Radio Rewind | 2026 Australian Grand Prix

That guy f***ing sucks, man. It is like a mushroom in Mario Kart. What the f*** is he doing, this guy? It's okay. Recharge off is good. Radio check, time to turn three. Uh, yep, radio check. I have no... my battery is completely empty already. Copy that. So I have no power, but I think it's okay now. Oscar, are you okay? Yeah, I'm fine. Oscar, just make sure you turn the car fully off before you get out. Oh, big crash. McLaren. Easy. Formula One in 2026 begins when the five red lights go out. The new season is underway. Brake balance plus one. Good start. Charles Leclerc, George Russell, then Isaac Hajdari, your top three. And what an absolutely superb getaway for Arvid Lindblad, who's into fourth. Full power. Okay, we're checking, we're checking. The lift off... Engine sound, engine sound. Okay, lift off when you can. Keep your head down. Lift off when you can. There's something really wrong. Hamilton's got a good launch off that corner. About to go wheel to wheel. Are we about to go three wide? Lindblad finds himself getting through. Lindblad to third. Hamilton to fourth. Hamilton then gets up to third. Frenetic opening lap in Albert Park. I don't know which car was lost in my left front. Look into it. Okay, good job, Arvid. Head down now. Clean lap to the end. Hajdari gets back immediately. So where you deploy the power is everything. It's pass and re-pass. Are you f***ing kidding me? Okay, Liam. All okay, all okay. Overtake mode enabled. Alex, point four ahead. Berman, point three behind. Wow. You just passed me like if I'm not here. That Mercedes is a rocket ship. Charles Leclerc will try and hang on to it. He's a former winner around here in the past. George Russell sweeps by and the Mercedes man reclaims the lead on lap two. I don't see how we're going to finish this race, mate. Okay, so the problem is the sock. The sock is coming back to us. It is going to come back to us. Yeah, but what about the engine? There's four of these, mate. And Charles Leclerc is going to try and go all the way around the outside to retake the lead of the Australian Grand Prix. So battery's now in a decent place. George made it past Leclerc without too much worry. Passed into turn 11. It's chaos, so just keep your nose clean. Let's be smart with Riz. I think I'll let him go next. Copy. Antonelli getting it passed on now as well on Lindblad. George Russell is up to the lead. Not quite. That was very dangerous by Leclerc, especially what we spoke about in pre-clips. We're best to let him be. He can't do it late. Copy. Increasing a lift to coast turn three will also help with pack level. We can reduce the Lyco after turn six because we're at limit. Speak louder, please. Quiet. Reduce the Lyco after turn six. Very good. So the sock is adapting. It is adapting. You will get more energy to turn nine. Come on. That's me. It's not enough. Keep your head down. It's doing all it can. Head down. If you can, saving tyres turn 10, 12. Here's the extra power from Russell. He inches ahead side by side. How much can Leclerc fight it? Not enough to hang on to it. George Russell retakes the lead again. Let's try to not lose too much time with Verstappen behind. Currently P10. 0.4, 0.3, 0.2. Ferrari back to P1. Good management. Well done. So Lewis behind will have overtake. Russell locks up. Doesn't need that. Does make the corner. Hangs on to it. And immediately back. Pass, re-pass. And now a three-way battle for the lead. And now joining the battle, the seven-time champion of the world, Lewis Hamilton. It's a big advantage to be second. Yes, we know. Oh! Come on! Oh, it's broken. Everything. Copy. Yeah, less power steering. Left everything. Oh. Yeah, I don't know what to say. The man who had his best ever day in Formula 1 qualifying yesterday is out of the Grand Prix on lap 11. So BSC, BSC. Keep the delta positive. You know what the plan is? We stay out. Box opposite to Lewis. At least one of us should have come in. Both Mercedes are in. George Russell in. Kimi Antonelli in. They took the opportunity. Are you sure about this, man? Yes, we are. It's still BSC on exit. Who is behind you? He will be fine. He's still on hard. Replace the steering wheel. It seems okay. Who is behind you? Behind you is Lawson. Lawson. Are you seeing this, bro? I did see that. You'll get him. Yep. I knew that was going to happen. Old friends reunited. Lawson. Perez. Trying to get by in the racing bulls. Trying to go around the outside of the Cadillac. No driver in Formula 1 is going to allow you to do that. Alright, guys. Thanks, bro. What happened to this guy? Bottas comes to a stop. We'll do this next week. We'll go again next week, mate. Sorry. A couple of