Update: George Russell has taken pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, locking out the front row with teammate Kimi Antonelli.

In a few hours, the lap times will count for real.

Until this point, the Formula 1 season has been marked by lap times that are to be taken with a grain of salt. Between pre-season testing times, and a few hours of practice, everything we have seen from the 11 teams carries an air of uncertainity.

But Saturday brings the first qualifying hour of the new year, at the Australian Grand Prix.

And nobody knows quite what to expect.

Ferrari opened on the front foot in the first hour of practice, with Charles Leclerc leading Lewis Hamilton in a one-two result for the Scuderia. McLaren responded in the second hour of practice as hometown hero Oscar Piastri edged out the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

But there was Ferrari lurking, as Leclerc was fourth in FP2, followed by Hamilton in fifth.

The third and final hour of practice, however, might have given us our clearest look at the pecking order at the very end of the session. That’s when Russell laid down a blistering lap of 1:19.053, which put him more than a half-second clear of both Hamilton and Leclerc at the top of the timing sheet.

“That is rocketship territory,” said Alex Jacques on the F1 broadcast.

Entering the year, Mercedes and Russell were pegged as the favorites, and right at the end of practice, we saw our clearest evidence why.

Perhaps the most notable aspect of the first two hours of practice? Unreliability from several teams. Problems persisted at Aston Martin on Friday, as Fernando Alonso missed FP1 while teammate Lance Stroll managed to complete just three laps during the first hour of practice. Both drivers took to the track for the second hour of practice, but the duo was well off the pace.

They were not alone, as Arvid Lindblad at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, Sergio Pérez at Cadillac, and the Williams pair of Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz Jr. at Williams all dealt with issues during the day Friday. Even the defending champions had their share of problems, as the McLaren duo of Piastri and Drivers’ Champion Lando Norris dealt with a loss of power, and a gearbox issue, respectively.

As to what to expect during qualifying, that is anyone’s guess. We do know the format has changed slightly, given the presence of a new team in Cadillac and two additional drivers in Pérez and Valtteri Bottas. Six drivers will be eliminated at the end of Q1, and six more will be eliminated at the end of Q2, leading to a ten-driver shootout for pole position in Q3.

In addition, Q3 has been extended by one minute, and the break between Q2 and Q3 has been shortened by one minute.

We’ll be following it all starting at midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning, so check back early and often!

Australian Grand Prix Qualifying Results

Here is the provisional starting grid for the Australian Grand Prix, which will be filled in as qualifying unfolds:

Here is how the qualifying hour unfolded.

Bortoleto qualified for Q3, but his day looked to come to an end before the final segment of qualifying. His Audi came to a stop on pit entry, and he needed assistance from race officials to get moving again.

The young driver was then left to climb out of his car, his session having come to an earlier end than he hoped for.

That left Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli, Piastri, Hamilton, Lindblad, Lawson, Hadjar, and Norris as the nine drivers left in Q3. For Hadjar, he became the first Red Bull driver to make Q3 in their debut with the team since Verstappen himself back at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.

And for Lindblad, the 18-year-old rookie had reached Q3 in his F1 debut.

Shortly after Q3 began, a red flag then flew with 9:47 remaining for some debris on the track. Replays showed that Mercedes released Antonelli with some blowers still attached to his W17, and those fell off on the track.

Replays also showed Norris running over one of the blowers, obliterating the tool and sending debris all over the track.

Eventually the session resumed, with the Mercedes duo of Russell and Antonelli leading the nine remaining cars back onto the grid. That included Norris, who was able to return to Q3 after some frenetic repair work on his front wing, following contact with the blower left behind by Antonelli.

Russell jumped into provisional pole with his first lap, a 1:19.084. Hadjar joined him on the front row for a moment, but then it was the defending Drivers’ Champion, as Norris jumped into P2 himself for a moment with a 1:19.605.

More than a half-second behind Russell.

As the clock hit three minutes remaining, the top five was Russell, Norris, Hadjar, Leclerc, and Piastri.

Antonelli was up next, with another attempt at a push lap. He went purple through the second sector, putting a front-row start on the table for the young Mercedes driver. He cut the beam with a time of 1:18.811, good for provisional pole position.

But his teammate was providing an immediate response, as Russell went purple himself through the first two sectors. The veteran Mercedes driver came across with a 1:18.518, putting an all-Mercedes front row on the table.

