Hello, welcome to the first weekend wrap-up of 2026, following the Australian Grand Prix with Mercedes, where we expected them to be, with George Russell taking a dominant victory, his nearest non-Mercedes rival fifteen seconds off. Is this the return to dominance for the silver arrows?
Coming up, war in the Middle East, what implications could that have for the season ahead? After a scramble to get to Melbourne. Where is the form looking to be this season… another one Melbourne nightmare for Isack Hadjar and Ferrari strategy…
Iran War
F1 says it is monitoring the situation in the Middle East following the US and Israel’s launch of an attack against Iran last Saturday, sparking retaliatory strikes across the region. Last weekend, the travel plans of 1,000s of personnel were thrown into chaos after the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the region acts as a key hub in Doha and Abu Dhabi for F1 and its logistics.
Head of the organisers of this weekend, Travis Auld, said on Monday that “everyone will be here ready for the race” as Melbourne prepares to host the 2026 curtain-raiser.
Many drivers and other key personnel based in Europe have had travel plans affected by the major disruption to global air transport, with key routes through Qatar and the United Arab Emirates impacted.
Auld said, “The last 48 hours have required some reshuffling of flights. That is largely Formula 1’s responsibility. They take charge of the teams, drivers and all the personnel that are required here to make this event happen. There’s quite a number of them. My understanding is that’s all now been locked in, everyone will be here ready for the race, and fans won’t notice any difference.”
But confirmed that all the freight flights from Bahrain and Europe had arrived in Melbourne; however, the headache now will be flying in drivers, team personnel, media and fans in from around the world as Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubia and Sakhir act as key transit hubs for the sport between Europe and Asia.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told Sky Sports on Friday: “Our approach, first of all, is safety for all the relevant stakeholders, the people and also the [race] promoter itself. We don’t want to do any statement today because, you know, things are so evolving, so changing, that we have still time to make the right decision. And this decision will be taken together.”
“We have an open option in place. Of course, it’s all connected to the risks that are evolving that we need to manage. All options could be open at the right moment, we will make the decision, of course, involving everyone.”
On Tuesday, reports emerged that Imola and Portimão have been placed on standby due to the situation in the region. The 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was postponed three weeks before it was due to be held.
Russell, Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director, said: “Ultimately, I think all of us trust F1 and the FIA just to make the right decision. It’s going to be changing daily, I’m sure, and we’re still four or five weeks away.”
“I don’t think anyone is really pressing those questions because there’s still a long time between now and then, and of course, it’s kind of outside of our hands. So, yeah, trusting the guys at the top to make the right decision and if we don’t, I’m sure there’s plan Bs in place. But, we’re not asking and we trust they’re on it.”
Weekend Recap
FP1 was topped by Charles Leclerc with a 20.267, putting himself four and a half tenths faster than Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen put his Red Bull third; the four-time champion was half a tenth behind the Ferrari duo as he went three tenths faster than his teammate Isack Hadjar. Hadjar had at one stage led the session, but had to settle for fourth, eight-tenths off the outright pace
FP2 saw Oscar Piastri fastest with a 19.729, putting himself two tenths faster than the Mercedes duo, with Kimi Antonelli a tenth faster than teammate George Russell. Hamilton had set the early pace on hard tyres but was shuffled to fourth, the seven-time champion just a thousandth behind Russell as he went nearly a quarter of a second faster than Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
FP3, Russell fastest with a 19.053 as he went six tenths faster than the Ferrari duo of Hamilton and Leclerc, who were separated by a tenth and a half. While Russell’s teammate Antonelli had a huge crash as he veered into the wall at Turn Two, Oscar Piastri was fourth ahead of impressive Red Bull man Isack Hadjar, with four different teams in the top five
Qualifying, Russell beat Antonelli by nearly three tenths to take pole for the season-opener. The Englishman unleashed the expected pace of the silver arrows to set an 18.518, going ahead of his Italian teammate and creating a seven-tenths advantage over the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar. Hadjar was out-qualified both Ferraris and Oscar Piastri; he was a quarter of a tenth ahead of teammate Lando Norris.
Russell took victory, beating teammate Antonelli by nearly three seconds despite initially lost out to the two Ferraris as they got a better start, which set the stage for a race-long fight between the two Mercedes and the Ferrari duo Leclerc and Hamilton. Leclerc then dropped fifteen seconds behind the Mercedes duo as he tried to fight off an attack from Hamilton, the seven-time champion, who could not find a way past, finishing six tenths behind. A first Grand Prix podium for Hamilton at Ferrari, still just out of reach.
