Russell dominates Australian GP qualifying after Verstappen crash

The British driver and pre-season title favourite topped every session under mostly sunny skies in Melbourne, ultimately setting the fastest time of 1m18.518s to secure top spot, two tenths clear of his teammate Kimi Antonelli.

It was an impressive performance from Antonelli, with the Italian securing his second career front-row start after his Mercedes team delivered an incredible effort to repair his car following a heavy crash in practice earlier in the day.

The turnaround ensured he was able to take part in qualifying at all, let alone compete near the sharp end.

Isack Hadjar was another standout performer in his first qualifying session as a Red Bull driver, finishing third to equal his best-ever career qualifying result.

It was a however a very different story for his teammate Max Verstappen, with the four-time world champion spectacularly crashing early in the session.

The Dutchman lost the rear end of his Red Bull at the halfway point of Q1 without having set a lap time. Verstappen immediately complained on the radio about losing the rear end of his RB22, which speared into the gravel backwards before striking the wall, ending his session in the worst possible fashion.

“Car just f**cking locked on the rear axles. Fantastic,” he said as the team asked if he was okay.

The Dutchman emerged from the car seemingly unscathed, although he paid some attention to his right hand. His mechanics are now left with significant repairs to complete overnight ahead of the race.

Max Verstappen is OUT of Qualifying, with no time set! 😳

This is the moment where the Red Bull driver spins into the wall at Turn 1 👇#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/M2XKoapEMl

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 7, 2026

At the front of the grid, Russell said he was delighted with his pole position.

“It was a great day,” he said.

“We knew there was a lot of potential in the car but until you get to this first Saturday you never know.”

“I’m excited for the race tomorrow. I think it can bring some exciting racing…hopefully we can deliver a good race.”

He added that the race outlook remains challenging but expressed confidence in converting his starting position into victory.

“I think a lot of the simple of the things were in the past, race stops, pit stops, a hell of a lot more challenging with these cars,” he said.

“Who knows what will happen tomorrow, the team will work hard tonight. But we’re in the best possible position for it.”

Antonelli echoed those sentiments, reflecting on an emotionally and physically demanding day after his earlier crash.

“It’s been a very very stressful day,” he said.

“The mechanics today were the heroes. We didn’t even have time to set up the car.

“It was not easy and I had to dig deep. I need to have a clean weekend next time as I definitely compromised qualifying today.”

Hadjar, meanwhile, said he was satisfied with his performance, particularly after finishing ahead of both McLarens and Ferraris.

“It was a very smooth qualifying, the run-up was a bit difficult and we were not really in the position to fight for the top three,” Hadjar said.

“I felt like the Ferraris and the McLarens were a bit clear. But we built up to it and it was a good last lap.”

He added he was hopeful of maintaining his position and challenging for the podium in the race.

“I want to keep my position – a second podium would be cool”.

The final part of qualifying was not without drama, with a brief red flag interruption required to clear debris from the track after a cooling fan left on Antonelli’s Mercedes fell from the car and was run over by the McLaren of Lando Norris, with the team under investigation for the incident.

Norris returned to his garage for checks on his McLaren before being sent back out once the session resumed. The reigning world champion ultimately finished qualifying in sixth place, one spot behind teammate Oscar Piastri.

The Australian briefly threatened a top-three start in the closing moments before dropping down the order following late improvements from Hadjar and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who will line up fourth on the grid.

The second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton could not match his teammate’s final-lap pace and will start seventh, ahead of the Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, who will be delighted with their performance, with Lindblad securing a top-10 result on his Formula 1 debut.

Gabriel Bortoleto did enough to progress to the final segment of qualifying and place Audi inside the top 10 on their debut, but he was unable to set a time in Q3 after stopping on track at the end of Q2 due to a technical issue.

His Audi teammate Nico Hulkenberg narrowly missed out on Q3 by just one tenth of a second, falling short in the closing moments of the session.

It was a frustrating outcome for the German, who had shown competitive pace throughout the earlier stages but ultimately came up just shy of progression.

Hulkenberg was joined in the Q2 elimination zone by the Haas pair of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon, who were unable to translate their encouraging pre-season form into a Q3 appearance in the opening qualifying session of the year.

The Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto also exited in Q2, with the Williams of Alex Albon splitting the pair to qualify 15th, placing him directly between them on the grid.

In Q1, both Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas were eliminated as expected, with Perez edging his teammate by one tenth of a second to finish 18th and 19th respectively, just behind the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

Alonso produced a determined effort in the opening segment, missing out on progression to Q2 by just seven tenths of a second.

He briefly appeared safe until a late flying lap from Colapinto pushed him into the drop zone in the final moments, denying him what would have been a remarkable passage into the next session.

Despite that encouraging display, Aston Martin’s overall struggles continued, with Lance Stroll not leaving his garage during qualifying.

He was joined by Carlos Sainz as the only two drivers not to emerge from the pits, with the Spaniard unable to have his earlier practice issues resolved. Both will start from the back of the grid.

With practice and qualifying complete in Melbourne, attention now turns to the race, which begins at 3pm AEDT on Sunday.