F1 Australian GP live commentary and updates - FP1
Follow along for updates from free practice ahead of Formula 1's Australian Grand Prix
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F1 2026 starts here!
Hello there! So, here we are. And here you are. Formula 1's 2026 season begins this weekend - and, fittingly, we're kicking off Down Under at Albert Park.
FP1 will kick off in about 40 minutes' time. For those who avoided testing, you'll get your first look at F1 2026 - and for those who watched the cars in Bahrain, we'll get a first look at the true competitive order.
Are you excited? We certainly are.
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Watch: What are the new F1 cars like to drive?
All change in 2026
New cars. New powertrains. New rules. Visually, we'll have active aero on pretty much every straight and deployment becomes another strategic variable.
Here's a look at what all the new terms mean.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
Who are the contenders in 2026?
One of the hints in testing was that the Big Four teams - Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull - would remain in the leading pack, but nobody's quite sure in which order.
Can Lando Norris chalk up a second title? He's potentially going to have a lot of competition from Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, his team-mate Oscar Piastri - and never, ever discount Max Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
Aston Martin's difficulties
One team hoping to make a splash with the new rules was Aston Martin - but a car that was four months late, plus a badly vibrating Honda powertrain, hurt the team severely in testing. Thus, it's going to be a struggle.
Suggestions are that the two Aston Martin drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, will struggle to rack up many laps across the weekend. Finishing the race would be a herculean feat.
15 minutes to FP1
Not long until FP1 opens for business in Melbourne. Plenty for us, and for the teams, to learn as they try to suss out their deployment modes for the weekend and for qualifying.
Plus, there's some new parts for the teams to try out as they've introduced some aero updates.
2026 newcomers!
We've got a new driver, a brand new team, and a new manufacturer on the grid.
New driver: Arvid Lindblad
Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Quinn Rooney / Getty Images
Lindblad joins the grid, stepping up to Racing Bulls after a year in Formula 2. He replaces the Red Bull-bound Isack Hadjar, as Yuki Tsunoda found himself out of a drive for this year.
New team: Cadillac
Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Giuseppe Cacace - AFP - Getty Images
Cadillac makes the move into F1, and has opted for a prudent approach to its first year. Its team is stocked with experienced staff, led by ex-Marussia team principal Graeme Lowdon, and has plucked Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas off the sidelines.
New manufacturer: Audi
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Giuseppe Cacace - AFP - Getty Images
Audi purchased Sauber and has turned it into a full manufacturer entity. It has retained Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, who are tasked with making Audi's first foray into F1 a success. While the team is experienced with developing cars, the new powertrain's performance level is unknown.
Weather report
It's a bit muggy out there. 20C ambient, 35C track temperature. That's not stopping a few of the fans fanning themselves off.
F1 2026 begins!
Here we go! Nico Hulkenberg was first to drive a 2026 car this year, and now he's first to hit the road. Ocon, Bearman, Hamilton, Antonelli, and Verstappen follow suit.
The field is very eager to hit the road from the get-go. Plenty to learn, plenty for the engineers to tuck into. All, except Gasly, Perez, Alonso, and Bottas are out on track.
Piastri's got a problem already - "I'm idling, but I've got tho throttle," he says. It seems like he's got it moving again.
But there's a Racing Bulls stuck on the pitlane exit - Lindblad is stationary. Can he get it moving? We have a VSC.
So, a couple of teething problems - a strange one for Lindblad, who did a lot of laps in testing. The VSC is now at an end, so we can get back up and running now.
"Something's not right," Piastri says - something to do with power delivery. Norris also struggling with downshifts, so McLaren has some hasty changes to make.
Lindblad appeared to stall, so potentially not a PU issue - even if it did sound a little bit rough.
Leclerc set a 1m31.362s, but this was quickly dispatched by Colapinto's 1m27.466s.
Russell now has a 1m26.483s, but Verstappen's 1m22.920s overlaps this. The laps are now about to come forth.
Alonso out of FP1
Fernando Alonso hasn't even been out of the pits yet - and he's going nowhere. "We found a suspected PU-related issue which will prevent Fernando from participating in FP1," the team says.
Ouch.
Antonelli does a 1m22.812s to go top, but he's beaten by Leclerc's 1m22.322s.
Verstappen hits back with a 1m22.305s to go faster by 0.017s. Still lots of time to find, and the times should dip below the 1m20s before long.
It's a 1m22.080s for Leclerc, so the times are continuing to tumble.
We've got a few cars in the pits, including both Aston Martins. Norris has gone out again after his downshift issues.
And there's a 1m21.888s for Hadjar, who now goes to the top of the pops. Verstappen has a bit of a lock-up at Turn 3.
"The shifts are much better for sure," Norris reports. He slides back into the pits, so presumably there's a few more tweaks coming before he gets some more running in.