World champion Lando Norris finished fifth, but the gap was huge, thirty-five seconds behind the two Mercedes and Ferraris, as he finished nearly three seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. They were the only other cars on the lead lap, as the Dutchman put in a brilliant recovery drive after a difficult qualifying.
McLaren
Lando Norris says his team’s history of developing itself to the front has bolstered his confidence that McLaren ‘won’t be on the back foot’, even if it’s not among the two quickest teams in Melbourne.
This weekend, the first true picture of the order is to emerge, though it is expected that it will fluctuate circuit to circuit, with the world champions believing it will likely be the third quickest team as the 2026 rules era gets underway – behind pre-season favourites Mercedes and Ferrari.
When asked by Motorsport.com if that back story is giving him more confidence that McLaren’s outlook could look very different towards the end of the season, Norris replied: “I don’t think we’re starting on the back foot. Even if you’re second, third or fourth quickest, I don’t think that’s on the back foot. I think that’s still a very good position to start in.
Oscar Piastri, who finished third in the 2025 championship after a breakthrough campaign, added, “It would be very optimistic to say we’re going to have the same form as we did here twelve months ago. I think we’re somewhere towards the front, but from testing it kind of feels like Mercedes and Ferrari have got a little bit on us and Red Bull, I would say.”
“In previous years where it’s been harder to improve over the course of a season, we’ve certainly proved that you could. And I continue to believe that, you know, it’s a long, very long season.” I think McLaren is not where they want to be, but they are near the front and could develop themselves into the championship fight.
Norris says F has “gone from the best cars ever to probably the worst” as he lamented the huge emphasis on energy harvesting, after qualifying sixth nearly a second off Russell. Qualifying was difficult for the world champion, as he continued to get to grips to the grips with the new car.
He told reporters, “I think everyone knows what the issues are. It’s just the fact it’s a 50-50 split, and it just doesn’t work. Straight line mode means you’ve got a lot of other issues at hand. You decelerate so much before corners, you have to lift everywhere to make sure the [battery] pack’s at the top.”
“If the pack’s too high, you’re also screwed. It’s just difficult, but it’s what we have. It doesn’t feel good as a driver, but I’m sure George is smiling. You’ve just got to maximise what you’re going to give him. We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula 1 and the nicest to drive to probably the worst. It sucks, but you have to live with it.”
In Q3, Norris ran over debris shed by Antonelli, who was sent out on track with cooling devices still attached to the Mercedes. According to the Briton, focusing on his dashboard meant he didn’t see the debris until it was too late.
Piastri’s hopes of a reset following his catalogue of errors, which cost him the championship in the second half of 2025, lasted four corners of his reconnaissance lap, when he crashed after getting on the kerb, crashing into the wall, breaking the front suspension.
The team’s analysis put the crash down to a technical problem, which caused a spike of power an extra 100kw, though Piastri also took responsibility for making a mistake at the moment the power surged. He told the media, “Obviously, just disappointed. A scenario like that just shouldn’t happen. Obviously disappointed it did. We had a couple of things going on.”
“I think the first part I want to stress is that there was certainly a big element of it that was me: cold tyres. I have used that exit kerb every lap of the weekend, but maybe I didn’t have to.
“At the same time, I had 100Kw of extra power that I didn’t expect, which is not insignificant. The difficult part to take there is that everything was working normally. It’s just the function of how the engines have to work with the rules. That’s the part that’s difficult to expect. It would be easier to say if it was cold tyres and I was a bit too optimistic.”
As I suspected, given the timing of the accident, there was multiple factors at play, but the question will be whether the kerb strike caused the power strike. Everyone is still learning at this stage in the cycle. We know in Bahrain, there were power unit issues for Mercedes during testing. Could this be the cause of that issue?
Following the race, where he finished fifth, sixteen seconds off the winner Russell, Norris suggested that McLaren “needs to improve the car quite a lot”. The world champion looked not to have the pace of Mercedes and Ferrari, which I think we expected from testing, but given the rate of development over the last cycle, if they can unlock that, it won’t take them long, even with the resource restrictions from being champions
He said, “tough, of course, trying to learn on the go and understand things – difficult, not an easy thing to try and understand and to maximise. But I think we learned through the race – we clearly did because at the beginning of the race we were pretty slow.”
