George Russell and Kimi Antonelli claimed a 1-2 finish in the opening race of the F1 season at the Australia Grand Prix on Sunday. The win validates the pundits who had been predicting that Mercedes would be the team to beat under the 2026 regulations, where power is split 50-50 between the engine and batteries units.
Despite overtaking both Mercedes drivers to begin the race, Ferrari exercised poor race strategy by failing to pit either Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton on one of several early virtual safety cars. This resulted in both drivers having to pit later in the race, and them finishing 3rd and 4th, respectively.
Behind the Ferraris were defending champion Lando Norris in 5th, and Max Verstappen, who battled all the way from P19 to 6th.
In what could be considered a big disappointment for Aston Martin, Lance Stroll finished 17th and Fernando Alonso was forced to retire early.
With the elimination of DRS being replaced by overtake mode and active aero, teams are still trying to optimize race strategy. While Mercedes’ straight-line speed was clearly an advantage in Australia where a lack of braking zones negated the battery harvesting need for overtake mode, a different track may yield other competitive advantage for other teams.
