The Formula 1 World Championship 2026 starts this weekend in Melbourne, where new teams, more brands and even more unknowns will be at the start Australian Grand Prix one of the most eagerly anticipated F1 season openers in years.
The event will run from March 5-8 and conclude on Sunday afternoon with 22 cars competing for 58 laps of the 5.278km circuit at Albert Park, where the first Australian GP was held in 1928 and the modern event has been held since 1996.
The first round of the 24-round championship brings the biggest rule change since 2022, meaning the previous form guide can be thrown out the window.
The pecking order won’t be revealed until the Melbourne event and even then it won’t be until qualifying on Saturday afternoon before the gloves really come off.
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Melbourne’s own Oscar Piastri returns in his McLaren without the world championship trophy he seemed to have a firm grasp on midway through last season before it went to teammate Lando Norris, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
A reset Piastri will be even more determined to claim a home win at Albert Park after threatening winner Norris in last year’s race in damp conditions, before team orders – and a stay on the grass – enabled a bold comeback to take crucial points in ninth.
World champion Norris remains Piastri’s teammate in 2026, but will McLaren – winners of the last two constructors’ titles – be a championship contender like last year?
In addition to McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Red Bull were in action in pre-season testing, but in reality not even the most experienced commentator, driver or team boss really knows where they will be sitting, which only increases the anticipation.
Who is taking part in the Australian Grand Prix?
Piastri is the only Australian driver on the grid – Jack Doohan is now reserve driver for Haas – but New Zealander Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) makes it two antipodean drivers on the grid.
That applies if you don’t count the Finn Valtteri Bottas as an Australian.
The cheeky Finnish rider has chosen Australia as his home and has built a strong local following with his mullet hairstyle and comedic social media clips alongside his cycling partner, Australian Olympian Tiffany Cromwell.
The two-time Australian GP winner returns as part of the new Cadillac racing team, whose first race will take place this weekend, with former Red Bull racer Sergio Perez as his teammate.
With Cadillac’s arrival, there are 22 cars on the grid, two more than the field that started in Melbourne last year – and there have only been a handful of driver changes.
The most prominent is the promotion of Isack Hadjar to replace Yuki Tsunoda – who was demoted to reserve driver – at Red Bull alongside Verstappen.
British driver Arvid Lindblad, just 18 years old, is the only rookie on the 2026 grid and will take the vacant seat at Racing Bulls alongside Lawson Hadjar.
Every other team has the same driver pairing as in 2025, including Aston Martin, which will again field two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who turns 45 in July and remains the oldest in the field.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, 41, is also starting his second season for Ferrari this weekend.
Cadillac will use Ferrari engines this season, becoming the first all-new team in Formula 1 since Haas joined in 2016, now backed by Toyota but also using Ferrari engines.
There are other new and returning names on the 2026 grid: Verstappen’s Red Bull has switched from Honda to Ford power, as has the Racing Bulls junior team, with Honda engines replacing Mercedes-Benz engines at Aston Martin.
Aston Martin’s new car is the first under the direction of legendary designer Adrian Newey – the man behind Red Bull’s championship cars as well as the title-winning McLarens and Williams driven by the likes of Mika Häkkinen, Damon Hill and Ayrton Senna.
The Sauber team also now officially bears the Audi name, as the German automaker enters Formula 1 for the first time, having competed in GP races in the 1930s before the modern era began in 1950.
The new teams arrive with new rules – intentionally to save the cost and effort of developing cars across multiple rulesets – and Verstappen said after pre-season testing that driving the 2026-spec cars was not fun.
This year the cars are shorter, narrower and use smaller tires. They feature new “active” aerodynamics where the front and rear fenders open automatically on straights, effectively replacing the previous driver-operated Drag Reduction System (DRS).
There are also redesigned hybrid power units that run on sustainable fuel and offer triple electrification as well as new Overtaking and Boost modes in addition to Recharging mode.
After being tested in Europe and the Middle East, they proved to be far more difficult to drive, although they were slightly slower. So don’t expect the Albert Park lap records to tumble in 2026.