“At the end of the race we were, I think, a little bit better and a bit more competitive, but comparing to Max, comparing to the cars ahead, not even close. We have a lot of things to look into, to try and understand, and I think we have to understand the power unit more, but that’s what today was for and we’ll see what we can learn for next week.”
Norris was optimistic they could catch up, but they needed to learn and understand how to get the most from the power unit. It’s a question if they want to do that how long it takes?
Mercedes
George Russell has pinpointed Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc as Mercedes’ main title threats this season. The Englishman goes into this season as the favourite by both commentators and bookmakers, given Mercedes’ form in pre-season testing and their dominance following the last change in the power unit regulations in 2014.
Although Ferrari set the quickest lap times in Bahrain testing, Mercedes were very fast on the long runs, which are more representative, and the Silver Arrows did not appear to show their full hand over one lap. Asked who he saw as Mercedes’ biggest title challengers when it comes to the Drivers’ Championship, Russell said to the media: “I would say, Max and Leclerc.”
His teammate Kimi Antonelli added, “We think Red Bull is very strong, so for sure Max is going to be in the mix. Ferrari look very strong in Bahrain, both in long runs and on a single lap, especially Leclerc, but I wouldn’t write off Lewis as well, because he can be very much in the mix.”
“Maybe also the McLaren, but they seem a little bit more on the back foot compared to Ferrari and Red Bull, but for sure, Max and Charles could be the main ones.”
Russell was given a reprimand after two incidents during FP2, the first for a collision in the pit lane as he joined the queue for clipping the Racing Bull of Arvid Lindblad who was in the pit lane. The Mercedes complained, “This guy’s just hit my front wing,” the Briton complained, but the stewards weren’t sympathetic to his view, as the rules make it clear that Lindblad had priority.
The stewards ruled “It is clear, in this case, that there was no such gap and the collision resulted from (Russell) inching forward and thereby blocking a small portion of the fast lane. Both drivers agreed that the driver of (Lindblad) would not have been able to see the portion that was blocking the fast lane.
“In this case, the collision could have been avoided by (Russell) taking appropriate action and we therefore imposed a penalty of a reprimand to the driver of (Russell). The Stewards determined that the driver failed to follow the Race Director’s instructions and impose a penalty consistent with the penalty for similar breaches in the past.”
Toto Wolff has admitted his relief after a strong Saturday from his drivers as he celebrated the end of the ground effect era. Speaking to Sky Sports after qualifying, Wolff couldn’t hide his joy at the move to the new regulations, saying, “I’m so happy that those messy ground effect cars are gone and finally we do what we are best at.”
Wolff credited this to both the machinery and the British driver’s maturing talent. Explaining, “George, as a person, has made another step in seniority and confidence in driving the car. And I think it’s just how he likes it. I mean those cars have lost downforce but when you look at the aerodynamic and mechanical side the car looks like it’s on rails, at least today.”
When speaking about the suggestions since Barcelona of Mercedes sandbagging he dismissed those suggestions, saying “You can’t really sandbag, or at least we don’t, we can’t do that because you never know where the car is. So we’re surprised by the gap, but I’m taking it.”
The qualifying result was nearly derailed earlier in the day following a big crash by Mercedes youngster Antonelli, who is now entering his second season in the championship. The Italian’s incident forced the Brackley squad into a pressured but impressive rebuild.
Red Bull
Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen believes Red Bull has “quite a bit of work to do” to consistently compete with their rivals at the front of the field, but praised the team for the foundation they built over pre-season testing. The Dutchman narrowly missed out on claiming his fifth title to McLaren’s Lando Norris last season, ending up just two points short after he launched a mighty comeback over the course of the year.
Speaking ahead of the season opener, and asked about his hopes of Red Bull’s competitive level, Verstappen said: “We had quite a decent pre-season. It’s been a big learning curve, but we’ve been running well, been doing a lot of laps, so there’s not actually a lot we could’ve wished for that could’ve gone better.”
“In terms of performance, I don’t know. I think we still have quite a bit of work to do to be up at the front, but this is also something that I had already planned for it to be like that. I just try to do my best and, like I said before, we are positive and happy with what we have done so far, but we also know that if we really want to fight up front, we need to be faster. That’s what we will work on.”
