, having missed the Barcelona Shakedown because of production delays.

The car is overweight, which is costing them several tenths of a second, while some power unit reliability issues on Saturday meant Carlos Sainz hardly ran and didn't set a time in Qualifying.

While both Sainz and Alex Albon saw the chequered flag, they were never really in the hunt for points and Sunday afternoon essentially became an extended test session for the British squad.

Boss James Vowles says there is a "plan in place to bring (performance) to the car aggressively" – and crikey, do they need it if they are to get their season back on track.

Winner: Arvid Lindblad

Arvid Lindblad is the only rookie on this year's grid but you wouldn't know it, so assured and impressive was his performance across the weekend in Melbourne.

The Briton was silky smooth throughout practice, methodically building up pace and confidence before crushing it in Qualifying with a spot in Q3 and ninth on the grid.

A brilliant getaway put him into P3 – and included a fine wheel-to-wheel duel with Hamilton – and while he ultimately couldn't hold onto that position, points for P8 saw him become the 70th driver in F1 history to score on his debut.

It feels like this could be the start of something very special for the Red Bull junior.

Losers: McLaren

Reigning World Champion Lando Norris was reasonably content with P5, as he acknowledged the gap to Mercedes ahead is "pretty big".

The Briton's McLaren chewed its tyres, which forced a second stop, though he did have the pace and racecraft to keep a faster Max Verstappen behind.

McLaren are aware they are around third or fourth in the pecking order – but it's perhaps no surprise given their resources were pushed all the way to the final race as they fought for and won the Drivers' Championship.

All is not lost, mind. Stella feels there's a lot more potential to be exploited with the current package, while McLaren have a habit of developing their car very effectively over the last few years.

Winner: Ollie Bearman

Haas had the smoothest pre-season in their history to arrive in Melbourne as contenders for Q3 and points.

While they failed to make the top-10 in Qualifying, Ollie Bearman was still a decent P12 as he outqualified teammate Esteban Ocon for the eighth time in 10 Grands Prix.

He showed superb pace in race trim to fight his way into the points, crossing the line seventh to finish as the highest-placed midfield driver and ensure Haas scored in Melbourne on the 10th anniversary of their Grand Prix debut.

Losers: Red Bull

Red Bull had run very reliably through pre-season testing, which was particularly impressive given they were running their own power unit for the first time in F1 history.

Isack Hadjar delivered a super lap in Qualifying, backing up his strong pace in practice, to take a career-best third while also outqualifying four-time champion teammate Max Verstappen.

However, a technical issue struck moments after the lights went out and while he initially managed it, the Frenchman eventually retired his Red Bull.

Verstappen fought back from 20th on the grid, after his rear axle locked and sent him spinning into the barriers in Qualifying, but he could only rescue sixth.

Winner: Gabriel Bortoleto

Audi have made a strong start to their debut in F1 – and that continued into Australia as Gabriel Bortoleto edged out his more experienced teammate to sneak into Q3.

While a mechanical issue prevented Nico Hulkenberg from taking the start, Bortoleto kept his head down and raced cleverly to cross the line ninth.

That maintains the Brazilian's record of always scoring points when he has made it into Q3. His score also gives Audi two points on their debut as chassis and power unit manufacturer.

Losers: Aston Martin

Aston Martin's difficult pre-season meant they always knew they were in for a challenging weekend in Australia and so it proved.

The green cars were limited on mileage throughout practice as engine supplier Honda worked on fixes to the power unit.

Fernando Alonso almost making it into Q2 was perhaps the highlight and while he didn't see the chequered flag, Lance Stroll did (albeit 15 laps down and thus not classified) to ensure the team have some more data to analyse as they battle to get their package into stronger shape.

Winners: Cadillac

As a new team on the Formula 1 grid, Cadillac's initial goal for Australia was very different to all 10 of their rivals. They just wanted to get to the chequered flag.

While Valtteri Bottas didn't make it to the finish following a mechanical issue, Sergio Perez did and that means it was another target met for the American team.

The next challenge is to get both cars to the flag while starting to add performance so they can haul themselves into the midfield.