Russell storms to pole as Mercedes lock-out front row in Melbourne

George Russell took an imposing pole position as Mercedes dominated the first qualifying session of a new era of Formula 1 at the Australian Grand Prix. The Briton led team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 0.363 seconds and was 0.785secs clear of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in third place. Max Verstappen crashed on his first lap to leave a degree of doubt as to the extent of Mercedes’ superiority, but it was an impressive start to a new period of regulations by the former champions. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest, with the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris separating him from his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

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Hamilton to get new race engineer for 2026 season

Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer from the 2025 Formula 1 season has been moved to a new role at Ferrari. Riccardo Adami will take over as manager of the Ferrari driver academy and their programme for testing previous cars. A Ferrari statement made no reference to Hamilton by name, saying only: “The appointment of the new race engineer for car number 44 will be announced in due course.”

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Dr Helmut Marko to leave role as Red Bull advisor

Red Bull motorsport adviser Dr Helmut Marko will leave the team after 20 years at the end of 2025. The 82-year-old has been an integral part of Red Bull’s success since the team formed in 2005, as they won six constructors’ championships and eight drivers’ titles. Marko, who was the right-hand man of the late Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz, has overseen the development of 20 drivers, most notably world champions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, with whom the Austrian has a close relationship.

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Hadjar promoted to Red Bull as Arvid Lindblad joins Racing Bulls for 2026

Red Bull will promote Frenchman Isack Hadjar to their senior team and hand 18-year-old Briton Arvid Lindblad a debut Formula 1 season in 2026. Lindblad, who has a Swedish father and a mother of Indian descent, will be team-mate to New Zealander Liam Lawson at second team Racing Bulls. The shuffling of Red Bull’s driver line-up sees Japanese Yuki Tsunoda lose his seat on the grid after five seasons.

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Cadillac to join Formula 1 grid in 2026

US car giant General Motors has had its Formula 1 entry for the 2026 season formally approved. It will name the new team after its luxury Cadillac brand. The decision to approve GM’s bid comes just over two months after the company reached an agreement in principle with F1 to enter the sport next year. F1 had previously rejected a bid from the US team Andretti, which was linked to Cadillac.

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