Verstappen says he is going into this weekend to see how it is and wants to have a decent weekend result.
Following Friday’s running, Isack Hadjar said the reliability was good but he struggled with consistency during FP2. Earlier in FP1, he had been fourth behind Verstappen by just under three tenths, but slipped to ninth in FP2, half a second off Verstappen.
He said, “Reliability has been good, but in terms of consistency, every lap in FP2 has been quite difficult, in terms of deployment and everything,” Hadjar told the media in Melbourne. “But we’ll look into it. It cannot go smooth on day one, so it’s normal.”
When asked if the inconsistency was due to difficulty harvesting energy around the Albert Park circuit, Hadjar added: “We are [having to try different things], and it’s also constantly having to adapt your braking points, because you’re never arriving at the same speed. The dynamic of the car changes as well, so it’s very tricky.”
Following what he described as a “very weird” crash in Q1 which saw him qualify twentieth Verstappen had an X-ray. As he started his first attempt in qualifying, as he braked into Turn One, his car snapped, sending him across the gravel into the wall.
The four-time world champion was seen looking at his hands after jumping out of the car but was cleared by the medical team, so he will start Sunday’s season-opener in Melbourne from twentieth. Verstappen suffered just his eighth Q1 elimination in his career since joining the F1 grid in 2015, and was confused about the cause of his accident.
He told Sky Sports, “All good. I just had to get some X-rays done to see if my hands were OK, but nothing was broken. I didn’t speak to the team yet or didn’t look into any data, but to lose the car like that on the braking I’ve never experienced that in my life/”
“I hit the pedal and suddenly the whole rear axle just completely locked up, so definitely a bit weird. I think it already went wrong before the downshift because I hit the pedal and as soon as I hit the pedal, because you quite quickly downshift, it already immediately locked on the peak of the brake pressure, basically. So something very weird, that’s for sure.”
That left Red Bull’s hopes of a good qualifying with Isack Hadjar, who impressed, going third but just under half a second behind Antonelli. But he didn’t expect going into the race to be fighting for the win, saying, “What happens in Melbourne, it just doesn’t really matter compared to the car we’re going to have at the end of the year”
“The progression curve is so steep that it’s going to be a lot different. So, at the moment, we know our weakness. We have a reliable car underneath, which is positive, but we’re just lacking pure performance at the minute.”
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc married his long-term partner, Alexandra Saint-Mleux, last Saturday in a private ceremony in Monaco. After the couple were spotted driving around Monaco in a vintage 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, with the Monegasque driver in a pale suit and Saint Mleux in a wedding gown.
Alexandra has now confirmed their marriage by changing her name on Instagram to Alexandra Leclerc. The couple announced their engagement in November 2025 and have now tied the knot before the Ferrari driver begins the 2026 Formula 1 season. The couple were first seen together at Wimbledon in 2023, three months after rumours emerged.
Leclerc previously spoke about Leo in an interview with GQ Sports, explaining, “He’s my best friend. He’s the best. I bring him to most of the races. Last year, he did get a paddock pass, but he doesn’t need it anymore. People know him more than me. He can still get into the paddock at every race he comes to.”
Lewis Hamilton has promised “no holding back” as he embarks on his twentieth season of “still standing, still hungry, still focused on the dream”. Ahead of this weekend’s race he had already felt “re-set and refreshed” ahead of a second campaign with Ferrari in which he will bid to quickly banish the disappointments of the first, when he failed to record a podium finish for the first time in his career.
Ferrari headed into this season as one of the favourites, with the seven-time champion Hamilton, who has made clear he is looking forward to his landmark campaign. Writing on Instagram in a post containing an image from his record-breaking career so far, the 41-year-old said: “Twenty seasons as an F1 driver. It’s hard to even grasp the reality of that number. It started with a dream. A dream some called ridiculous and said would never amount to anything. Despite that, the dream never changed, and I never stopped chasing it.”
“A dream has to be matched with action and, above all, belief. Belief that doesn’t break no matter what’s thrown in your face or what you come up against. There will always be people who doubt you, people who try to block you, but you can’t ever stop fighting.
Hamilton says it had been twenty years of incredible highs and brutal lows, but mistakes that have made the journey sweeter. Adding you hold the power to your destiny and everything you need to succeed is within you.