issues there. Very unfortunate. All good. It's early days. Yellow, turn 14. Virtual safety car. Stay positive. Ah, man. How did you not call? How did you not call the pit, man? Brake checking. Brake check the whole pit lane. Copy that. Come on. Recharge. PSC ending. Again. Use the boost for three or four seconds. Can he go around the outside? Sweeping by. Taking the position. Max Verstappen to P6. I'm at 1.5. We're putting him to the end now. Yeah, he just closed the f***ing door. Sorry, mate. We're checking everything. It's all broken. He's been all over the place with me all the race. Yeah, understood. We're reporting it as well. Let's head down and focus while we can, alright? We're checking everything. All looks good for now. By the way, he should not be able to do what he did. Exit of three. Just open the wheel and hit me, basically. Yeah, understood. And you have overtake for the entire lap. It is like a mushroom in Mario Kart. That was a funny one. We will find out in the remaining laps whether this is a strategic error or it worked brilliantly for him. You are doing a good job. Keep it like this as long as you can. George Russell looking to the inside and not being given away by, until now, George Russell back into the lead of the Australian Grand Prix. So much movement in the straight when these guys are defended. It's mega dangerous. So into the pits comes Lewis Hamilton. It's Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton and Leclerc. But Leclerc will go through and he claims his spot on the podium. OK, I think the one-stop is viable. Copy that, sir. 30 laps remaining. Let's put some front-end in the car. We're starting to see greening on some other cars. Let's put some front-end, please. OK, Oli, we prefer not to use too much energy to overtake. Just be consistent. It'll come to you. He's a rookie. So Bortoletto, two cars back. He pitted onto new hards, lapping 24-0. Boost into 11 may work. I've no f***ing grip at that front. There's been 20 laps, I tell you. Yes, mate, but we don't have many options of what we can do here. Stick with it for now, please. Safety car window is open. VSC window closed. And here's Gabriel Bortoletto. In his second season of Formula 1, he's able to get past Esteban Ocon. Further up the order, this is the battle between Oliver Behrmann and Arvid Lindblad. And Oliver Behrmann... Oh, that was a late chop. Behrmann saw it coming. Behrmann takes the place. He's coming back. He uses the boost to get by, but you can't use too much of your battery power without paying for it badly. Recommend left and coast in turn 6. No more boost. Good job. Ocon was at the head of this battle. Then it was Gasly. Now it is Gabriel Bortoletto. Good job there. Gasly had Behrmann and Lindblad in 21 laps. All hearts. Behrmann has overtaken Lindblad and they are racing. Bortoletto 10 behind, doing 24.5. Target is to stay ahead of him. Keep protecting the front left. 16 laps to go. Currently P8. Front left braking. What the f*** is he doing, this guy? It's OK. It's OK. It's all done. 7 laps to go. Keep pushing. Doing well. Yeah, they've been celebrating. Thanks. The pre-season favourite begins with a win. George Russell wins the Australian Grand Prix. It's a Mercedes 1-2 in a season opener for the first time since 2019. You ripper. Great job. Awesome drive. Awesome weekend. Well done, mate. Very nice. I like this car. I like this engine. Great job. That'll be the star on the front. I must say, when I rocked up on the start grid and I saw my battery at 0%, I was slightly nervous. Georgie, Georgie. Congratulations. Well done. It's a good start. Car and power unit and the driver combination. Really good. Congratulations. Really well done. We're all super thrilled. You boy. Nice work there, Kimi. Great recovery. Yeah, I mean, we lost the race at the start. So, it was a shame. The pace was very strong. But, thank you everyone for the start of the year. Thank you. Charles Leclerc completing the podium. Lewis Hamilton only 6 tenths of a second behind. Well done. Good job, David. That was so exciting. In the beginning, I'm sorry with Berman. That was not good enough. That was badly managed. But anyway, it was an amazing race. I loved it. Thank you very much. Thanks, guys. Gabi, Jonathan, on behalf of the team, fantastic weekend. Fantastic results today. Made history. First points for Audi in Formula 1 in our first race. On behalf of everyone, thank you. And for everyone else listening, thank you. Neuberg, Hinville, Bista, an incredible effort. Charles Leclerc fought lap after lap. But when the German team hit the front, they stayed there. A brilliantly executed race once they had clear air for the championship favourite team and driver.