Aston Martin opens Formula 1’s new era in a dramatic Melbourne weekend
The 2026 Formula 1 season began in Melbourne with promise, disruption and no shortage of storylines. For Aston Martin, the Australian Grand Prix was shaped by limited running, reliability setbacks and a race that ended without a classified finish for either Fernando Alonso or Lance Stroll. Yet around them, the wider picture of the new season already began to take shape: Mercedes struck first, Ferrari looked fast, McLaren had pace but little luck, and the competitive order remains far from settled.
2026 Formula 1 standings
Follow the latest results from the Formula 1 Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships throughout the season.
Constructors’ Championship
| Pos | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | 43 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 27 |
| 3 | McLaren | 10 |
| 4 | Red Bull Racing | 8 |
| 5 | Haas F1 Team | 6 |
| 6 | Racing Bulls | 4 |
| 7 | Audi | 2 |
| 8 | Alpine | 1 |
| 9 | Williams | 0 |
| 10 | Cadillac | 0 |
| 11 | Aston Martin | 0 |
Drivers’ Championship
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russel | 25 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 18 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | 15 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | 12 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | 10 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | 8 |
| 7 | Oliver Bearman | 6 |
| 8 | Arvid Lindblad | 4 |
| 9 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 2 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | 1 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | 0 |
| 12 | Alexander Albon | 0 |
| 13 | Liam Lawson | 0 |
| 14 | Franco Colapinto | 0 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | 0 |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | 0 |
| 17 | Isack Hadjar | 0 |
| 18 | Oscar Piastri | 0 |
| 19 | Nico Hulkenberg | 0 |
| 20 | Fernando Alonso | 0 |
| 21 | Valtteri Bottas | 0 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | 0 |
A difficult start for Aston Martin
Aston Martin’s opening weekend never found a smooth rhythm. Fernando Alonso missed FP1 because of a suspected power-unit issue, while Lance Stroll also lost valuable track time on Friday and then sat out FP3 after an ICE problem. By the time Qualifying arrived, the team was already chasing mileage.
The front-runners showed their cards
Ferrari set the tone in FP1, Oscar Piastri put McLaren on top in FP2, and George Russell finished fastest in FP3 before converting that pace into pole for Mercedes. It was a weekend that suggested several teams can threaten at the front, even if Mercedes left Melbourne with the biggest reward.
A race that kept changing shape
Charles Leclerc grabbed the lead at the start, Mercedes controlled the decisive phase, and the Grand Prix also featured major setbacks elsewhere: Oscar Piastri crashed on his way to the grid, Isack Hadjar retired from a promising position, and Aston Martin saw both cars drop out before the finish.
Three defining themes of Aston Martin’s weekend
Melbourne was not a story of raw pace alone. For Aston Martin, the Australian Grand Prix was shaped by a shortage of laps, a difficult build-up to Qualifying and an afternoon on Sunday that never allowed the team to convert effort into a result.
Across the three practice sessions, Aston Martin collected useful data but not the uninterrupted preparation the team needed. Alonso recovered valuable laps in FP2 and FP3, while Stroll’s disrupted running left the garage trying to compress an entire weekend’s learning into a very small window.
Alonso’s 1:21.969 briefly looked enough to reach Q2 before he was pushed back to P17, which at least hinted at more potential than the earlier sessions suggested. Stroll, however, could not take part after the team ran out of time to rebuild his car following the FP3 issue.
Sunday summed up the frustration of the weekend. Alonso retired after 21 laps, Stroll was later classified as not finished after completing 43, and Aston Martin left Albert Park with more questions than points. The pace picture for the midfield remains open, but Melbourne offered no final answer for green.
How the rest of the field framed Aston Martin’s weekend
Aston Martin’s struggles become even clearer when set against the wider story in Melbourne. The teams at the front all left Albert Park with different reasons for optimism, while the midfield once again looked dense and unforgiving.
George Russell took pole and then led Mercedes to a 1–2 finish ahead of Kimi Antonelli. In a weekend where others flashed pace at different moments, Mercedes were the team that stitched the key sessions together most effectively.
Ferrari topped FP1 and then finished third and fourth in the race, while McLaren showed pace through Norris and Piastri but left with less than it threatened to achieve. Piastri’s pre-start crash in front of his home crowd was one of the biggest shocks of the weekend.
While rivals worked on extracting performance, Aston Martin spent too much of the weekend trying to restore basic track time. The car may still hold untapped potential, but Melbourne showed how costly it is to begin on the back foot in such a tightly packed field.
Australian Grand Prix 2026 – key weekend moments
Swipe horizontally on mobile to move through the defining snapshots of Melbourne.
A timeline of Aston Martin’s Australian Grand Prix weekend
From disrupted preparation to a race without a finish, Melbourne unfolded as a demanding season opener for Aston Martin.
Melbourne did not reveal the finished picture of Aston Martin’s 2026 season. What it did reveal is how brutally expensive lost mileage can become when a new Formula 1 era begins.
Weekend details worth noting
- Ferrari led FP1 through Charles Leclerc before McLaren and Mercedes each topped later sessions.
- Aston Martin completed 62 laps across the three practice sessions, but the total still masked a disrupted programme.
- Fernando Alonso qualified 17th with a 1:21.969 after narrowly missing out on Q2.
- Lance Stroll did not set a Qualifying lap after his FP3 ICE issue prevented the car from being rebuilt in time.
- George Russell won the race from Kimi Antonelli as Mercedes opened 2026 with a 1–2 finish.
- Fernando retired after 21 laps and Lance after 43, leaving Aston Martin without a classified finisher in Melbourne.