George Russell on pole position is apparently telling his pit wall the battery isn't topping enough. Could this be a tricky start for the Mercedes driver? We'll find out now!

The top nine cars - we're missing Oscar Piastri, who was due to start in fifth - are beginning their Australian Grand Prix on the medium tyres, with Max Verstappen, all the way down the field, a medium starter.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified in 11th place but the Audi driver is set to start in the pit lane now.

Andrew: A new dawn, a new era for F1. A lot of concern from fans (and drivers) after testing, practice and qualifying about what these new regulations mean for the sport. The real proof will be today however, when we see what it means for the quality of the wheel-to-wheel racing.

Tom: Had planned to watch the race later.. but with a 20 month old waking up at 3.45am it feels rude not to watch it now!

Image source, Getty Images

The Australian Grand Prix is about to get under way but the home hero won't be involved.

If you're just joining us this morning, Oscar Piastri crashed out on his way to the grid earlier on, leaving the constructors' champions with only title holder Lando Norris left to run the 58 laps of Albert Park.

And off the drivers go for the formational lap.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Melbourne

Image source, Getty Images

George Russell described Mercedes’ performance in qualifying as "a bit of a perfect storm."

There may be a significant element of truth to that, but there is no doubt that Mercedes have the fastest car and that they are going to take some beating for a while.

McLaren also have a Mercedes engine but their fastest driver, Oscar Piastri in fifth, was more than 0.8secs slower than Russell.

Most of McLaren's time loss was on the long 'straight' run between Turns Six and Nine of the Albert Park circuit. Mercedes were simply able to deploy more energy along there - because they arrived at Turn Six with their battery more highly charged.

Why can McLaren not compete in this way yet? Because Mercedes are the works team. They built the engine, so for now have a more complete understanding of how it works.

Mercedes' advantage is not just in power-unit management, however. They have also built a very good car.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen speaking about his crash in qualifying on Sky Sports: "I think it was a combination of a few things that came together, basically that are complex to explain on TV."

On Oscar Piastri's crash :"I don't know what happened to him but I can only mention that it hit him where he didn't expect it."

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter in Melbourne

BBC 5 Live's Jennie Gow speaking to Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon: "It's a real testament to everyone involved in the whole team.

"It's fantastic to be here on the grid for our first ever grand prix. Sport is meant to have emotion, it's a highly technical sport, but it's the greatest team game in the world.

"For me, it's just a real honour to be part of such a fantastic team."

Image source, Getty Images

The grid has grown this year with the arrival of Cadillac as the 11th team and the American outfit were pleased with their debut qualifying session.

Veteran driver Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are starting towards the rear of the pack today, which was expected, but Finn Bottas said: "We’re lacking performance but it’s a work in progress, which will come." Mexican Perez echoed those words, adding: "While it was a challenging session, I was happy with the balance, happy with the lap."

Over at Audi, who have taken over Sauber, Gabriel Bortoleto booked his place in the top 10 shootout but an issue with the car kept the Brazilian from competing for better spot. The good news is he doesn't anticipate it will carry over into today's race. The German team are starting 10th for Bortoleto and 11th for Nico Hulkenberg.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Melbourne

Image source, Pirelli 2026

In normal circumstances, this race is expected to be a one-stop strategy using most likely the medium and hard-compound tyres. Pit stops cost about 19.5 seconds under green-flag conditions, about 14.5secs under a safety car.

Beyond that, uncertainty is high. How will the new regulations affect the way the racing looks? Will the energy starved nature of the cars lead to “weird” situations - a word many in the paddock are using about what might be possible - when it comes to racing? Will reliability rear its head, and lead to safety cars; that seems likely. What about the start and the difficulties with getting these new cars off the line? The shape of F1 2026 will take some time to form amid the clouds of uncertainty. This will be the beginning of the clearing of the fog.

Image source, Getty Images

Ferrari are hoping to bounce back this year after a miserable run in 2025 that saw them fail to win any of the 24 main races: Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the China sprint event was their only moment of glory across the campaign, although Charles Leclerc secured all seven of the Scuderia’s Sunday podiums.

For the opener, Hamilton is starting seventh but he felt the team had the potential to push for third spot on Saturday. "The whole weekend was looking good up until Q2," he said. "Q1 on the medium tyre was feeling solid, then we went into Q2 and had some problems with our engines."

Leclerc is three places higher than Hamilton in fourth but it's the pace of the Mercedes that has made the Monegasque stop in his tracks. "I did not expect what they have shown," said Leclerc. "And I think they were a lot more turned down than what everybody thought in the paddock."

