00:00Now come on the lights, we're all revved up and ready to go, it's lights out, away we go, and
00:05wow, that wasn't the start we've seen before, but it was from Isaac Hadjar, George Russell under pressure, Charles Leclerc
00:12coming to join him in the first corner, Charles Leclerc leads the Grand Prix, from George Russell, Lewis Hamilton on
00:17the grass, Hadjar sweeps past him, Rando Norris trying to maintain position in 5th, and he's going wheel to wheel
00:23at the moment, with Arvid Lindblad, but it's Charles Leclerc who stands brilliantly, George Russell just couldn't get off the
00:28line,
00:29and behind George Russell comes Isaac Hadjar, Kimi Antonelli has lost places, and the start, here comes George Russell, behind
00:37Charles Leclerc, trying to hunt him down, on the far side of the lane, trying to go round the outside
00:43into turn 9, Charles Leclerc having nothing of it, this is where, on this part of the circuit in qualifying,
00:48George Russell was superb, and his car superb, in battery deployment, and look at that, an exact carbon copy of
00:55what he was doing in qualifying yesterday,
00:57to get ahead of Charles Leclerc, feels he's got some kind of engine problem, here comes Charles Leclerc, trying to
01:04use the boost, maybe with a bit of overtake as well, and definitely with the lead of the race, while
01:09that's happening, Lando Norris is under pressure, from Kimi Antonelli,
01:13more electrical energy, at the moment, that doesn't seem like it's enough, to make the big difference, but we don't
01:18want, just easy peasy overtakes,
01:20so Kimi, off the line, not the best start he'll ever make, George Russell was kind of going sideways for
01:25a minute, Charles Leclerc slicing his way through, and into turn 1 in the lead,
01:29and Lewis got very wide in turn 1, and had to get out of it, and that actually cost him
01:36quite dearly, as you see, then, Lando Norris, going past him, and then, but Lewis, sneaking back up the inside,
01:44but otherwise, Lewis would have been right there, with George, on those opening few corners, he certainly would, we've got
01:50the live pictures, on the left hand side of your screen,
01:52and we're watching, at the start now, with Charles Leclerc, from 4th to 1st, look at the wheel spin, that
01:57Kimi Antonelli was getting,
01:59Hadjar's going over to the right, Charles Leclerc wanted to follow, and then the cap opens, and Moses and the
02:04Red Sea parting, down the middle,
02:06Yeah, I think we foresaw that one, Lindbergh getting a lovely drive away, they can't use the battery power, until
02:15they're doing over 50 miles an hour,
02:18you know, he's heading towards being a pit stop, behind the leaders, already, look, and here comes Russell,
02:24George Russell got past Charles Leclerc, Leclerc's fought this one back, George Russell just squeezes the Ferrari then, into turn
02:313, and retakes the lead of this race,
02:34And if not here, into turn 11 as well, he's got opportunities, but he wants to go dancing, round the
02:40outside, Charles Leclerc, get in there, that's very nice indeed,
02:44Charles Leclerc, let George Russell, have his moment at turn 3, and then into turn 9 and 10, he took
02:51that moment back again,
02:52Get track position, and here comes Russell again, here comes Russell again, into turn 1, it's a massive look up
02:58from George Russell,
02:59He did well to stay on the track, but Charles Leclerc's gonna get that lead back again, and Russell surely
03:05has flat spotted his tyres,
03:06and is now under threat from Lewis Hamilton, who just for one moment thought a gap was opening up for
03:12him,
03:123 cars, within about 2 car lengths, going into turn 3, Leclerc leads Russell, leads Hamilton, and Hamilton's coming up,
03:20now at the Mercedes,
03:21And that looked like a lot of smoke, coming from the rear of that Red Bull, on Isaac Hajar,
03:28What has he got to do to catch a break in Australia, didn't start the race last year,
03:33Come on, everything, let's just have a listen, on board, with Isaac Hajar,
03:51Yeah, all the oily bits met each other there, I'm afraid.
03:55That wasn't nice at all, and he jumps clear of his car, and his race is run.
04:017th race, didn't appear to have a great amount of speed.
04:04So he's on the hard tyre now, Lando Norris, after his pit stop.
04:17So far we are on plan, we are focusing on plan E, plan E.
04:26This is Lawson and Ferris again.
04:28It's amazing, one of them hasn't lost the barge board, they're rather massive, on the side of the car,
04:33That's so critical to the airflow, and this was where it's going to happen, if it's happening anywhere.
04:39And look, the wheels intertwined, and somehow, neither of them went round.
04:43Ah, Cadillac, Valtteri Bottas.
04:46We've lost one Aussie before the start, we might have lost the honorary Aussie, on lap 18 here.
04:52Customer Ferrari,
04:54Customer Ferrari engine in the back of that one at the moment,
04:57And Ferrari will be very happy about that indeed, as long as they don't close the entry of the pit
05:03lane.
