F1 2026 Australia GP live: Race start time, schedule, stream and updates from Melbourne – UK Times

“It was not the best qualifying but I’ve felt solid all weekend, feel happy in the car and super motivated. Up until the end of Q1 it felt great, third or fourth on medium tyre. In Q2 we had some problems with the engine and deployment, some spanners in the mix.

“If we didn’t have an issue, we could have qualified third or fourth, I don’t think we can catch Mercedes.”

Were you surprised by the gap to Mercedes? “No.”

On Mercedes’s pace: “What’s clear is that they didn’t show the engine power through any of the practice, all the compression ratio [stuff], they’ve done a solid job with their engine.

“I want to understand… it was two-tenths or more just through power in the first sector. If it’s the compression ratio, I want to understand why the FIA haven’t done anything. But if not, then we have to do a better job.”

The first ceremonial lap of the season has just taken place in Melbourne!

“Mercedes was a bit of a surprise just how far ahead they are. Maybe third could have been on the cards but with this cars, you change something lap to lap and you end up with less power, it goes in the direction you don’t expect. Plenty of us for learn – we’re roughly where we thought we would be.

On race: “No-one’s really done long runs, Mercedes have and they looked even quicker. There’s a big uncertainty on the starts, qualifying might not be the be all and end all, we need to get that right.”

“It was a very smooth qualifying, the run-up the whole weekend was difficult, we’re not in position to fight for top-three, I thought McLaren and Ferrari were clear of myself, but we built-up to it and it was a good lap.

“The only thing I can do is a better start, but they’re just too fast at the moment. A second podium would be cool!”

“I’m so happy that those messy ground-effect cars have gone and we do what we’re good at. The mechanics did an awesome job, the car [Kimi’s] looked like a Lego car two hours before. I said we wouldn’t make it, Max went off and it gave us the minutes.

“Everyone will say we were sandbagging – we can’t really do that. We don’t have enough belief in understanding the cars – we’re surprised by the gap, but I’m taking it.

“George has made another step in seniority and in driving the car, it’s just how he likes it, it looks on rails, when the driver has confidence in the car, this is what it can do.”

F1’s governing body, the FIA, has already postponed the Qatar curtain raiser for top sportscar category, the World Endurance Championship, that was slated to be held on March 26-28.

The last time a scheduled F1 race was canceled was in 2023, when the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in northern Italy was called off at short notice due to deadly floods in the area.

In 2022, F1 continued with its race weekend in Saudi Arabia even after Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked an oil depot during a practice session, with black smoke visible from the Jeddah circuit.

The same year, F1 canceled the Russian Grand Prix’s contract after Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine.

George Russell vowed to “make hay while the sun shines” after he blitzed his world championship rivals to take a crushing pole position for Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

“We thought as a team we had a really good package beneath us, but we didn’t quite think it was that good,” he said.

“I am definitely surprised by the gap. We have a really great engine, but we also have a great car, too, and that hasn’t been highlighted enough.

“We want to win, we want to be on pole, we want to dominate the weekend, but it is a really long season, and we need to get through tomorrow and have a clean race.

“And I definitely have to make hay while the sun shines. My mentality coming into this race is if we started on the front foot, it doesn’t guarantee anything. And if we started on the back foot, it doesn’t guarantee anything either.”

The Australian Grand Prix will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom. Sky’s coverage of Sunday’s race starts at 2:30am (GMT).

Sky Sports subscribers can watch all the action in Melbourne on the Sky Go app. If you’re not a Sky customer, you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

If you’re travelling abroad and want to watch the Australian Grand Prix then you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN roundup is here to help.