Australian Grand Prix

16 /Sergio Perez / /+3 Laps 17 /Lance Stroll / /+15 Laps 18 /Fernando Alonso / /DNF 19 /Valtteri Bottas / /DNF 20 /Isack Hadjar / /DNF 21 /Oscar Piastri / /DNS 22 /Nico Hulkenberg / /DNS 20 of the 22 entrants started the race. Nico Hülkenberg's Audi suffered technical issues before the start.

Oscar Piastri crashed his McLaren on a reconnaissance lap after experiencing an unexpected power surge. At the start, the Ferrari cars shot forward.

Polesitter George Russell found himself sandwiched between Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton; Russell's teammate Kimi Antonelli briefly dropped to seventh. Over the next several laps, Russell and Leclerc repeatedly exchanged the lead.

Russell used his electric boosts to overpower Leclerc at various turns, but this drained his battery, allowing Leclerc to respond tit-for-tat with his own boosts and retake the lead each time. On lap 11, Isack Hadjar, on his debut for the Red Bull team, retired with an engine issue, triggering a virtual safety car (VSC).

Both Mercedes drivers pitted, while both Ferrari drivers stayed out. Ferrari planned a one-stop strategy and was hoping to pit later in the race to gain the tyre advantage over the faster Mercedes; this decision left Mercedes racing in clear air and Russell rapidly cut into the Ferraris' lead on track.

From there, Mercedes controlled the race. The next VSC came on lap 16, when the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas retired with mechanical issues.

By this time, Russell was too close for Ferrari to pit and retain the lead, and the pit lane was closed to recover Bottas's car before either Ferrari could make a pit stop. Ferrari made their pitstop midway through the race without the benefit of a safety car, allowing Russell and Antonelli to take first and second place.

Russell and Antonelli saw off the challenge and completed the race on 46-lap-old hard tyres. Despite Ferrari's tyre delta advantage, Russell posted essentially identical lap times to Leclerc after the latter pitted, prompting Leclerc to comment that Mercedes was hiding its true pace.

In the closing laps, Antonelli cut Russell's lead from six seconds to three, and Hamilton closed in on Leclerc, but neither was able to overtake their teammate, and the top three was formed by Russell, Antonelli and Leclerc. This marked Mercedes's first 1–2 finish since the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, which Russell also won.

With his victory, Russell picked up his sixth victory in Formula One, and led the Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career. Finishing fifth and sixth were the last two World Champions, McLaren's Lando Norris and Red Bull's Max Verstappen, the latter recovering from twentieth place at the start.

The two drivers had a lengthy duel in the final half of the race, though Verstappen suffered tyre wear and dropped off at the end. The Haas of Oliver Bearman took seventh and Arvid Lindblad, making his debut in Formula One, finished eighth in his Racing Bulls.

Gabriel Bortoleto of Audi scored that team's first Formula One points in ninth. Rounding out the top ten, Pierre Gasly of Alpine picked up the final point of the day after holding off Haas's Esteban Ocon.

Sergio Pérez recorded Cadillac's first-ever finish in his return to Formula One. Also noted was the 43-lap stint of Lance Stroll; due to the ongoing development difficulties at Aston Martin-Honda, neither car had been expected to complete more than 25 laps.

His teammate Fernando Alonso had an explosive start, passing seven drivers, but retired the car.