05:03I was just about to say that, Martin, will they close the pit lane entry?
05:07Another virtual safety car.
05:09So Bert Myerlander's still waiting to get out on the track in his 500th Grand Prix, in the actual safety
05:14car.
05:15Ah, that's such a shame.
05:16For Valtteri Bottas, and for Cadillac, the marshals on the track, so they have to close it now.
05:22This is why Valtteri Bottas, or what happened to Valtteri Bottas?
05:31Well, I think he was told to stop.
05:34I wonder why he didn't just trundle into the Aussie V8, sorry, the F2 supplementary pit lane.
05:39He was told to stop immediately, to start building up a bit of a gap here, if they can.
05:45And Max Verstappen is right on it, behind Arvind Limblad, who moves over to the left-hand side and slams
05:51that door.
05:52Shut in the face of the four-time world champion, rookie against four-time world champion here.
05:58Agile's out of the race, so still, the 1, 2, 3 have never finished in that order, in an Albert
06:03Park F1 race.
06:04This is Pierre Gasly, and his battle with Esteban Ocon.
06:07Let me know, history between those two, isn't there?
06:09Yeah, there is.
06:11Here at Albert Park, where the, as teammates, crashed into each other, and we're out of the race and ruin.
06:17What would have been a sensational finish for on that day?
06:19They're under investigation.
06:21So he still hasn't gone past Bottas, yet, in terms of laps.
06:24George Russell hasn't gone past Lewis Hamilton yet, but it's coming.
06:28It really is coming, and there's a gap on the inside.
06:30Russell's going to take it.
06:31George Russell retakes the lead of the Australian Grand Prix.
06:36We're going to think the one pump is viable.
06:38Copy that.
06:40We're thinking of going to the end, but let's know what you think about tyres.
06:44There's going to be a break.
06:46Okay, copy, we'll monitor.
06:48I think we've got some debris on the track, and that's why we've got a VSC.
06:53Okay.
06:53Turn eight, marshals are just collecting a piece of carbon fibre that's on the outside.
06:59No, you can't put people out there.
07:00You cannot put people out there.
07:03Not even under, oh, well, they have.
07:04Oh, don't do that.
07:05Well done, Kimi Antonelli, for staying away to the left, and Fernando Alonso's last stroll, too.
07:11I think it's going to end quickly.
07:13George Russell's coming to turn 11.
07:15The debris came from Sergio Perez.
07:18Cadillac.
07:19Yeah.
07:20Don't forget, Russell got past Hamilton with that big tyre offset.
07:23We might see it swing around.
07:24This is Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
07:26As we said, round here, these two leave nothing in the locker.
07:32And getting a nice slipstream.
07:35And then when the Alpine just starts to start recharging the battery, then Ocon decides that's the moment.
07:41A couple of turns as well.
07:43He needs to just calm that down now.
07:45Keep his head calm and see if he can come back at Oli Behrmann.
07:48And Pierre Gasly on that same stretch of track that we saw Behrmann and Lindblad scrapping away.
07:57Getting past Esteban Ocon.
08:00And Bortoleto is between the two of them now.
08:03You can just see the Audi pulling out behind Ocon and going wheel to wheel down the straight.
08:08So, from top to bottom, there's places swapping all the time.
08:13And Verstappen is pushing hard.
08:15He knows now's his best chance on you.
08:20No reply.
08:22Be 30 miles an hour faster sometimes.
08:24He's doing well.
08:25Yeah, leave you to me.
08:26Thanks.
08:27He started to show why everyone thought Mercedes were the pre-season favourites
08:31and why he was the favourite for the Drivers' Championship.
08:34He went and took pole by a massive margin.
08:37He's had to survive people coming at him and overtaking him for the lead.
08:40But since he got it back again midway in this race, he's not looked like letting it go.
08:45And George Russell wins the Australian Grand Prix and starts 2026 in absolute flying fashion.
08:53For Mercedes, it's a 1-2 victory as Kimi Antonelli, who started on the front row alongside George,
08:59takes that second place.
09:00And for Ferrari, it's 3-4.
09:03Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton separated by just six-tenths of a second as they get to the checkered flag.
09:10The Australian Grand Prix, a short winter.
09:13A lot to do.
09:14For Russell, a lot to celebrate.
09:16Awesome drive.
09:17Awesome weekend.
09:18Well done, mate.
09:20Woo!
09:22Very nice.
09:23Very nice.
09:24I like this car.
09:25I like this engine.
09:27Great job.
09:28That'll be the star on the front.
09:32And Pierre Gasly, tenth for Alpine.
09:36You, boy.
09:37Do you know what?
09:37That was a nice work there, Kimi.
09:40Great recovery.
09:41Felt a little bit tense at times there, mate.
09:43But, yeah, great job bringing it back.
09:45Thank you, everyone.
09:47What a start of the year.
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