Listed below are the teams and drivers taking part in the race, with previous AGP winners in bold and newcomers in asterisks.
| team | driver |
|---|---|
| McLaren | #1 – Lando Norris (2025) #81 – Oscar Piastri |
| Mercedes Benz | #12 – Kimi Antonelli #63 – George Russell |
| Red Bull Racing | #3 – Max Verstappen (2023) #6 – Isack Hajar |
| Ferrari | #16 – Charles Leclerc (2022) #44 – Lewis Hamilton (2008, 2015) |
| Williams | #23 – Alex Albon #55 – Carlos Sainz (2024) |
| Racing bulls | #30 – Liam Lawson #41 – Arvid Lindblad* |
| Aston Martin | #14 – Fernando Alonso (2006) #18 – Lance Stroll |
| Haas | #31 – Esteban Ocon #87 – Ollie Bearman |
| Audi | #5 – Gabriel Bortoleto #27 – Nico Hulkenberg |
| alpine | #10 – Pierre Gasly #43 – Franco Colapinto |
| Cadillac | #11 – Sergio Perez #77 – Valtteri Bottas |
Where and when can I watch the Australian Grand Prix?
If you’re not at the Albert Park circuit, the Australian Grand Prix will be broadcast on both free-to-air television (FTA) and paid streaming services.
Network 10 is the FTA broadcaster. Coverage is available on Channel 10 and streamed live on 10 Play.
Foxtel will broadcast the event live on Fox Sports channel 507, with live streaming on Foxtel Go and Kayo services.
Below you will find the meeting and broadcast times for Formula 1.
| meeting | Time (AEDT) |
|---|---|
| Free training 1 | 12:30-1:30 p.m., Friday, March 6th |
| Free training 2 | 4:00-5:00 p.m., Friday, March 6th |
| Free training 3 | 12:30-1:30 p.m., Saturday, March 7th |
| Qualifying | 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., Saturday, March 7th |
| race | 3:00-5:00 p.m. or 58 laps (whichever comes first), Sunday March 8th |
What funding categories are there for the Australian Grand Prix?
Four motorsport categories will support the Formula 1 show at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix.
These include Formula 2 and Formula 3 Open Wheelers – the stepping stones to Formula 1 – while Australia’s premier racing category, Supercars, will host racing on all four days of the event (Thursday to Sunday).
It will be the second round of the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship after the Toyota GR Supra debuted alongside the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang in Sydney last month.
The returning Porsche Carrera Cup is also on the track on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
| category | Formula 2 | Formula 3 | Supercars Championship | Porsche Carrera Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday March 5th | – | – | Exercise 1: 10:35-11:05
Exercise 2: 12:25-12:55 Qualification for Race 1: 14:20-14:32 Qualification for Race 2: 14:42-14:50 Race 1: 16:55 – 17:40 or 19 laps (whichever comes first) |
Training: 9:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m
Qualification: 11:35-12:05 Race 1: 15:35 – 16:10 or 15 laps (whichever comes first) |
| Friday March 6th | Practice: 10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m
Qualification: 14:55-15:25 |
Practice: 8:50 a.m. – 9:35 a.m
Qualification: 2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m |
Race 2: 17:25 – 18:10 or 19 laps (whichever comes first) | Race 2: 6:30 p.m. – 7:05 p.m. or 15 laps (whichever comes first) |
| Saturday March 7th | Sprint Race: 2:10 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. or 23 laps (whichever comes first) | Sprint Race: 11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. or 20 laps (whichever comes first) | Qualification for Race 3: 09:00-09:12
Qualifying for Race 4: 9:22-9:30 Race 3: 5:35 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. or 19 laps (whichever comes first) |
Race 3: 18:40-19:15 |
| Sunday March 8th | Main Race: 11:25am – 12:30pm or 33 laps (whichever comes first) | Main Race: 8:50-9:40 or 23 laps (whichever comes first) | Race 4: 10:10 – 10:45 or 14 laps (whichever comes first) | – |
