Mercedes clinched a 1-2 finish at the Australian Grand Prix season opener, making them the clear winners of the weekend.
However, with 22 drivers and 11 teams, there were others with statement drives, whilst some left Melbourne with more problems than points.
Here, Sport Just Sport writer Ella Magyar gives her winners and losers from a thrilling opening race of the 2026 season.
Winner – Ferrari
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc rounded off the podium with a third-place finish. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton came home just behind in fourth place.
Both Ferrari drivers rocketed off the start, with Leclerc ending up in first place after turn one, having started fourth on the grid.
Hamilton also made a good start, finishing lap one in third place, having started seventh.
Leclerc proved quite a match against Mercedes’ George Russell, who everyone expected to run off into the distance in first place, having secured pole position in qualifying.
The pair sure made for an exciting race start, fighting for first place and swapping positions seven times over the first 10 laps.
However, despite this start, Ferrari made a slight strategy error when a virtual safety car came out on lap 11 due to a stricken Isack Hadjar.
With Mercedes pitting both cars, Ferrari opted not to pit either of their cars. This meant that the Mercedes pair emerged just behind and on fresher tyres when the race resumed.
Ultimately, the Ferrari duo were unable to hold off the Mercedes.
Despite this, Ferrari showed a promising performance throughout the race, certainly a more positive start to the 2025 campaign.
This was reflected in both drivers’ post-race interviews, where they expressed optimism for the races ahead and felt the team had delivered a strong showing.
READ MORE: F1 news: George Russell wins thrilling Australian Grand Prix to open 2026 season
Loser – Aston Martin
Unsurprisingly, the Australian Grand Prix was a poor showing from the Aston Martin team.
Their weekend was already off to a difficult start when Fernando Alonso qualified in 17th, whilst team-mate Lance Stroll was unable to even participate in the qualifying session.
Things started to look up for Aston Martin when Alonso made it up to 10th place by the end of lap one.
However, this hope was shortlived when Alonso received the radio message “stop the car, we have an issue” on lap 14.
He entered the pit lane to retire the car – but rejoined the race 11 laps later to collect additional data before having to return to the pits on lap 35 to retire the car for good.
Whilst Stroll was lacking the pace of his team-mate and running further back in the order, his initial reliability with the car showed more promise.
However, on lap 36, Stroll was also told to retire the car.
Like Alonso, Stroll rejoined the race on lap 50 but was 12 laps behind the leader.
He did manage to make it to the end of the race and see the chequered flag, but he had not completed 90% of the race winner’s distance and so ended up a non-classified finisher like his team-mate.
Winner – Max Verstappen
After a shock crash in qualifying due to a car issue, Max Verstappen only managed to qualify in 20th place ahead of the two other cars that did not take part in the session.
Things were looking less than promising for the Red Bull driver heading into Sunday’s race.
However, the four-time world champion is known for his comeback drives and executed yet another one in Melbourne.
By the end of lap one, Verstappen had already made it up to 16th.
With strong pace and battery management, the Dutchman ultimately managed to bring the car home in sixth place and secured driver of the day.
Loser – Oscar Piastri
After spinning out and losing a podium finish at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, Piastri was aiming for redemption this time out and hoping to break the Australian ‘home race curse’ theory.
Unfortunately, things went even worse this time around for the home hero, as he crashed the car on the reconnaissance lap to the grid, meaning his race was over before it had even begun.
In the media pen, Piastri reported that it was a “combination of bad factors”, both driver error and car issues, that caused the disastrous mistake.
Either way, it was a bitter blow for the Australian and his team, leaving just one McLaren car in the race.
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Winner – Newcomers
For most of the newcomers of the 2026 season, the race provided strong results.
Racing Bull’s rookie driver, Arvid Linblad, had outperformed his team-mate all weekend, with the exception of Q3, and managed to qualify in an impressive ninth place.
His race start was even stronger as he momentarily shot up to third place by the end of lap one.
Although he ultimately lost this position, the race saw him battling well with some of the greatest, and he finished in an impressive eighth place, scoring points on debut.
Another strong newcomer performance came from a rookie team, Audi.
Nico Hülkenberg was unable to partake in the race due to mechanical issues discovered on the reconnaissance lap – but team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto carried the team to points on debut.
Having made Q3 and qualifying in 10th place, Bortoleto showed decent pace throughout the race and, despite losing a place at the start, managed to reclaim two more spots to finish in ninth, bringing home important points for the team.
Loser – Cadillac
The final newcomer, Cadillac, had a less impressive start to their F1 journey.
Having qualified as the slowest cars to set a time, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas started in 18th and 19th, respectively.
The start of the race was nothing special either, and things went from bad to worse on lap 18 when Bottas was told to stop the car immediately at pit lane entry, causing another virtual safety car and pit lane closure.
Before his mechanical issues caused him to retire from the race, Bottas was already struggling in last place, being a minute and seven seconds behind the next car of Stroll.
Perez did not experience the same reliability gremlins as his team-mate, but he was equally off the pace, finishing last of those classified, three laps down and 55.7 seconds behind Carlos Sainz in 15th.
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SportJustSport writers 
Aidan Leo