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.

George Russell triumphs at the Australian Grand Prix. Credit: F1

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

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