Sports · 7 March 2026
Russell sets pole as Mercedes dominate Australian GP qualifying
Steffen Prößdorf via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
George Russell secured pole position for the Australian Grand Prix with a commanding lap of 1:18.518, underlining Mercedes’ strong start to the season. Teammate Kimi Antonelli impressed by qualifying second, 0.293 seconds behind, while Isack Hadjar took third ahead of Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri. The session was briefly halted in Q3 after debris from Antonelli’s car a piece of cooling equipment was left on the track and shattered when struck by Lando Norris, prompting a red flag for clean-up. Lewis Hamilton qualified seventh, nearly a second off Russell’s pace.