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Oscar Piastri out of the race after crashing during installation lap
Incredible drama in Melbourne, as the hometown hero Oscar Piastri, the subject of so much attention during the build-up to the race, is out of the Australian Grand Prix after crashing out in the warm-up lap.
Coming out of turn four, the Australian’s car lost grip as he looked to accelerate, causing him to lose control and watch on helplessly as he went nose-first into the wall.
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Lap 18/58: Both Ferraris continue to set the pace but both are stull yet to pit.
Oh, no, I jinxed Bottas. He’s gone off the track just in front of turn 14. A virtual safety car is called for, a chance for Ferrari to pit?
Lindblad, Verstappen, Bearman, and Bortoleto, yet to pass the pit lane entrance at the time of the incident, all pit.
Lap 17/58: Alonso, Hadjar, Piastri, and Hulkenberg are our scratchings across the opening 17 laps, with Bottas in his Cadillac well well off the pace but staying out there, gathering data.
Lap 16/58: Antonelli has moved past Lindblad and into fourth, with the rookie now having to deal with Verstappen all over his back. Leclerc maintains the lead, with the gap between Hamilton and Russell now down to eight seconds.
Lap 15/58: Leclerc and Hamilton, both yet to pit, lead in Melbourne, with Russell, who has pitted, rolling through in third. Lindblad, who also hasn’t pitted, is fourth, followed by Antonelli, Verstappen (oh lawd he coming), Bearman, Bortoleto, Norris, and Ocon.
Hamilton expresses amazement when he’s told on the radio that Russell is only ten seconds back but is assured that this is all part of the plan.
Lap 14/58: Green flags wave and we resume racing. Alonso, however, looks done, getting on the radio and telling his team to stop the car as there’s an issue. Which issue, take your pick going off Aston Martin’s week.
Lap 13/58: Hamilton isn’t a fan of Ferrari keeping both he and Leclerc out there during the virtual safety car, getting on the radio and declaring that at least one of them should have come in.
And that’s interesting. It looked like the Ferrari crew was up and ready for at least one of their drivers to come in but both blew past the pit lane entrance at the end of the lap.
Lap 12/58: Hadjar did ever so well in qualifying but it appears on the replays that his gearbox has completely died on him. Very unfortunate. Russell and Antonelli have both pitted but, for now, Leclerc and Hamilton have remained out there.
Isack Hadjar out of the race
Lap 11/58: Hadjar has gone off! The Red Bull driver pulls up onto the grass just ahead of turn nine – his power unit seemingly done – and a virtual safety car has been called for.
Very rapidly, a host of cars dive into the pit lane, highlighted by Norris.
Hulkenberg, meanwhile, after breaking down during an installation lap, has also retired without recording a lap.
Lap 10/58: Leclerc leads from Russell, followed by Hamilton and Antonelli, who has rebounded from his horror start and his moving back up the grid. Hadjar and Lindblad are then followed by Norris, Ocon, and Verstappen, who has moved up to ninth. Gasly rounds up the top ten.
Lap 9/58: And now Hamilton has joined the party! He tries to sneakily move beyond both Leclerc and Russell as the two do battle and, while they’re able to hold them off, remains well-poised to bounce on any kind of error.
Verstappen, meanwhile, has moved up into the top ten.
Lap 8/58: Russell overtakes Leclerc and tries to accelerate away but his energy eventually runs dry and Leclerc takes advantage by getting in his slipstream, building up his juice, and taking the lead back! This is fun.
Lap 7/58: The cat and mouse game between Leclerc and Russell continues, the need for the Brit to manage his power and power recharging giving him an extra consideration as he looks to overtake.
Lap 6/58: Russell is all over the back of Leclerc but, for now, can’t find a way to bring his extra power to bear and find a way past the Ferrari. The Brit gets on the radio, complaining about a defensive move from Leclerc being dangerous, which the broadcast quickly diagnoses as being for the stewards benefit, not his team.
Lap 5/58: What a start for the rookie Lindblad, who started at ninth in his Racing Bulls car but has now moved up into sixth.
Lap 4/58: Leclerc leads from Russell, followed by Hamilton, Hadjar, and Antonelli. Lindblad sits in sixth, followed by Norris, Ocon, Gasly, and Bortoleto – the latter of whom is subject of a stewards investigation.
Lap 3/58: Leclerc has taken the lead back! So the power of the Mercedes won’t be a complete cheat code at this point. Hopium is back on the menu for Ferrari.
Lap 2/58: Leclerc’s lead was nice while it lasted, as the power of the Mercedes comes to the fore as Russell rockets past him for the lead. Hamilton sits in third, followed by Hadjar and then the rookie Lindblad and defending champion Norris. Antonelli remains in seventh, with Ocon, Gasly and Alonso, yes Alonso, rounding out the ten.
Lap 1/58: Leclerc gets off the line rapidly and emerges from turn one in the lead! The Ferrari’s rapid starts prove to be an accurate prediction! Hamilton, meanwhile, is up to third!
