Australian GP driver ratings: Russell shines, day to forget for DNS Piastri

The Australian Grand Prix provided an intriguing start to Formula 1’s new era, with plenty of movement up and down the field.

The Mercedes duo brought home a 1-2 finish at Albert Park on Sunday, while Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium. Here’s a look at how we rated each driver.

F1 driver ratings: 2026 Australian Grand Prix

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George Russell – 8.5

George Russell looked pretty imperious throughout the weekend in Australia, took pole by a healthy margin and didn’t seem fazed after losing the lead early on.

Made a lengthy one-stop strategy work with Ferrari unable to close in late on, and enjoyed a feisty battle with Leclerc as he jostled for the lead.

Kimi Antonelli – 8

A strong recovery drive from the young Italian, whose blot on his copybook came from the start, falling down towards the bottom of the top 10 after a poor getaway.

Like Russell, kept his composure to bring himself back into contention, and was rarely troubled on his way back to P2 come the chequered flag.

Charles Leclerc – 8

So, our eyes weren’t deceiving us when we saw how quickly Ferrari could get off the line in testing.

An absolute rocket of a getaway from Leclerc was followed by a strong back-and-forth battle for the lead with Russell, and who knows? Had Ferrari pitted along with the rest of the field, he may have been in with a chance late on.

Leclerc himself didn’t seem to think so, but there’s no way of knowing now.

Lewis Hamilton – 7.5

Qualified a tenth away from Leclerc but had both McLarens sandwiched in between on the grid – until Oscar Piastri crashed out pre-race – and did well to make his way up a couple of places after running slightly wide at Turn 1, which sent him down several positions.

Closed right up to the back of Leclerc on the final lap, after questioning why Ferrari didn’t pit at least one driver under VSC conditions.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but a solid afternoon for Hamilton.

Lando Norris – 7

Made the most of what was available to him after lining up on the third row, with a second stop giving him a final stint on the less preferable medium tyre.

Managed to keep Verstappen at bay throughout the closing stages, but with Ferrari and Mercedes much further up the road, there was not much else he could have done.

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2026 Australian Grand Prix – F1 results (Albert Park)

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Max Verstappen – 7

Scythed through the field from the back and managed to bring home the fan-voted Driver of the Day award as a result.

Granted, the P20 starting slot was no fault of his own after the locking of his rear axle, but managed to overcut much of the field to end up where he did, in sixth, a solid afternoon’s work.

Though, as he put it, he was overtaking cars he should be overtaking.

Ollie Bearman – 7.5

Up five places on his grid slot come the chequered flag, good points for Ollie Bearman as he started the season.

Had a ding-dong battle with Lindblad to take that spot, with the two going back and forth on several occasions before the Haas driver made it stick.

Arvid Lindblad – 8

Points on debut for Lindblad as he briefly ran towards the top three after being another beneficiary of a strong start.

Wasn’t afraid to get his elbows out, either, giving three World Champions in Norris, Verstappen and Hamilton a hard time in battle, as well as drawing a response from Isack Hadjar when defending from him.

He becomes the third-youngest points scorer in Formula 1 history with this result, making the most of his afternoon.

Gabriel Bortoleto – 7.5

Audi showed promise on its first weekend after taking over the Sauber operation, and Gabriel Bortoleto converted his top-10 start into points.

Rose back through the pack including the dice just behind him, so these points were well-earned come the chequered flag for the Brazilian.

Pierre Gasly – 7

Another strong starter, Pierre Gasly also had a back-and-forth battle with longtime rival Esteban Ocon for the final point.

The two exchanged positions on multiple occasions, but it was the current Alpine driver who came out on top and secured a point.

Esteban Ocon – 6

Ocon had a good stab at getting in the points, rising a couple of places from his grid slot to finish narrowly outside the top 10.

As mentioned, his battle with Gasly was fun to watch, but he came out on the wrong side of it.

Alex Albon – 6

Williams did not appear able to challenge at Albert Park, but it was Alex Albon who managed to finish ahead on the road.

He was at the head of the lower midfield – not a title he would want, mind – but it proved a difficult afternoon as a lack of pace hurt Williams.

Liam Lawson – 5

A solid qualifying showing from Liam Lawson, but that quickly came undone at the start – bogging down and losing a heap of places.

It was always going to be difficult to recover from there, and while he had a go, he was unable to fully do so.

Franco Colapinto – 5.5

Did well to recover from his ‘Colapinto-and-go’ penalty, as was broadcast on TV, to catch the back of the pack. Also showed lightning reactions at the start to not collect the back of the almost-stalled Lawson on the grid.

He kept his car just about out of the wall, but ended up two laps down.

Carlos Sainz – 5

A pretty tricky day from Sainz’s perspective, admitting there were issues “one on top of the other” and he used much of the race for data gathering.

A mid-race switch to soft tyres came to help him try the compound for the first time in race conditions, so it became a testing session relatively quickly.

Sergio Perez – 6

Not much else Perez could have done with the package underneath him, finishing three laps down come the chequered flag.

That didn’t stop him getting his elbows out when Liam Lawson tried to get by, and it was a valuable race for Cadillac to gather data as it begins its journey as a team.

Lance Stroll – 6

Officially classified despite ending the race off track, with Aston Martin having used the race to rack up as many laps as possible.

Did his job diligently by gathering data in race conditions, with the team opting against completing the race when it became clear points were not on the table.

Did not finish

Fernando Alonso – 6.5

Gets a bonus based on his start alone, doing as Fernando Alonso does in gaining seven places on the first lap.

Something of a hokey-cokey race in that he was in, out, in and out again, but there wasn’t enough pace available to make too many inroads from there.

Valtteri Bottas – 6

Like Perez, Bottas’ job at Cadillac was mostly about trying to get to the finish, but was told to stop the car at one-third race distance.

Not much else he could have done in that scenario.

Isack Hadjar – 7

Has a good score based on his impressive qualifying showing, and Hadjar had challenged for the lead at the start of the race.

Bounced around the top six in the early stages, but an engine issue forced him out.

Oscar Piastri – DNS

A solid qualifying showing, but a Sunday that Oscar Piastri will want to forget about quickly.

He held his hands up and took his fair share of blame for not even making the start at all, but piling into the wall on a reconnaissance lap is not something that should happen.

Nico Hulkenberg – DNS

A solid start for Audi appeared derailed by Nico Hulkenberg being taken off the grid with an issue.

He was unable to start, but signs appear encouraging otherwise for Audi’s performance.

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