Max Verstappen reacts to Australian GP crash as George Russell grabs pole: “I’ve never experienced that before”

If last year was the year of McLaren, this year seems to belong to Mercedes as the team grabbed the front row for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix final on Sunday. While George Russell took pole position, teammate Kimi Antonelli joined him in second. Following them in third position is the new Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar, whose teammate Max Verstappen unfortunately made an early exit and will be among the backbenchers for Sunday’s race.

George Russell leads Mercedes front row at Australian Grand Prix

George Russell wasted no time taking to Instagram to share a happy picture from the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. He wrote alongside it, “POLE IN AUS!!! First pole of the season! Great work from the whole team and super recovery from Kimi. Excited for race day.”

Sharing his happiness after the qualifying, Russell said, as per Formula1.com, “It was a great day. We knew there was a lot of potential in the car, but until you get to this first Saturday of the season you never know. It really came alive this afternoon, especially when the track temp cooled. We know we sort of tend to favor those conditions.”

Adding a word of praise for his teammate and Mercedes as a team, he said, “I’m also really happy to have Kimi here next to me as well because it’s been such a hard job for the whole team to deliver this car, and they did an amazing job in the garage today as well. So all in all, a really good day."

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who arrived with wife Alexandra Leclerc ahead of the qualifying, took the fourth spot on the grid. McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris claimed the fifth and sixth spots. Now in his second year at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton finished seventh in qualifying. He was followed by Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson in eighth and his rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad in ninth.

Max Verstappen on what went wrong with his car at Australian GP qualifying

Meanwhile, it turned out to be a bad day for Max Verstappen as he will now start among the last on the grid on Sunday. Sharing his reaction after the qualifying, the Red Bull driver explained, “I just hit the brakes and suddenly the rear axle just completely locked out of the blue. I don’t know why that happened or how that happened. I’ve never experienced something like that before in my career. The rear axle just completely locked, and 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 center, but all good.”

The Sunday race will begin at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne at 3 p.m. local time (9:30am IST).

Also read: F1 fans react as Lewis Hamilton reveals he has a cow named Max: “I didn’t name him, I swear.”


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