Image source, Getty Images

Aston Martin’s start to the 2026 campaign has been a nightmare, with reliability issues with the new Honda power unit, a lack of meaningful track running, drivers at risk of nerve damage due to vibration problems and a shortage of operational batteries in Melbourne.

Fernando Alonso has been wearing his dark sunglasses for every interview he has done since he arrived in the paddock but yesterday he did at least have a slight smile on his face after he qualified in 17th place, commenting there is "huge potential" in the car.

The 44-year-old Spaniard said the engine’s stability in second and third practice "allowed me to finally be on track and in sync with other cars and try different things on the set-up".

Another area that has received a tweak in 2026 is the start procedure, as there was some concern lights out in Australia could be a bit eventful due to F1's new machinery.

With the balance of the engine now a near 50-50 split between electric and combustion power - and the MGU-H removed, so no electrical assistance to pre-spin the turbo - drivers must now hold high revs in advance to build pressure for a clean getaway.

So, when the final car is in position at the back of the the grid today, drivers will be given a five-second blue warning light to start increasing the revs, before the standard five red lights procedure begins.

For Ferrari, this could be where they have an advantage over the rest, as Lewis Hamilton demonstrated in Bahrain when he showed an eye-catching acceleration off the line during a start test.

Edward: "This just proves that home curses are real. Rubens Barrichello had this in Brazil, Leclerc had it in Monaco for a while, and Mark Webber (who funnily enough is Oscar's driver coach) had this in Albert Park. This can’t just be sheer coincidence?"

BBC Radio 5 Live

Jennie Gow, Harry Benjamin, F1 correspondent Andrew Benson and former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley are in position and ready to take us through this Australian Grand Prix.

You can tune in by selecting the 'listen live' tab at the top of this page, via the BBC Sounds app or by asking your smart speaker to "play BBC Radio 5 Live".

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter in Melbourne

Image source, Getty Images

BBC 5 Live's Jennie Gow speaking to McLaren CEO Zak Brown after Oscar Piastri crashed on the way to the grid: "Not a great way to start, but we now need to focus on the race. We haven't seen anything on the data yet, but right now we've just got to focus on Lando [Norris]."

On the blow to the team: "It is what it is. There's nothing we can do about it now, we've got a race to run so we will focus on the car we've got in the race."

On Lando Norris: "It's never easy and I'm not sure what to expect, but hoping for a podium."

Martin Brundle is back with his grid walk on Sky Sports and he spies Williams' Alex Albon, who says things are looking "sketchy" out there. Next up is Sergio Perez, starting his maiden grand prix with Cadillac. "I'm looking forward to the video game race," jokes the Mexican.

Time for the Australian national anthem...

Image source, Getty Images

Kimi Antonelli’s weekend so far in Melbourne has been full of incident and the Italian teenager was sat watching the clock before qualifying had even begun after crashing out in final practice and causing massive damage to his car. The Mercedes crew sprung to action and were able to send Antonelli out in time for Q1, with a little help from the stoppage for Max Verstappen’s shunt. "The mechanics were the heroes today," he said. "I'm probably going to have to buy them a lot of beer."

However, in Q3, he was then sent out with both cooling fans still in his sidepods and when they fell off onto the track, world champion Norris ran over one, damaging his front wing.

"I just like to make life difficult for myself," joked Antonelli after the session. "Even in Q3 I went off in lap one and found myself with no lap on the board."

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Live

There is a huge number of very disappointed Australian fans in this grandstand wearing the green and yellow supporting their home hero.

Image source, Getty Images

Red Bull, complete with their own power unit this season in partnership with US car giant Ford, only had one car make it through to the pole position shootout yesterday following four-time world champion Max Verstappen’s big crash at Turn One in the opening session.

The Dutchman’s rear axle locked after he hit the brakes and he was sent onto the gravel at high speed and into the barriers. "I’ve never experienced something like that before in my career," said Verstappen, who will be in recovery mode today down in P20.

He also didn't hold back when discussing F1's new era and says he's been left feeling "completely empty" by it all.

Image source, Getty Images

For Isack Hadjar, he summed up his P3 finish on Saturday as "the perfect start to my Red Bull career". The Frenchman gained a promotion from Racing Bulls following a solid debut campaign last year, so can he secure a second career podium today?

Melbourne doesn’t exactly hold happy memories for Hadjar, as he spun off on the formation lap due to the wet conditions in 2025 and failed to start race. A distraught Hadjar was consoled by Lewis Hamilton’s dad, Anthony, who put his arm around the rookie and gave him some much-needed words of encouragement.