Formula One Vault

PRIXVIEW – Australian Grand Prix

Round one of the 2026 season and the beginning of this new era bring F1 to Albert Park in the heart of Melbourne. Albert Park this season marks thirty years since the Grand Prix moved from Adelaide, and the 100^th anniversary of the first event titled the Australian Grand Prix, though 1928 is seen more as the first Grand Prix in a format we are used to.

The current configuration, introduced in 2022, was designed to create closer and faster racing. The circuit uses mainly public roads around Albert Park Lake, and drivers love the fast-flowing circuit, which has seen closer racing following the pandemic. However, the circuit is great at highlighting good all-rounders.

The circuit is like another street circuit; it takes time to rubber in, but making mistakes isn’t as costly here. But the biggest mistakes are punishable, as some of the corners which require big braking points are lined with gravel and grass. As the drivers push to the limit in qualifying, mistakes are common.

Despite being a street circuit, many of its characteristics are similar to permanent circuits when compared to other street circuits; however, this is not a modern circuit, and many of the run-off areas remain a mixture of grass and gravel, meaning mistakes can lead to cars being beached, thus leading to virtual and real safety cars during the race. Being the opening race, you need to be even more cautious as this a beginning of a new era of both power unit and technical regulations.

Albert Park once again plays host to the season opener, the first race of not just a new season but a new era of F1, increasing unpredictability, and these often create more drama when we have regulation changes. It should give a good indication of a good all-rounder, as you need a good combination of speed and downforce.

The past two power unit regulation changes have resulted in Mercedes (Brawn) taking victory here, but there has been controversy around the third-place finisher. In 2009, Lewis Hamilton was later disqualified after lying about events under the safety car.

Hamilton had gained third after Jarno Trulli went off, following a collision between Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica.  Hamilton, rightly, overtook the Toyota as he went off the track. But McLaren wrongly instructed Hamilton to give the place back. When called to the stewards, the team lied about it after Hamilton contradicted himself with his media interviews.

In public, Hamilton corroborated this, stating that the McLaren team had told him to let Trulli repass. Behind closed doors, however, Hamilton told the stewards that he had received no instruction to allow Trulli past and had not consciously done so. The investigation resulted in Hamilton being disqualified from the race, team manager Dave Ryan being fired by McLaren and the resignation of team principal Ron Dennis.

In 2014, Daniel Ricciardo was denied the opportunity to be the first Australian in the world championship era to finish on the podium. He was disqualified for a breach of Technical Regulations, which govern the maximum allowable rate at which fuel may flow into the engine. The team were also referred to the stewards for using an unauthorised method of measuring the fuel flow.

The first Grand Prix at Albert Park was an F2 non-championship race in 1954, which gave the Aussies their first taste of the sport, though the circuit was anti-clockwise rather than today’s clockwise circuit, which was introduced forty years later when F1 moved to Melbourne from Adelaide.

Before it became a world championship Grand Prix in 1985, the race often attracted the big F1 drivers and constructors taking place in the off-season. Including World Champions Jim Clark, John Surtees, Phil Hill, Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt, while other Timmy Mayer, Pedro Rodriguez, Piers Courage, led teams from Cooper, Lotus, Lola, BRM, even the four-wheel drive Ferguson P99 and finally, Ferrari, racing against the local stars, McLaren, Brabham.

1985 saw the race become a round of the championship, being held annually apart from 2020 and 2021, when it was cancelled. That year also marked the fiftieth running of the race, which at the tricky Adelaide circuit became home to the race for a decade. The circuit was challenging, demanding and tricky, creating races of attrition, often deciding the championship.

The 1991 race was notable for being held in extremely wet and tricky conditions, and it was eventually stopped after 14 of 82 laps, with Ayrton Senna declared the winner. The shortest race for thirty years until the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. 1993 was a defining moment, Senna’s final win and Prost’s final race. Neither would complete a race again; Senna would not finish the first three races in 1994 before his death at Imola, while Prost retired.

The controversial and tragic 1994 season would be decided with yet more controversy at the final race, Michael Schumacher secured his first championship, controversially crashing into crashing after oversteering, whether on purpose or accidentally remains unknown, into rival Damon Hill taking them both out of the race.

1996 saw the race return to Albert Park for the first time as a world championship race, and it has remained in Melbourne ever since. Albert Park has tended to favour the most dominant cars, with that season’s constructors’ championship winner or runner-up winning the race.

It was a dramatic start to life in Melbourne. At the start Martin Brundle was launched into the air in an enormous accident. Footage of the crash and Brundle’s subsequent rush back to the pits to take the spare car for the restart ensured the first race in Melbourne gained widespread coverage. The race was won by Williams’ Damon Hill.

David Coulthard took McLaren’s first win in fifty races in 1997, before the following year the Scott and teammate Mikka Hakkinen dominated the race, lapping the rest of the field. But clouded by controversy when Coulthard pulled over with two laps remaining to allow Häkkinen to win, honouring a pre-race agreement between the pair that whoever made it to the first corner in the lead on lap one would be allowed to win.