Leclerc returns to the top with a 1m21.635s. Hadjar, Verstappen, Antonelli, Hamilton, and Russell complete the top six. Lawson, Bearman, Sainz, and Ocon line the top 10.
Hamilton moves up to third now, 0.331s off Leclerc's current benchmark. Bortoleto has also slotted into seventh, within 1.2s of the Monegasque's best effort so far.
It's a 1m21.460s for Hadjar, who moves to the top of the pile.
Both McLarens are now on track, so we should be able to see what they can do. Meanwhile, Bottas gets stuck in Ferrari traffic at Turn 11.
Verstappen now posts a 1m21.403s, half a tenth up on Hadjar.
Piastri does his first timed lap and goes 14th for now, but he's about 20 minutes behind everyone else in terms of run-plan.
Leclerc now posts a 1m21.227s to go back to the top.
Sainz has Gasly in front of him, and tries to get past - but the Alpine holds him off. So, Sainz tries to cut Turn 9 to move ahead...which also doesn't work, and so has to back off.
Colapinto has a lock-up and skates across the gravel at Turn 3.
Piastri has moved up to fifth place, so there's a bit more of an indicator of McLaren's pace as he sits ahead of Antonelli. But the Mercedes pair hasn't indulged in the lap-trading between Leclerc, Verstappen, and Hadjar, so they've dropped into sixth and eighth.
Russell's on a set of softs. What have you got for us, George?
...it's less quick than we'd expected, half a second down through the second sector. He's 0.890s off, and goes fifth.
Sainz put a wheel off-track through Turn 12 but goes up to 11th on the hard tyre.
Verstappen and Hadjar now go out on soft tyres.
Perez goes for a lap on the mediums, albeit missing his right mirror - that won't reflect well on him.
Cadillac is expected to be at the back of the grid this year, but they're not all that far off - it's not like they'll be struggling with 107% times.
Verstappen posts a 1m20.908s on the softs, so there's a lap on the softs as he goes top.
Hadjar is 0.179s off, which is highly encouraging for him; the second Red Bull car has scarcely been that close in recent years.
Russell improved on another lap with those softs, and now sits 0.463s off Verstappen's effort.
It's all in the preparation - you've got to charge the battery AND get the tyres warm - two approaches that are pretty much mutually exclusive.
Leclerc does a 1m20.829s to go back to the top, while Hamilton goes up to fourth.
Norris has called it a day early in FP1 as the car has a gearbox issue. More to do in FP2, then.
Antonelli goes sixth fastest, 0.547s off Leclerc's effort.
Albon goes for a dip on the softs, with Williams expected to figure in a well-populated midfield scrap this year. The FW48 is said to be around 20kg overweight, and he stays 15th for now.
Verstappen shaves off a bit of time, 0.04s over Leclerc.
Bottas has also lost a mirror - Cadillac's engineers in charge of that part won't want to look back on today.
Hamilton improves, but had a bit of oversteer on his lap through the final sector - while Hadjar set up for a lap but went deep into Turn 1 after a "big lock-up".
Audi looks encouragingly competitive thus far, sitting eighth and ninth in the times so far. Alpine, meanwhile, hasn't shown us a great deal - but Gasly's about to do a lap on softs.
Bortoleto gets up to seventh, within a second of Verstappen's time. Impressive stuff here, even though it's only early days.
Sainz goes up to 10th, as Lindblad now sits 12th in the overall standings so far.
Hamilton got a nice tow off Gasly and posts a 1m20.736s to go quickest.
Albon meanwhile has stopped on-track - lost power steering "and everything" - so, it's a hydraulics issue as his car went limp through Lakeside Drive. Yellow flag and a VSC to clear that - which should take a matter of seconds.
Aston Martin has three laps on the board for this session. Lance Stroll did those at the start of the session, and has spent the rest of the session sat in the pits.
Perez skated off the road at Turn 4, engine braking locked up the rears and put him into a spin.
Leclerc got held up on a hot lap and has had to back off. Piastri also will have got held up by Perez's misadventures and splits the two Audis in the timing board. Lindblad goes up to sixth.
Lindblad now goes fifth, with a purple middle sector. A hat tip to the rookie Brit there, who's just 0.577s off Hamilton's benchmark.
Leclerc then does a 1m20.267s to go top, as Piastri now pulls out a 1m21.342s to go sixth.
FP1 complete
And that's that for FP1! Leclerc goes fastest over Hamilton, with Verstappen and Hadjar behind the two Ferraris. Lindblad, Piastri, Russell, Antonelli, Bortoleto, and Hulkenberg complete the top 10.
We didn't quite dip under the 1m20s, and we were about three seconds per lap off last year's FP1 times.
But the cars were good to watch - lots of movement, and they're still very quick.
We're getting a practice start. So, this comes with a five-second hold after the green flag at the back to get the turbos going. That Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton went off like a rocket.