Piastri was first to try and break that pairing, but came across the line in third, behind Russell and Antonelli. Leclerc then bumped Piastri down to fourth, as he slotted into third. It was over to Hadjar, and he too slotted into third, dropping both Leclerc and Piastri down.

Nor could Norris or Hamilton respond, as they slotted into sixth and seventh, respectively.

Mercedes had indeed locked out the front row, at least for the moment. We will see if the stewards have anything to say about those blowers left on Antonelli’s car.

15 minutes were put on the clock, and Q2 got underway with 16 drivers left fighting for the ten spots in Q3.

When the clock reached ten minutes remaining, it was the Mercedes duo of Russell and Antonelli at the top of the board, with Russell having posted a 1:18.934. Norris was in third, almost a second off Russell’s pace, followed by Lindblad in fourth and Leclerc in fifth.

Gasly, Bearman, Hülkenberg, Colapinto, Albon, and Hamilton were the six drivers at risk at the seven-minute mark, with Hamilton yet to set a time by this point.

When Hamilton did post a lap time, it was a solid effort, as he jumped into the top ten with an effort good for sixth. As the clock ticked under two minutes remaining the six drivers in the drop zone were: Bortoleto, Ocon, Gasly, Bearman, Albon, and Colapinto.

Still, the times were improving all over the Albert Park circuit. Leclerc’s next effort was a 1:18.357, which pushed him up to P2. Hadjar cut the beam with a 1:19.653, to move into fifth.

The checkered flag ultimately flew, and it was Hülkenberg, Bearman, Ocon, Gasly, Albon, and Colapinto who were the six drivers eliminated.

We have a green light in Melbourne, and it is Audi’s Hülkenberg is the first driver to take to the track.

Bearman set the early benchmark, with a lap of 1:21.408. But that was quickly nipped by several drivers, with Bortoleto going top of the table with a 1:20.495, followed by Piastri and then Hamilton. Lindblad, the VCARB rookie, was fourth with Hülkenberg rounding out the top five after the first few minutes.

Then came Russell’s first push lap, which put him to the top of the table as expected, more than six-tenths of a second ahead of Bortoleto. Russell’s time of 1:19.840 was another warning shot to the rest of the grid, after what the Mercedes driver did at the end of FP3 earlier in the day Saturday.

As the clock hit ten minutes remaining, in Q1, the six drivers in the elimination zone were Bottas, Colapinto, Verstappen, Antonelli, Sainz, and Stroll. Those last four had yet to leave the garage, although Verstappen roared out of the Red Bull pit stall as the clock reached the nine-minute mark.

Verstappen’s session then came to an abrupt end.

The Red Bull driver was on his first push lap after a pair of build laps, and right at Turn 1 the four-time champion slid off the racing line and into the barrier, ending his first qualifying session of the 2026 season. Replays showed that Verstappen lost the rear axle as the rear locked on him, and snapped him through the gravel and into the barrier.

“Yeah, the car just … locked the rear axle. Fantastic,” reported Verstappen over the radio.

Here’s a look at Verstappen’s incident:

That brought out the red flag, pausing the clock with 7:29 remaining in Q1. That gave the team at Mercedes more time to work on Antonelli’s W17 after his hard shunt at the end of FP3. When Q1 resumed, Antonelli was back on the track, but it was Norris who led the field out onto the circuit in Melbourne.

Just before the three-minute mark, Hamilton jumped to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:19.811, going ahead of Russell.

But notably, Hamilton did that on the C4 medium tire, while Russell had delivered his time on the C5 soft compound.

Then the crowd at Albert Park roared, as Piastri jumped to the top of the timing board ahead of both Hamilton and Russell. But the joy in Melbourne lasted just a brief moment, as Russell nipped Piastri’s time with just two minutes remaining to take P1 back.

At that moment the six drivers in the drop zone were Colapinto, Pérez, Bottas, Verstappen, Sainz, and Stroll. Neither Sainz nor Stroll had taken to the grid yet as both Williams and Aston Martin were dealing with mechanical issues.

Colapinto was the last driver to start a flying lap, starting just before the clock struck 0:00. As he began his lap, Alonso was sitting in P16 as the at-risk driver. But the Alpine driver scraped through to Q2 with a lap that was good for 15th, dropping Alonso down to the elimination zone.

Joining Alonso in the elimination zone at the end of Q1? Pérez, Bottas, Verstappen, Sainz, and Stroll.

Russell, Piastri, Hamilton, Norris, and Hadjar were the top-five drivers in Q1.