Ferrari won five of six races between 1999 and 2004, except 2003. Eddie Irvine took his debut win in 1999 after both McLarens, which went on to dominate the season.

2002 saw a dramatic start, with the pole-sitter Barrichello and Williams’s Ralf Schumacher coming together at Turn One in a spectacular accident that saw 11 of the 22 cars eliminated before the end of the opening lap. Michael Schumacher dominated thereafter to post a third straight Melbourne win, but his achievements were overshadowed by the fifth place of Mark Webber

2005 saw Ferrari’s dominance in Melbourne come to an end, Renault taking the first of two wins with Giancarlo Fisichella, while his teammate Fernando Alonso came from thirteenth to finish on the podium. Alonso would take victory the following year and made it three podiums in a row, finishing third behind Lewis Hamilton in 2007. Hamilton’s debut saw him become the first rookie to finish on the podium in eleven years on his debut.

That kickstarted an incredible run of nine consecutive podium finishes, including two wins, from the debut, including two wins back-to-back and missing out on what would be now eight championships by a point at the end of the 2007 season, regarded as the best rookie season in the sport’s history.

Hamilton would win a chaotic and drama-filled 2008 race defined by multiple accidents and safety cars, leading to just seven cars finishing. The Englishman had a huge wake-up call the following season; the ‘liegate scandal’ saw the world champion disqualified.

Under the safety car, Hamilton had gained third after Jarno Trulli went off, following a collision between Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica.  Hamilton, rightly, overtook the Toyota as he went off the track. But McLaren wrongly instructed Hamilton to give the place back. When called to the stewards, the team lied about it after Hamilton contradicted himself in his media interviews.

In public, Hamilton corroborated this, stating that the McLaren team had told him to let Trulli repass. Behind closed doors, however, Hamilton told the stewards that he had received no instruction to allow Trulli past, and had not consciously done so. The investigation saw Hamilton disqualified for lying.

The race, however, was a fairy tale debut for Brawn, with Jenson Button leading Rubens Barrichello, who dominated the weekend, with Button winning from pole on Brawn GP’s debut. Brawn, followed by Mercedes, who would buy out the team at the end of 2009, became the first constructor to qualify on pole position and then go on to win the race on their Grand Prix debut.

Button would make it back-to-back wins in mixed conditions ahead of Robert Kubica in 2010. He gambled on an early change to slick tyres under drying conditions that let him move up to second place after losing several positions at the start. His third win at Albert Park in 2012.

In the early years of the hybrid era, the race was dominated by Nico Rosberg after teammate Hamilton retired. Daniel Ricciardo scored his only podium in Melbourne but was disqualified for illegal fuel flow, and Kevin Magnussen scored his only podium as a result.

Mercedes again dominated in 2015, Hamilton leading Rosberg home in a race which saw the lowest number of starters for an opening race since Monaco in 1963 and since the IndyGate scandal in 2005. Hamilton went on to take his 34th Grand Prix win. He was followed by Rosberg, who was 1.3 seconds behind in second. Vettel was third, Felipe Massa took fourth, and Felipe Nasr came in fifth.

Rosberg won again in 2016, thirty-one years after his father Keke Rosberg had won the 1985 Australian Grand Prix. Hamilton and Vettel rounded out the podium ahead of Ricciardo and Massa. 2017 saw Vettel take Ferrari’s first win in a decade at Albert Park while Hamilton equalled Senna’s pole record at Adelaide.

It was another pole record for Hamilton in 2019, eight poles at Albert Park equalling the record for most poles at one Grand Prix (8), but it was his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas who won the Grand Prix from second on the grid, while Hamilton followed behind him in second and Max Verstappen took third.

The 2022 race saw Charles Leclerc take pole ahead of both Verstappen and Sergio Perez after Q3 was cut short after Alonso crashed due to poor warm-up. Leclerc dominated the race, taking his second win of the season. He maintained his lead following the safety car restart.

Sainz brought out the safety car following a poor start and tried to overtake at Clark. After making a bad start he dropped to ninth in the first sector while trying to make up positions. He broke too late, running off and beaching his Ferrari in the gravel. Leclerc in the opening stint clearly showed the Ferrari had the pace, with Verstappen struggling on the tyres.

However, the battle between Leclerc and Verstappen was brought to a premature end when the Red Bull driver was forced to retire during the second stint on lap thirty-nine. The team once again suspected a fuel pick-up issue was the cause of his retirement.

2024 saw Sainz took a dominant win ahead of Ferrari teammate Leclerc, winning the Australian Grand Prix by two-tenths in the closest finishes this season. Sainz swept past Verstappen on lap two at the Clark Chicane, as the three-time champion struggled with brake failure before retiring on lap four.

The Spaniard then controlled the race and set himself up for victory as he passed Leclerc and Lando Norris at the pit stop, seizing control. This came two weeks after missing Jeddah after undergoing a appendix surgery.

