Mercedes blitzed the competition in Melbourne, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri declaring the Silver Arrows had dropped the “sandbags” from their car.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen suffered a big crash that did not appear to be his fault, while one driver never even put on his race suit today.
Here are the key moments from Saturday’s qualifying session for the F1 Australian Grand Prix.
1. Piastri says Mercedes has dropped its ‘sandbags’
Mercedes was expected to be a front-runner at the season-opener in Melbourne. But the dominance they showed in qualifying was much greater than anything seen up until this point.
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were the two fastest in qualifying, with the next best qualifier being more than seven-tenths behind Russell’s pole lap.
The Silver Arrows have dismissed speculation that they were sandbagging during preseason testing, deliberately not showing their true potential ahead of the season opener.
Oscar Piastri qualified fifth for Sunday’s race, being pipped late on for a spot in the top three.
The Australian said his McLaren team was not too surprised with their pace, while also adding his own quip that Mercedes may have been holding back until today.
“It’s about where we thought we would be. Obviously, behind the two Mercedes, it’s pretty close, so it’s not a huge surprise that we are where we are,” Piastri said.
“I think it went reasonably smoothly out there today — I think we executed mostly pretty good. I can’t complain from that side, but obviously we need to find a bit of time, because the sandbags well and truly got dropped out.
“So let’s wait and see how we can find some performance, but we can build a solid base from it.”
2. Verstappen has ‘never experienced’ anything like qualifying crash
Max Verstappen will be starting the Australian Grand Prix from the rear of the field, after suffering a spectacular crash the Dutchman described as something he had “never experienced”.
The Red Bull driver was beginning his first flying lap in Q1 on Saturday afternoon, when his car suddenly spun on the approach to the first corner, went over the gravel trap and slammed into the barrier.
Replays did not show any evidence of Verstappen making a driver error, with the blame being laid on the car.
The four-time world champion said the rear of his car locked and left him powerless to do anything but be a passenger.
“I’ve never experienced something like that before in my career. The rear axle just completely locked on, then of course you can’t save that anymore at that speed.
“The barrier hit was not that bad. The wheel just snapped out of my hands and that’s why I had to go to the medical centre, but all good.”
In a subsequent interview with Sky Sports, he told the UK broadcaster the issues appeared to begin before he shifted down the gears to approach the corner.
“I think it already went wrong before the downshift because I hit the pedal,” he said.
“As soon as you hit the pedal, you quite quickly downshift, but it already immediately locked on the peak of the brake pressure. Something very weird, that’s for sure.
“There are so many unknowns, of course, at the moment that we still need to get on top of.”
It is a prime example of the issues that teams and drivers are dealing with this weekend, coming to terms with the new regulations for this season.
3. Cooling fan explodes as Norris runs over it
The final part of qualifying was red-flagged early, after a cooling fan was stranded on the race track.
The cooling fan belonged to the Mercedes team, with broadcast footage showing Kimi Antonelli was sent out with the fans not removed by the team.
The team was summoned to the stewards for the incident, facing the prospect of a fine or a grid-penalty for Antonelli, despite the driver not being at fault.
Antonelli qualified second for Sunday’s grand prix, joining his teammate George Russell on the front row.
McLaren was caught up in the cooling fan drama, with reigning world champion Lando Norris running over the stricken fan, potentially causing minor damage to the front and floor of his car.
4. Stroll doesn’t even put on his race suit
The woes of Aston Martin have continued into Saturday — not that they were ever likely to improve.
The Silverstone-based outfit has had a torrid start to the 2026 season. They barely managed many laps during preseason testing as issues with their Honda power unit curtailed their testing.
Earlier this week, team principal Adrian Newey said his drivers did not believe they could drive half the distance of Sunday’s grand prix without causing “permanent nerve damage” to their fingers.
Then a separate issue with the battery in Friday’s first practice meant the replacement batteries in each car were the last ones they had, with two practice sessions, qualifying and a grand prix still to complete.
While Fernando Alonso was able to get in some much-needed laps on Saturday, Lance Stroll never even put on his racing suit.
The Canadian, son of team owner Lawrence, did not get in his car on Saturday, strengthening fears the team may not be able to start both cars in Sunday’s race.
Aston Martin said there was a suspected issue with the car’s internal combustion engine, which ruled Stroll out of practice and was not resolved before qualifying.
“Lance’s car was not ready for qualifying. There was not enough time to rebuild the car after the issues this morning,” a team statement read.
This weekend has been so bad that Aston Martin had to ask the governing FIA to allow Stroll to even be allowed to race on Sunday, as he had not posted a time in any session that is within 107 per cent of the fastest lap time posted in the first part of qualifying for the grand prix.
George Russell was fastest in Q1 with a 1:19.507. Stroll would need to have completed a lap this weekend that was a 1.25.072, or faster.
The best Stroll has managed is over seven-tenths slower than the cut-off time.
But the FIA has granted Stroll permission to race despite not making the 107 per cent cut-off, as the team argued he is a well-qualified driver, the team’s other car managed to make the cut-off, and Stroll was not given a proper opportunity to set a faster time due to mechanical issues.
Discussion about this post