Going into the weekend, Hamilton says his goal is to win the championship, with Ferrari are “leaving behind the bad” as he begins his second season with the team. The seven-time champion failed to be on a Grand Prix podium all season for the first time in his career, but following his break over the winter, he has been in a more buoyant mood leading up to this weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Not since 2021 has Hamilton been able to challenge for the championship and the 41-year-old stressed he is “much happier” compared to a year ago, having spent a year with Ferrari to understand their culture and team operations.
He said ahead of this weekend, “We got great mileage done in winter testing – an amazing amount of work has been done from the team back at the factory, but also delivering on those tests.”
“We’ve learned a lot from last year. We’re leaving behind the bad and moving forwards with the good, and we’re just sharp. We are prepared, and we know what we need to do. We also know there’s massive challenges for all of us with the new rules and regulations.” Ferrari impressed with their strong single lap and race pace, which is a more representative view of the pecking order.
Following qualifying, where he was eight tenths off Russell’s pole, Leclerc admitted they “nowhere near Mercedes”. Going into the weekend, he had been cautious about Mercedes believing in testing that they hadn’t unleashed their true potential, as many predicted they did pull an advantage.
Leclerc ultimately took fourth, with teammate Hamilton back in seventh – the Ferraris sandwiching the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and reigning World Champion Lando Norris.
After Qualifying, Leclerc was asked if he felt surprised by the gap to Mercedes, and frustrated at not being able to secure P3 on the grid. Leclerc replied, “Frustration about P3, for sure. I won’t go into the detail, because it’s a very complex car to explain, but in Q2 we had issues with our deployment.”
“Then in Q3, because of the red flag, we had to re-optimise everything on that last lap, and we couldn’t quite make that. We were a bit sub-optimal for that last lap, and that definitely cost us P3.”
“We were nowhere near Mercedes. Maybe optimising everything, we would have a tenth-and-a-half, but I’m pretty sure that’s also the story of everybody. [These are] such complex cars that nobody, I would expect, was optimising absolutely everything out of the car today.”
I think we kind of hoped that it would be as close as we saw in testing, but the rumour about Mercedes over the last year has come true; they were eight-tenths ahead of the rest of the field.
Following the race, team principal Fred Vasseur explained that they couldn’t pit Hamilton or Leclerc under the VSCs between lap 11-16 caused by Isack Hadjar and Valtteri Bottas, respectively. But the pitlane entry was swiftly closed due to the stricken Cadillac being located on the inside of the last corner, which was “unlucky”, Vasseur told Sky Italia.
Leclerc ended up doing a regular pitstop on lap 25, followed by Hamilton on lap 28, with Mercedes taking a decisive advantage on its way to a 1-2 finish.
Vasseur told Canal+ after the race, “What happened was Mercedes thought they were going to pit again, and we were all surprised by how well the tyres held up, because we could have done 350 laps with those. From then on, they were able to exploit that advantage.”
Later, he also told the written press, that Mercedes were eight tenths faster than yesterday, and at that stage in the race, no one was expecting a one stop. I was thinking, as many would have been, here we go again. They did have the tyres to complete a two-stop but the pace of the Ferrari wasn’t a match to Mercedes.
Vasseur added, “I have no regret on the strategy, no regret on the pace of today. We did a decent step compared to yesterday. Let’s be focused on China now.”
Leclerc couldn’t stop when Bottas stopped because the pit lane was closed as he stopped in pit entry, meaning both Ferrari’s lost time making their stops in racing conditions compared to under a VSC or SC. He added, “I don’t regret it. It was a wanted choice, a wanted and conscious choice. Looking from FP1 to now, there’s been at every session a car that was stopped, at least one car.”
Williams
Following practice, Alex Albon has admitted that Williams is certainly on the back foot after a challenging Friday in which it battled with data collection and deployment issues across the day’s running. Williams are facing a bigger challenge, having missed the Catalan test and both his sessions were untidy.
He told reporters, “Yeah, a little bit caught out with it today, just a bit behind I think. We’ve been struggling with data, struggling with a lot of things. So yeah, we just need to see what we can actually learn first of all, and then apply that to tomorrow.”
The Thai-British driver made it clear that one of the biggest areas of concern is deployment, which has already become a major sticking point for several teams up and down the pitlane. He thinks that most of the problems come down to not understand deployment of power.
