2026 Qatar Airways Australian Grand Prix Heroes and Zeroes

[Jericoke]

Heroes
Mercedes.  They've got the class of the field.  The engine and car are both working well.  The team has strategy down.  The mechanics made a heroic rebuild of Antonelli's cars to get him into qualifying.

Russell.  One race, one win.  The opening laps featured an epic fight with LeClerc.  It was very clean, very strategic, and I think what everyone was hoping the new regs would deliver. 

Antonelli.  Fantastic race, only outdone by his teammate.

LeClerc.  Third place after a strong opening battle with Russell.  As I said above, the fight was intense, but also respectful and fair.  I feel like Charles has a good feeling for what his car can do.

Hamilton.  A fantastic race, his opening lap was absolutely epic, from his launch, to winding through the field, to backing off when he needed to to gain other opportunities.

Verstappen.  As much as I hate to admit it, he's such a talented driver, there would have to be an absolute disaster to have a race without him as a hero.  The car failed him in qualifying, setting the stage for him to carve through the field.  He may publicly hate the car/rules, he may have been let down by the car, but he still has his almost supernatural connection to the car that lets him get the most out of it.

Stroll.  Completed the race in car many thought wouldn't make the start.  Certainly not an all time race, but an accomplishment none the less.

Zeroes
Ferrari strategy.  I don't believe that there was a path for Ferrari to win the race against Mercedes, but I also feel like they didn't try either.  You've got two cars running in basically the same position, two virtual safety cars, pit one driver, and give yourself two paths for luck to hit you.

Aston Martin/Honda.  I know making an F1 car is difficult, but 10 other teams managed it.  Williams and Cadillac might not have been able to do much, but they didn't feel like disasters, just disappointments.

Driver wise, I don't think anyone was especially bone headed.  All the crashes/DNFs felt like they were car related, and we expected problems.

Special Mention:  the new rules.

I think that as a spectator, they worked.  The opening laps were fantastic, there was plenty of passing during the race.  Teams struggled a little with strategy, but that's part of learning the new ways things operate.  There were technical issues, but that was expected too.  We had 8 different teams scoring points.  Every team finished at least one car.  The race itself was no bloodbath, so whatever difficulties the drivers had with the cars, control in close racing wasn't one of them.

[lkjohnson1950]

Leclerc says he expected to be passed at the start because his battery was so low. He was surprised to find himself leading.
Max says it's like driving Mario Kart, not like real racing.

https://www.racefans.net/2026/03/08/f1-has-become-like-mario-kart-with-new-rules-say-verstappen-and-leclerc/?utm_source=RaceFans_Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Daily_Newsletter

Pitpass' provisional results show Stroll as DNF, possibly not enough laps to be classified?

https://www.pitpass.com/src/seasons/2026/gp/australia/ Scroll down

[Jericoke]

Max says it's like driving Mario Kart, not like real racing.

Yeah, Mario Kart has sold about $12billion worth of video games, clearly no one is interested in it...

I understand that any 'boost' system is going to feel like it's not 'pure racing', but he's won championships from DRS, I don't see that as any different from the current system in terms of impact on the racing itself.  The ideal F1 car would not slow down a trailing car, but that's not possible, so they have to build in some mechanism to allow cars to pass.  DRS, electrical boost, extra turbo pressure, it doesn't really matter to me: you just need something to make the racing fair (and then of course, let the F1 teams find the loopholes to turn 'fair' to 'advantage')

Pitpass' provisional results show Stroll as DNF, possibly not enough laps to be classified?

Formula1.com shows Stroll as 'not classified', but does not show him as DNF.  I suppose as 'NC' he wouldn't be entitled to points if he was that far back, but also in the top 10. If someone was counting consecutive 'finishes', then that would count towards it.  It's just a meaningless stat, but it might apply to contract considerations.

