STRATEGY GUIDE: What are the tactical options for the 2026 season opener in Australia?Matt Youson takes a look at the different pit stop and tyre options that are available to the teams for the season opener at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne.
In the end, when it mattered, Mercedes had all the pace they needed to comfortably lock-out the front row. George Russell took his ninth pole position, three-tenths clear of team-mate Kimi Antonelli and then… daylight.
Isack Hadjar was eight-tenths off pole in P3 – a gap that last year may have covered all ten teams – but perhaps more shocking was the sight of Hadjar’s team mate Max Verstappen failing to complete a lap after his crash at Turn 1. The upside for Verstappen, and indeed anyone not driving a Mercedes, is that Sunday’s race isn’t going to be decided by Qualifying position.
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