This comes from a lack of understanding of these new cars, making it difficult to unlock the cars’ full potential. And after limited long runs, Albon feels vulnerable.
Going into qualifying, Albon was concerned about finding clean air and manage energy deployment, warning that it could become more severe as the weekend continues. he said about potential traffic issues, “It’s going to be very difficult. “So, we’re not seeing the worst of it at the minute. It’s already very difficult.
Racing Bulls
Arvid Lindblad had a “pinch me moments” during his first weekend, where he proved consistent, finishing every session in the top ten and finishing his first race in eighth despite a slow getaway.
The English-Swede made a good start, taking advantage of teammate Liam Lawson’s slow start before running as high as third at one stage before settling for a respectable eighth. He said post race, “I think I was P3 or something on Lap 1, which is pretty nuts. Definitely showed people that if there’s an opportunity, I’m going to get stuck in and I’m not going to hang about.
“I had a lot of fun. I enjoyed this weekend a lot. I think there’s a few things from the race today that I could’ve managed slightly better, but in general, it’s been really positive. I’m very happy with the weekend. I think I’ve almost got the maximum out of the car in every session so I’m looking forward to China now.”
That was a good start, but he was always going to find it difficult over the course of the race to keep the likes of a Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren behind him, as that’s not where their fight is, but it will mark him as one of the ones to watch. When he was fighting his battle with Ollie Bearman, he held his own for a pretty solid debut weekend to finish seven seconds behind the Haas.
Aston Martin
Fernando Alonso believes that the team are “embracing the challenge” posed by their early-season struggles, with the Spaniard hopeful that the progress within the squad will be “visible in lap time as soon as possible”.
The team and their power unit supplier Honda, have been open about the problems which have limited their running so far this year, and that continued in FP1 with Alonso unable to take part. he and teammate Lance Stroll gained time on track at the Albert Park Circuit during the second hour, with Alonso recording eighteen laps in the latter.
Alonso admitted that the team “still need to catch up a little bit in the weekend programme.”
When asked if he can see light at the end of the tunnel with the issues, the two-time World Champion sounded a positive note as he responded: “We know where we are. As I said yesterday, we have a big challenge in front of us but everyone in the team is embracing the challenge in a way and trying everything we can to go out of the situation.
“This is Formula One, unfortunately, technology is very complex and things require a little bit of time. We are running every day in free practice and every week, Grand Prix to Grand Prix, and maybe we don’t see the progress that we all want to see.”
Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack also acknowledged that Friday had been a “difficult day” for Aston Martin but that this was “to be expected after our difficulties that we had in winter testing”, adding: “If that is the situation, you try to do the best out of the situation.”
But Krack believes they could learn from FP2, as all teams are continuing to adapt to the new technical regulations introduced for 2026.
Haas
Ollie Bearman has opened up about struggling with loneliness in his rookie season of the championship. In his first full season last year, the Englishman finished thirteenth in the championship with the best result of fourth in Mexico City.
Speaking on former BBC F1 presenter Jake Humphrey’s High Performance podcast, Bearman said, “Yeah [I struggled with loneliness in F1]. Even to more of an extreme because you’re often travelling for longer, you’re travelling to further places. You’re going to places where people don’t speak English as well sometimes.”
“You know, you can be in Japan or China and the language barriers there as well, and even just not hearing your own language around you is a bit of a strange thing as well. I’m very lucky that my dad has made a big effort to come to a lot of races for me last year, and that is almost a bit of continuity for me.”
“But especially at the start of the year, I found the travel to be really challenging just because F1 has ten more races than F2. But those extra 10 are all of the furthest away destinations on the calendar. So all of that extra travel, travelling alone all the time and you go from one extreme of being at the track and being with hundreds of people, having no time to dedicate to yourself, and then you get home into your hotel room, and it’s just you.”
Bearman added it was particularly difficult after a difficult race where you just wanted to be with your family, or with someone that you loved. He revealed that he worked with a coach to deal with the loneliness after initially bottling up his emotions. explaining living in Monaco with his partner and no family was living around racing.
saying, “I spent a bit of time with a coach at the start of the year once I realised that I was not overwhelmed but struggling a bit with the juxtaposition between being so busy at the track, coming home and having nothing to do, nothing in your schedule, nothing. It’s one extreme to the other.”