[Dare]

I was really hoping Adrian Newey would bring a little magic
to Australia. Guess we'll have to wait for that

I wonder if Max would have started further up on the grid if
 RB has a podium car

To me if a car is still driving around the track no matter
what lap it's not a dnf

I'm looking for Kime to start giving George a run for his
money soon. Since last year when I thought he wasn't up
to F1 he's made vast improvements

[Jericoke]

I'm looking for Kimi to start giving George a run for his
money soon. Since last year when I thought he wasn't up
to F1 he's made vast improvements

I know that Hamilton sort of forced Toto's hand on bringing Antonelli to F1 at a tender age.  However, getting a year of experience so he could hit the 'new era' with a running start looks like a genius move in retrospect.  Most 'great' drivers are great right away, especially if they get the right opportunity.  Kimi definitely seems to fit that mould.

[Philbe]

George said he had 0 battery after the formation lap while charles had 20%, so thats why he zipped past the starters which leads to a point Lewis, Max and Mclaren are making, which is, at the end of a long run the cars will slow up to 50kph while they begin harvesting. This is really dangerous and could lead to a big crash. The fact the car makes that decision and not the driver as to when to harvest is (I believe) what the fuss is about.
Telemetry shows the drivers are foot flat and the cars are slowing to charge the battery. We'll see what happens.

[lkjohnson1950]

Sorry, I'm feeling partularly OLD this morning, but I long for the days when drivers just got in the car and drove it. When they went as fast as they could, or as fast as they dared, or sometimes as fast as they needed to go to win. The driver was in charge, he drove what was in or on the car when he left the pits. No engine modes, no fly by wire, no computer deciding when to harvest. Oh well, times change whether I like it or not.   :'(

[Willy]

Oh Lonny I am so with you on those feelings. 
I am not a fan of most if not all of the electronic systems that the cars today have. I have been an opponent of DRS and whatever they want to call it now since it's inception.
Yes, I realize it was brought about so cars could pass and that became an issue when aero got so good that cars were creating very dirty air which screwed with downforce.

I did not watch much F1 last season due to various reasons and hope to see some unusual suspects near the pointy end of the field this year.
 

[cosworth151]

I wondered if Max's Q1 incident, where the rear wheels momentarily locked & spun the car, was the recharge system kicking in.

The charging part of the system works much the same as the dynamic brakes on a diesel electric locomotive. The wiring on the drive motors is switched so that they function as generators. It would only make sense for this use if the effect ramps up rather than going straight from 0 to 100%. This is especially true if they engage automatically. The latter is what might have happened to Max.

Some of us greybeards here have raced cars with dynamic brakes. They were a feature on some 1960's slot cars. 

[lkjohnson1950]

I have raced RC cars with dynamic brakes and with energy recovery for 40 years Cossie, you could easily be right. More drivers are worried about the system that diverts energy to recharge when at high speed. They say that having the car drop 40/50 KPH at the end of the straight is dangerous, and they have no control over it.

[John S]

Back on the topic of Heroes/Zeros I thought the first laps of GP with Charles & George duking it out for the lead with Lewis in a constant watching brief was the best part of the race.

After the virtual safety car when most of top ten in field pitted the race became a tad boring. The supposed high number of overtakes was misleading as far as I'm concerned, most passes seemed artificial.

Heroes:-

Merc, for expert sanbagging, both drivers & team managed to hide their pace advantage until FP3 and then unleashed it unmercifully on rest of field in Quali & the race.

Ferrari, particularly Charles for the combative start & fighting drive until the first safety car. Some tracks this season are going to see the Reds come out on top.

Alonso, how the hell did he get the bag of spanners that is AM at present into the top ten for part of the race?

All the teams, most pundits were expecting more cars to suffer race ending failings in first new era race, remarkable then that so many finished - albeit a few laps adrift.

Zeros:-

Stupid active Aero, since all of the cars can deploy wing opening in all zones it starts to look unnecessarily stupid. We are so used to watching for DRS opening from previous gen it is a visible distraction for us fans. Keeping wings shut all the time might allow us watching to get more of a sense of how and when boost & overtake mode are being deployed.

Ferrari, the missed cheap stop at virtual safety car. Not sure it would have changed race outcome, it would have allowed them to put up a better fight though.

Liam Lawson, he seemed more intent on renewing hostilities with Checo Perez than getting points in the race. Checo doesn't share the blame for me since his car is definitely inferior to Racing Bull that Lawson is peddling.

Aston Martin, just because it's a sh*t show right now.