Race & Circuit Guide

Fast facts

• The 2007 Australian Grand Prix is the only time, other than the first F1 race, where every driver on the podium was making their maiden appearance for the team with whom they were competing. Kimi Raikkonen won on his Ferrari debut, while Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton both made their first podium appearances for McLaren.
• Lewis Hamilton took pole at the Australian Grand Prix in every season between 2014 and 2019, but converted only one of those pole positions (2015) into race victory.
• Eddie Irvine is the only driver to have celebrated his maiden F1 victory at this track. He won his first Grand Prix with Ferrari here in 1999.
• The 2012 Australian Grand Prix was the first F1 race to feature six active World Champions competing in it.

Event timetable

What happened in 2025?

FP1 saw Lando Norris top the times with a 17.252, which put him a tenth and a half ahead of the Williams of Carlos Sainz. Norris’s main rival going into this season, Ferrari was third with Charles Leclerc two-tenths off the McLaren’s time. The Englishman set his fastest time in the closing moments of the session to push his former teammate off the top spot. Oscar Piastri put his McLaren fourth four-tenths off his teammate as he went a quarter of a tenth faster than Max Verstappen.

Leclerc topped FP2 with a 16.439, going a tenth and a quarter faster than Oscar Piastri. The Monacan set his fastest time midway through the session on his first run on soft tyres, pushing both McLarens down the order. Piastri was just under two hundredths faster than his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris.

FP3 saw Piastri top the times with a 15.921, going four hundredths faster than George Russell and Max Verstappen. One man looking to make up for lost time in final practice was Ollie Bearman, who crashed heavily in FP1 and missed FP2 as a result of the damage caused, but he had a session-ending moment just minutes into the action.

Qualifying saw Norris beat Piastri to the pole with a 15.096 after going almost a tenth faster despite both McLarens having a time deleted in Q3 for track limits. Max Verstappen was third but nearly three-tenths of a second behind McLaren, which locked out the front row. Ferrari appeared to be missing from the fight for the pole, despite in practice and testing looking to be McLaren’s closest challenger. Leclerc could only go seventh, nearly seven-tenths off Norris and ahead of Hamilton by nearly a tenth.

Norris secured back-to-back wins in a chaotic season opener, holding off Verstappen to take a nine-tenths victory. The race was defined by crashes and three safety cars, with Norris leading most of the race despite challenging conditions. Piastri spun off and recovered to ninth, while Russell finished third. The treacherous conditions saw several rookies crash out, and Ferrari faced strategic questions after Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton dropped positions. Norris’s victory ended Verstappen’s long championship lead, which had lasted for over a thousand days

What to watch for?

Melbourne is just not the beginning of a new season, but a whole new era of regulations, meaning after testing, there is plenty of intrigue going into this new season. We are expecting that it’s going to be close between the top four, unless some teams, mainly Mercedes, we think, have been sandbagging. If it’s as close during the opening rounds as we saw in testing, this could be an incredible not just season, but regulation cycle.

Over the last month, during testing its been about building a picture of where the teams are, and that is mostly complete, but the first race, when we see them in anger in qualifying and race, will give us the setting for the season as a whole. But we have a variety of circuits between now and when we go back to Sakhir in six weeks, that’s a good marker point.

Mercedes, however, had these strange reliability issues with the power unit, which only seemed to affect the works team, but they might have an advantage. The question I think is how much have they and/or McLaren been downplaying the expected advantage? Mercedes and McLaren were both on the podium in 2014; both had different stories over the previous cycle.

We are also expecting that Ferrari will be in the mix as well. They had a pretty strong preseason testing, and there has been positive form in testing, but how they will perform operationally in races remains and was still their biggest flaw last season. If it is tight with McLaren, both teams have done well for different reasons. McLaren has been more restricted because of the regulations, having led the constructors for the last eighteen months, which could hinder them.

The top four, as you would expect, have been playing that game since Barcelona, of trying to talk themselves down and rivals talking them up. No surprises there, but they can no longer hide the truth, as we will be able to dig through data and times as we tend to know run plans, but that could all change as we have new technology and things the teams will be learning as much as we are.

Albert Park is a difficult race; it’s the first race where we have twenty-two cars in a decade we are also at a high-speed hybrid street circuit. Remember slight change to qualifying this season to Q1, Q2, SQ1 and SQ2, six cars will be knocked out in each part of qualifying to accommodate Cadillac.

The midfield appears tight as well, even though there is a slight gap to the top four, don’t look to be able to break into the top four at this stage. Haas is a lot closer than they have been over the last decade, when there have been ups and downs around regulation changes, but I think they have got it right. Alpine looks to have good aero, and they are boosted by the Mercedes power unit.

But it’s only testing we are going by, and the development war has been going for a month already, I’m expecting a lot of ups and downs in the order in the first quarter to half of the season.

2025 vs 2024 Race Data

2025 Lap time comparison

Tyres