Russell has been able to stay up in second but Antonelli has found himself enveloped and fallen from the front row and down into eighth.
Lights out
We are under way in Melbourne!
The formation lap is now underway. At the rate we’re going, we’re going to be lucky to get to the start line without more drama…
The national anthem has been sung, by the way, so we’re getting very close to lights out in Melbourne.
Confirmation coming through that, after he was pushed onto the grid with his nose facing the wrong way, Hulkenberg is going to start this race from pit lane.
Former driver Antony Davidson has said on Sky Sports that it appears as though Piastri experienced a ‘torque spike’ as the engine power went through cold tyres. “His mind was focused on the battery,” Davidson explained, before saying the incident appeared to be a combination of driver and mechanical error.
Guenther Steiner grabbed McLaren’s Zak Brown on the coverage to try and get some insight into why Piastri went into the wall but, for now, there’s not a lot forthcoming. Not seeing anything on the data, per the American, while taven’t talked to Oscar and will have to investigate post-race.
After spinning out in qualifying – giving him time to repair his stricken Red Bull – Verstappen will start today’s race from the unfamiliar confines of the second last row of the grid, only kept off the back row entirely by the failure of Sainz and Stroll to set any kind of lap time.
It feels inevitable that the Dutchman, his longstanding dominance over the sport broken last year by Norris, will weave his way through the pack once the race gets underway. But how he does so, as well as just how high he can rise and how he’ll navigate this task whilst dealing with the new regulations and power regeneration demands – which we’ve established he’s very much not a fan of – will be fascinating.
And if losing Piastri on an installation lap is any guide, there may be lots of chaos for him to take advantage of, too.
Tweets posted before unfortunate events.
Although, I guess what come next was unforgettable, too…
Good lord. Hulkenberg looks like he’s had some issues during an installation lap, too, flat out losing power towards the tail end of the course and now being pushed towards his place on the grid by members of the Audi team. What is happening?
The locals are not taking it well.
This is my letter of resignation.
— F1 Australian Grand Prix (@ausgrandprix) March 8, 2026Wow can’t believe the Formula 1 season is finished already, that was quick. See you all next year #AusGP #F1
— George (@gerogerc) March 8, 2026Absolute dejection is evident on the local fans who had come out to see Piastri, only to now hear that their local hope won’t even make lap one.
Speaking on the local coverage, a glum Damon Hill – a cake presented to him to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his win in Melbourne just moments before now sitting awkwardly in front of him – admits that it looks like it might be a case of driver error.
Oscar Piastri out of the race after crashing during installation lap
Incredible drama in Melbourne, as the hometown hero Oscar Piastri, the subject of so much attention during the build-up to the race, is out of the Australian Grand Prix after crashing out in the warm-up lap.
Coming out of turn four, the Australian’s car lost grip as he looked to accelerate, causing him to lose control and watch on helplessly as he went nose-first into the wall.
Drama in the warm-up lap! Piastri might be out of the Grand Prix! He’s gone into the wall during the warm-up lap. Boy oh boy, wowee.
Having delivered a somewhat more sturdy tyre this season, Pirelli are of the view that a one-stop strategy is the way to go for today’s race: starting out on mediums before pitting for hards between laps 20 to 26 or, alternatively, starting the race on softs before swapping them for hards between lap 15 to 21.
Unlike the chaos of last year, the whether should not play a factor in today’s race whatsoever, with the forecast calling for no rain and temperatures hovering in the low-to-mid 20s.
Ferrari showed their own signs of promise during preseason testing and have shown flashes of potential since landing in Melbourne – only for that to be overshadowed by the pace of the Mercedes.
Nonetheless, they’re widely expected to have the most rapid start of any of the teams today – Leclerc starting on the second row and Hamilton the fourth – and while they’re quite outmatched by the Mercedes when it comes to the high-speed sections of the track, they’ve actually shown more speed than anyone when it comes to cornering.
“It was a tough and rather chaotic qualifying session, but that was the same for everyone,” team principal Fred Vasseur said after qualifying. “You can do as much testing as you like, but it is never the same as tackling a real qualifying session with all the other cars around you. It was a new challenge and we did not manage to put everything together, as we had a few issues during the session.
“What is clear is that today the gap to Mercedes is significant and we will have to make progress to get closer to them. So far this weekend our pace has been decent, but there is still a lot for all the teams to discover and we have probably not yet seen everyone’s true potential. The most important thing is to learn from what we did not do well today and focus on tomorrow’s race.”
Fast-paced and with relatively few corners demanding significant breaking, the Albert Park circuit was never going to provide the best showcase of the new regulations and energy recharging requirements, but that hasn’t stopped early reviews of this season’s new rules and standards coming in from the drivers. Are they favourable? Well, no; words such as “sucks” bandied about, as well as “worst” and “completely against”.
