Did George Russell take his first step towards winning the world championship last weekend?
His victory in the Australian Grand Prix puts him at the top of the standings for the first time in his career.
This year is the 77th running of the world championship, but Russell is only the 68th different driver to lead or share the lead of the standings. He belongs to the slightly smaller contingent of drivers who led the points but haven’t won a title – for now at least.
In the current field, aside from champions Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris, three other drivers have led the points but never won the championship: Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas.
Russell opened his 2026 account with the ninth pole position of his career (eighth if you ignore his 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix pole position, as Formula One Management do) and sixth grand prix victory. He has now won as many races as Sergio Perez, who returned to the grid last weekend after a year away, as well as former drivers Tony Brooks, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Laffite, Riccardo Patrese and Ralf Schumacher.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli equalled the best result of his short career to date by taking second place. That gave Mercedes their 61st one-two finish.
Following a lean four years under the previous rule set, Mercedes may have started winning again just in time to prevent Red Bull overhauling their victories tally. At the start of 2022 Mercedes had 124 victories to Red Bull’s 75; that had narrowed to 131-130 by the end of last season. Mercedes have edged two ahead, but still have a long way to go to catch McLaren (203) and record-holders Ferrari (248).
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In a similar vein, Mercedes’ record for most front-row lock-outs was just one more than Ferrari had prior to last weekend. Now their lead is 85-83.
Two drivers with new numbers finished fifth and sixth. Norris is the 41st driver and 31st champion to use the number one: the convention of the world champion using number one began in the seventies.
Meanwhile Verstappen became the first driver to change their permanent career number since the rules were introduced in 2014. He switched to number three, which Daniel Ricciardo took when those rules were introduced, and kept until he lost his F1 seat two years ago.
Arvid Lindblad scored a superb eighth place on his debut, becoming the third-youngest driver in F1 history to do so, at the age of 18 years and 212 days. Verstappen holds the record for this, as he was 17 when he scored his first points. That record became unbreakable when the FIA introduced a minimum age limit of 18, but could yet fall as the governing body has now agreed to relax that limit for 17-year-olds in special circumstances.
But even the oldest driver on the grid wasn’t around the last time Lindblad’s number appeared in a grand prix. The last driver to race with number 41 was Geoff Lees in the 1980 Dutch Grand Prix, a year before Fernando Alonso was born. Other drivers have used it in practice sessions since.
Another newcomer, Audi, scored points on their debut courtesy of Gabriel Bortoleto. But while the arrival of Cadillac meant this should have been the first 22-car grid since the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the absence of Bortoleto’s team mate Nico Hulkenberg due to a power unit problem plus Oscar Piastri’s pre-race crash meant there were only 20.
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For Piastri, who never appeared as a ‘practice driver’ before making his debut in 2023, this was the first time he participated in a grand prix weekend but did not start the race. However it was Hulkenberg’s second ‘did not start’ in 10 races, as he suffered a pre-race hydraulic failure at Monza last year. Coincidentally, Hulkenberg also failed to start his first race for his current team prior to its rebranding as Audi, also at Melbourne in 2013.
F1 now has the most engine manufacturers since 2009, when Mercedes, Ferrari, BMW, Renault and Toyota all competed. Mercedes and Ferrari are now joined by Audi, Red Bull-Ford and Honda (the latter rejoining for what is their fifth stint as an F1 power unit supplier). Sadly, for the first time since 2000, there were no Renault-powered cars on the grid.
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Australian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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2026 Australian Grand Prix
- Russell becomes the 68th different Formula 1 driver to lead the world championship
- Hadjar told Red Bull his car’s performance was “embarrassing” and “just c***”
- “How did you not call the pit?” Ups and downs in Hamilton’s first race with new engineer
- Ocon says “we seem to have different cars” at Haas after slipping out of points
- “Deployment s*** itself again”: Why Verstappen’s Australian GP was so frustrating