2 months ago
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George Russell struck the archetypal stroke successful the Formula One title for Mercedes arsenic helium claimed an emphatic triumph successful the season-opening Australian Grand Prix up of teammate Kimi Antonelli and crushed an aboriginal situation from Ferrari.
Having dominated qualifying, pole-sitter Russell's archetypal triumph at Albert Park underlined Mercedes' promising pre-season form.
The Briton finished astir 3 seconds up of Antonelli, with Leclerc more than 15 seconds down connected a cloudy day astatine the lakeside circuit connected Sunday (March 8, 2026).
Russell engaged successful a thrilling aboriginal duel with Leclerc arsenic the racers swapped the lead 7 times successful the opening 9 laps.
But determination was soon daylight betwixt Mercedes and the rest.
After swapping retired mean tyres early pursuing a virtual information car deployment, Russell rode the hard compounds for 45 laps and Mercedes' gait did the rest.
"Great occupation everybody, it's been a agelong clip since we've been here," helium said implicit the squad radio.
It was a pugnacious time for McLaren, with location leader Oscar Piastri's contention implicit earlier it begun with a clang during a reconnaissance thigh immoderate 40 minutes earlier the start.
His teammate and defending champion Lando Norris finished fifth, 1 place down seven-times satellite champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari.
Four-times champion Max Verstappen was sixth for Red Bull.
Only 20 of the 22 cars started, with Audi's Nico Hulkenberg scratched conscionable earlier the contention due to a reliability problem.
Another 3 cars failed to finish, Red Bull's Isack Hadjar among them.