“We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One and the nicest to drive, to probably the worst. It sucks,” Norris said. “Everyone knows what the issues are. It’s just the fact it’s a 50-50 split [between power from the combustion engine and electrical energy].”
Giles Richards has more.
And we’ve, perhaps, already had a sneak preview of the challenges that drivers will confront as they come to grips with the demands of the new era.
The grid in Melbourne
An all-Mercedes front row will lead them out in Melbourne, with the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, not Max Verstappen, following them in P3 after the Dutchman’s rear axle locked up and sent him spinning of the track in Q1 on Saturday.
1) George Russell Mercedes
2) Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
3) Isack Hadjar Red Bull
4) Charles Leclerc Ferrari
5) Oscar Piastri McLaren
6) Lando Norris McLaren
7) Lewis Hamilton Ferrari
8) Liam Lawson Racing Bulls
9) Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls
10) Gabriel Bortoleto Audi
11) Nico Hulkenberg Audi
12) Oliver Bearman Haas
13) Esteban Ocon Haas
14) Pierre Gasly Alpine
15) Alex Albon Williams
16) Franco Colapinto Alpine
17) Fernando Alonso Aston Martin
18) Sergio Perez Cadillac
19) Valtteri Bottas Cadillac
20) Max Verstappen Red Bull
21) Carlos Sainz Williams
22) Lance Stroll Aston Martin
Also confirmed following qualifying was that Lance Stroll, whose beleaguered Aston Martin didn’t even attempt to take part in qualifying due to engine issues, will start from the back of the grid after putting forth a “compelling” appeal to FIA stewards.
The stewards have confirmed Lance Stroll will be allowed to line up on the grid tomorrow.
Aston Martin put forward a "compelling" case which included noting Alonso's time (within 107%), Stroll's F1 experience and running in preseason testing, and the reasons for not taking part…
“It’s been a tough weekend so far with a few issues that have kept us from getting the laps we needed,” Stroll said before the confirmation he’d be allowed to race. “The team in the garage have been working really hard, but there just wasn’t enough time to get the car rebuilt before Qualifying.
“We’re not where we want to be at the moment, but we’ll keep pushing and keep working to improve.”
Antonelli to start from front row of the grid
To start with some news from post-qualifying, it’s been confirmed that Antonelli will start from the front row of the grid despite his car being released in an unsafe condition during Q3. After his team had worked feverishly to repair his car following a crash in FP3, carbon fibre cooling devices still attached to his car when he left the pits, one if which dislodged and was promptly run over by eventual sixth-placed qualifier, McLaren’s Lando Norris.
“Overall, I think P6 is a reasonable starting position for tomorrow, given some of the issues we’ve had coming into qualifying,” Norris said. “I’m not happy about P6, and I do think P3 was doable, given we lost some performance after hitting debris. But, having missed a lot of time in FP1 yesterday, alongside some of the other challenges we’ve been dealing with so far this weekend, it’s not a bad starting position. We’re in the mix, which is where we wanted to be, so we’ll prepare for tomorrow and focus on doing what we can to move forward.”
Instead of receiving a grid penalty for the infraction, however, Mercedes will instead receive a fine.
Kimi Antonelli keeps second on the grid as Mercedes gets a fine of €7500 for releasing his car in an unsafe condition in Q3 #F1 #AusGP
— Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) March 7, 2026“I clearly like to make my life difficult!” Antonelli said post-qualifying. “We were on the back foot after my crash in FP3 but today, the heroes are the mechanics and everyone in the garage. I cannot thank them enough for repairing my car in time for qualifying. We were so tight on time that we weren’t even able to set the car up properly, but they still gave me a rapid machine that enabled us to lock out the front-row.
“We now have the chance to fight for a good result tomorrow. There are no points scored on Saturday, and it will be a long Grand Prix with these new cars. It is only the first race of the year and there are still lots of unknowns and things that can trip us up. We will need to do a good job tomorrow to turn this positive into a good points haul. I’m excited for the challenge and to get the season underway properly.”
Preamble
Joey Lynch
Howdy all, it’s ya boi Joey Lynch here and welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of the opening race of the 2026 Formula One World Championship, coming to you live and local from Melbourne, Australia.
Finally, after months of anticipation and testing, weeks of apprehension as the United States and Israel’s attack on Iran through travel plans into chaos, days of hints and reading between the lines as we got our first real look at the cars built for regulations introduced for the 2026 season in practice, and then hours of discovery and rancour as they placed their cards on the table and drivers sounded off on the brave new world they now occupy, it’s time for some actual racing.
Preseason predictions proven devastatingly accurate by yesterday’s qualifying session, it will be an all-Mercedes front row when the lights go out at Albert Park: George Russell delivering, quite comfortably, the fastest lap in Q3 yesterday and his teammate Kimi Antonelli the only one who could get anywhere close to him.
It’s going to be a big day – with probably just as much focus on the new regulations and how they’ve changed the sport as there is on the actual racing – so get comfy.
