Australian GP 2026
George Russell won round 1 of 23 for Mercedes at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia, on 2026-03-08. This is a conventional weekend: three practice sessions, qualifying on Saturday, one race. The full classification, the standings as they stood afterwards and every session time in Finnish time are below.
This is round 1 of 23 on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar, a conventional weekend, with 22 Grand Prixs after it. 6 of the 23 rounds use the sprint format. The full F1 calendar lists every one in Finnish time and the fantasy guide explains how this weekend scores.
Australian GP F1 Session Times In Finnish Time
All 5 sessions, converted with the Europe/Helsinki zone rather than a fixed offset — which matters this season because six rounds fall in EET and round 18 straddles the October changeover. The right-hand column is the circuit's own local clock.
| Session | Day | Finnish time | Circuit time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Fri 6 Mar | 03:30 EET | 02:30 |
| Practice 2 | Fri 6 Mar | 07:00 EET | 06:00 |
| Practice 3 | Sat 7 Mar | 03:30 EET | 02:30 |
| Qualifying | Sat 7 Mar | 07:00 EET | 06:00 |
| Race | Sun 8 Mar | 06:00 EET | 05:00 |
How To Watch The Australian GP In Finland
Every session of the 2026 Formula 1 season is on Viaplay in Finland, including practice. That is the only Finnish Formula 1 rights-holder, so there is no free-to-air alternative for this Grand Prix. The weekend opens with Practice 1 at 03:30 EET on Fri and closes with Race at 06:00 on Sun — the countdown at the top of this page tracks whichever comes next.
Our Formula 1 desk covers the weekend as it happens, and the F2 and F3 desk covers the support races that share the bill at most Grand Prix weekends.
If you are reading from outside Finland, the countdown adds your own local clock beside the Finnish time rather than replacing it. Every other F1 round is listed the same way on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar, and the F1 results archive carries each Grand Prix once it has run.
The Circuit: Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit
The Australian GP is held at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, at -37.8497, 144.968. The reference record for this circuit, including its full history of Formula 1 rounds, is the circuit's own entry.
Track knowledge is why an F1 Grand Prix page is worth keeping separate from a season page: a Formula 1 lap at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit is not an F1 lap anywhere else, and the pit lane, the grid slot that matters and the corner that decides this Grand Prix are specific to Melbourne.
The most recent championship round here went 57 laps, which is the distance to plan a viewing around.
Australian GP 2026 Grand Prix Full Result
George Russell led home Andrea Kimi Antonelli by +2.974 over 58 laps from grid slot 1. The classified order below is the official one, with everyone who failed to finish named underneath it.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Grid | Time / status | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | George Russell | Mercedes | 1 | 1:23:06.801 | 25 |
| 2. | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 2 | +2.974 | 18 |
| 3. | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 4 | +15.519 | 15 |
| 4. | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 7 | +16.144 | 12 |
| 5. | Lando Norris | McLaren | 6 | +51.741 | 10 |
| 6. | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 20 | +54.617 | 8 |
| 7. | Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 12 | +4.593 | 6 |
| 8. | Arvid Lindblad | RB F1 Team | 9 | +11.816 | 4 |
| 9. | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 10 | +12.775 | 2 |
| 10. | Pierre Gasly | Alpine F1 Team | 14 | +29.027 | 1 |
Of the 22 starters, 16 did not see the finish: Bearman (Lapped), Lindblad (Lapped), Bortoleto (Lapped), Gasly (Lapped), Ocon (Lapped), Albon (Lapped), Lawson (Lapped), Colapinto (Lapped), Sainz (Lapped), Pérez (Lapped), Stroll (Lapped), Alonso (Retired), Bottas (Retired), Hadjar (Retired), Piastri (Did not start), Hülkenberg (Did not start). Retirements are given by cause rather than dropped from the table, because a retirement is usually the thing that decided the afternoon.
Australian GP Grand Prix Qualifying
George Russell took pole for Mercedes with a 1:18.518. The top ten below is the order that set the grid, with each driver's best time in the session they were eliminated in.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:19.507 | 1:18.934 | 1:18.518 |
| 2. | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:20.120 | 1:19.435 | 1:18.811 |
| 3. | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | 1:20.023 | 1:19.653 | 1:19.303 |
| 4. | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:20.226 | 1:19.357 | 1:19.327 |
| 5. | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:19.664 | 1:19.525 | 1:19.380 |
| 6. | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:20.010 | 1:19.882 | 1:19.475 |
F1 Championship Standings After Round 1
George Russell led on 25 points after this round, 7 clear of Andrea Kimi Antonelli. This is the table as it stood at the time, not today — the current one is in the results archive.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | George Russell | Mercedes | 25 |
| 2. | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 18 |
| 3. | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 15 |
| 4. | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 12 |
| 5. | Lando Norris | McLaren | 10 |
| 6. | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 8 |
| 7. | Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 6 |
| 8. | Arvid Lindblad | RB F1 Team | 4 |
| 9. | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 2 |
| 10. | Pierre Gasly | Alpine F1 Team | 1 |
| 21. | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac F1 Team | 0 |
Constructors After This Round
Mercedes led the constructors' table on 43 points at this point in the season. The teams' order tends to move more slowly than the drivers', which is what makes it the better read on whether an upgrade actually worked.
| Pos | Team | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mercedes | 1 | 43 |
| 2. | Ferrari | 0 | 27 |
| 3. | McLaren | 0 | 10 |
| 4. | Red Bull | 0 | 8 |
| 5. | Haas F1 Team | 0 | 6 |
| 6. | RB F1 Team | 0 | 4 |
| 7. | Audi | 0 | 2 |
| 8. | Alpine F1 Team | 0 | 1 |
| 9. | Williams | 0 | 0 |
| 10. | Cadillac F1 Team | 0 | 0 |
| 11. | Aston Martin | 0 | 0 |
The Finnish Angle On This F1 Grand Prix
Valtteri Bottas finished 19 for Cadillac F1 Team from grid slot 19 — Retired. He is the only Finn on the 2026 grid, and this is the figure no competing preview of this round bothers to give a Finnish reader.
Away from Formula 1 the Finnish contingent is larger: 6 Finns are in the World Rally Championship, where Esapekka Lappi is 8th on 25 points for Hyundai. The driver pages track all of them round by round, and the junior ladder is where the next ones come from.
Next Sessions Across The Season
| Session | Event | Finnish time |
|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Italian GP | Fri 13:30 EEST |
| Practice 2 | Italian GP | Fri 17:00 EEST |
| Practice 3 | Italian GP | Sat 13:30 EEST |
| Qualifying | Italian GP | Sat 17:00 EEST |
| Race | Italian GP | Sun 16:00 EEST |
Previous And Next F1 Round
- Round 2: Chinese GPWhat follows, with session times already in Finnish time.
- The full 2026 calendarAll 23 rounds and 115 sessions, downloadable as a calendar file.
- 2026 results archiveEvery completed round and the current championship table.
This page is currently showing the classification and the standings as they stood after the race. It is rebuilt as the F1 weekend progresses rather than replaced by a separate report, so this one address carries the preview beforehand and the result afterwards.
Session times are converted to Europe/Helsinki from the RacingNews365 match centre; the classification, championship positions, sprint result and previous runnings are the official record via the Jolpica Ergast mirror. Both sources agree round for round on the 2026 calendar. Checked 26 August 2026.