November 21, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Mercedes driver George Russell (63) is introduced ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix held at the Las Vegas Strip circuit. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Image George Russell led Mercedes to a 1-2 victory on Sunday and won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix after fending off a challenge from the Ferrari team.
Starting from pole position at Melbourne’s Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Russell quickly outpaced Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, jumping from fourth to turn one. The pair took turns leading for the first 11 laps, with Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton pushing into the lead.
When a problem occurred with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar’s car and a virtual safety car was activated, the Ferrari car stayed on the track and the Mercedes car moved to the pitlane.
It was a fruitless strategy.
Leclerc pitted on lap 25 for a tire change and Hamilton pitted on lap 28, allowing Russell to regain the lead and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli to take second. The race ended with Leclerc in 3rd and Hamilton in 4th.
Antonelli was 2.9 seconds behind Russell and Leclerc was 12.5 seconds behind.
Defending Formula One season champion Lando Norris finished fourth and Max Verstappen finished fifth. Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri failed to race after crashing on a scouting lap 35 minutes before the start.
“I feel really good. It was a really hard fight at first. We knew it was going to be difficult,” Russell said.
“I got on the grid, I knew my battery had nothing left in the tank, I had a bad start and obviously had a really tight battle with Charles, so I was really happy to get across the finish line.”
With F1 transitioning to new car regulations this season, Leclerc said racing gave him the opportunity to learn more about his car.
“We were very strong in the race, which was positive considering our expectations weren’t very high yesterday. I got off to a good start and learned a lot from the opening laps,” he said. “It’s a lot to manage at the same time… I’m happy with how I handled the situation in the car. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough speed to maintain first place afterwards.
“We must do our best to close the gap in terms of development. These days, we have gained a lot of insight. We will take that knowledge and try to take another step forward for China.”
The Chinese Grand Prix takes place next Sunday at the Shanghai International Circuit.
–Field level media
