Formula 1 is back with another season. Two new teams, a new rookie, plenty of early action and rivalries, and a race in Australia.
As an avid F1 fan, I am thrilled about the start of the new season. After a great result for McLaren and Lando Norris for the end of the 2025 season, this season brings new opportunities across the whole grid. No spoilers quite yet, but so far there has been a lot of excitement, and it’s only the first race of the season.
That’s enough yap. Visors on, lights out, let’s break it down.
Australian Grand Prix
The first stop brought us to Melbourne, home of the Australian Grand Prix. The race overall was very entertaining, but it also revealed weaknesses throughout the teams.
Starting with Free Practice 1 (FP1), Charles Leclerc was the fastest driver of the session. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, finished 2nd (P2), making it a Ferrari 1-2. Wrapping up the top three was Max Verstappen in 3rd position (P3). Arvid Lindblad, the only rookie on the 2026 grid, delivered a strong performance, setting the 5th-fastest time in the session and claiming 5th position (P5).
Throughout the session, a few teams had some issues. McLaren struggled quite a bit, with Oscar Piastri idling at one point while on track. Meanwhile, Lando Norris had gearbox issues.
McLaren wasn’t the only team with issues, though. Williams saw a hydraulic issue with Alex Albon’s car, with Albon reporting to the team that the car felt too heavy. Albon’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, had an issue in the pit lane where his car stalled, causing a red flag for the session.
In Free Practice 2 (FP2), Piastri set the fastest time, with the Mercedes pair pulling a 2-3. Russell claimed P2, while Antonelli was in P3. Other than that, FP2 was pretty uneventful.
Moving on to Saturday, Free Practice 3 (FP3) started the day off. Russell took P1 with the fastest lap time of the session, and was followed by the Ferraris in P2 and P3. Antonelli crashed, causing a shock during FP3. He ended up okay, just a little shaken by the crash.
To end the day off, qualifying rolled around. Max Verstappen had a shocking crash in the first qualifying session (Q1) due to a mechanical issue with his Red Bull. In the end, Russell claimed pole position, with Antonelli in P2 and Isack Hadjar in P3.
Sunday finally came around, and two of the drivers weren’t able to even start the race. Both Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg failed to make it to the grid due to mechanical issues. That, however, wasn’t the end of mechanical issues during the race. Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso, and Valtteri Bottas all had their fair share of mechanical troubles, causing all three drivers to retire from the race.
Alonso was able to come back from a race retirement, but unfortunately, he was told to retire the car yet again, ending his race.
Once the race was over, it was Russell standing on top in P1, with his teammate, Antonelli, coming in P2. Leclerc rounded off the podium, coming in P3 to get his season started. Lindblad had a strong result on his Formula 1 debut, finishing P8 and earning his first 4 points to get his career started. 
Takeaways
As I said earlier, so much action has already happened, and this was only the season debut. Let’s go through some of the takeaways from this first race.
The first thing I want to note is Aston Martin. During the weekend in Australia, Alonso and Stroll let the team know that the car was shocking them. And I mean literally shocking them. Both drivers reported feeling an electrical sensation through their steering wheels and seats, and the team hasn’t been able to make any changes.
It leaves me wondering how Aston Martin is even allowed to run its car, especially if it’s causing drivers pain. While there’s no official answer to what the issue is, if this is a power-unit issue where these “shocks” are actually electric shocks, it could get very dangerous very quickly.
Not only has Aston Martin seen their own issues, but there have also been reliability issues across the grid. McLaren seems to have its own mechanical issues, which is surprising given that they are the reigning constructors’ champions.
Williams also looks like they’re dealing with reliability issues, with both Albon and Sainz reporting issues during the weekend in Australia. Now, it’s important to remember that the season just started, and with it came new regulations for the cars.
Despite all of this, it seems like Mercedes has the current advantage, with Ferrari not too far behind. Will this season see Mercedes coming out on top? Maybe even Ferrari success? We’re just going to have to see how the season progresses, and it looks like it’ll be fun to watch.
Stay strapped in and keep your head down; this is going to be an incredible season.
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