“I was struggling to cope with that. And one thing that I’ve really understood or paid attention to this year was to be grateful and to take a step back because I think perspective is important as well.
Audi
Gabreil Bortoletto was excited to score Audi’s first points in F1 as they returned to Grand Prix racing for the first time in eighty-seven years. The Brazilian converted tenth in qualifying to ninth in the Grand Prix, after sitting out Q3 because of a technical issue.
He lost some positions at the start of the 58-lap race but remained patient and progressed back through the field, pulling off crucial overtakes on Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly to secure ninth place.
Asked about his feelings following his sixth Grand Prix points finish, he responded: “Yeah, it’s incredible. I’m extremely happy, and the team deserves it. A lot of hard work has been put in. Reliable car, reliable engine – a great point to start.”
They proved that they could fight closely with other midfield teams like Haas, with Bortoleto gradually reeling in the Haas of Ollie Bearman in the latter stages of the race before running out of time to execute a pass. The result was better than they managed last time Sauber debuted under German ownership in Sakhir 2006.
Audi has achieved something big, despite the rumours of concern at VW when they were struggling early on last season. They proved they can fight with the Toyota-backed Haas team in the midfield, but the fight with Bearman just ran out of time, and Bortoletto was passed by Arvid Lindblad.
Alpine
Pierre Gasly has become a Givenchy Gentleman global ambassador for the Gentleman Society Eau de Parfum Sport.
Sharing the milestone on social media ahead of the 2026 F1 season-opener in Australia, Gasly, who will also become the face of the fragrance, wrote: “Start of an exciting journey! Extremely honoured to become Givenchy Gentleman global ambassador for the Gentleman Society Eau de parfum sport.”
Gasly became the face of the Givenchy Gentleman men’s fragrance line in 2025. Givenchy Parfums CEO Romain Spitzer said at the time: “Pierre Gasly is a major athlete who is as talented as he is inspiring. His striving for excellence, visionary approach, energy, and natural elegance all perfectly capture the Gentleman Givenchy universe. We are delighted that he’s joining us as ambassador and look forward to his embodiment of the new Gentleman Society fragrance, set to be released this year.”
Race review
As expected, Mercedes came out of the box fastest as they did in 2009 and 2014 following the previous engine regulation changes. Russell backed up his claims of being ready for the championship fight with that near three-second win. But as I expected, this is not a 2009 or 2014 situation, when the gap was twenty-six seconds; they can’t rest on their advantage.
Ferrari, I think, will close that gap, as over the first eight races, should we go to the Middle East, we have a variety of different circuits and climates to give us a good understanding. But again, I rolled my eyes during the race; they need to sort out their decision-making. The question could have been ‘could Ferrari have challenged Mercedes for the win? Instead, once again, it’s about strategy calls
Red Bull and McLaren, as I predicted, were slightly further behind, but the top four remain unchanged. Red Bull were hampered by driver error, Verstappen crashing in qualifying, and Hadjar failing to start, crashing on his way to the grid. I think if McLaren can develop as they did between Miami 2024 and Abu Dhabi last year, they can come back.
But there is a long way to go, nineteen races at least, if the ones in the Middle East get cancelled. One weekend doesn’t make a champion for Audi and Arvid Lindblad points on debut, and we will see where we end up at the final race, as with the calendar, we are into the unknown…
Thanks for reading… back in a week’s time after Shanghai and our first sprint weekend
Results Summary
Pole Position |
George Russell
Mercedes 01:18.518 |
|||||
Podium |
||||||
Po |
Name |
Nat |
Team |
Time |
Points |
|
| 1 | George Russell | GBR | Mercedes | 01:23:06.801 | 25 | |
| 2 | Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli | ITA | Mercedes | +00:02.974 | 18 | |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Ferrari | +00:15.519 | 15 | |
| Fastest
Lap |
Max Verstappen | NED | Red Bull – Ford RBPT | 01:22.091 | ||
Championship Standings
Drivers’ Championship |
Constructors Championship |
|||
Po |
Name |
Points |
Constructor |
Points |
| 1 | George Russell | 25 | Mercedes | 43 |
| 2 | Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli | 18 | Ferrari | 27 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | 15 | McLaren – Mercedes | 20 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | 13 | Red Bull – Ford RBPT | 8 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | 10 | Haas – Ferrari | 6 |
