Motoring News

Liam Lawson has claimed Sergio Perez fights him “like it’s for the world championship”, after the pair aggressively battled in Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix.
Lawson dropped from eighth to 18th on lap one after failing to deploy his engine’s power for five seconds, which caused a frightful near-miss with Franco Colapinto; he then pitted under the first virtual safety car but ended ...Keep reading

Pedro Acosta left Thailand as the first leader of the 2026 MotoGP world championship. The KTM rider claimed his maiden sprint victory in Saturday's contest and followed it up with a second-place result in the grand prix itself.
Accumulating 32 points across the weekend, he now holds a seven-point lead over Thai Grand Prix winner Marco Bezzecchi, with Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez a further ...Keep reading

Harry, Jennie and Marc look back at the race from Melbourne

The Chequered Flag podcast's Jennie Gow and Marc Priestly discuss how new F1 regulations will entice "casual fans" with more "drama" on the tracks.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto expressed unabashed relief after narrowly avoiding a colossal accident with Liam Lawson’s crawling Racing Bulls at the start of Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix.
The race start was a point of concern amid F1’s switch to new power unit rules, with the removal of MGU-H making it harder for drivers to spool up the turbo.
Several competitors endured slow ...Keep reading

On the latest episode of The Chequered Flag Podcast, former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestly credits Mercedes for the way they have managed to "hit the ground running" on integrating new F1 car regulations.

The drivers and teams report back on all the action from Sunday's race in Melbourne for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix.

McLaren boss Andrea Stella admitted that it’ll take time to catch Mercedes in the 2026 Formula 1 campaign with the gap up to “one second” per lap after the Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell led a Silver Arrows 1-2 in the Melbourne season opener after beating team-mate Kimi Antonelli to pole, while being at least 0.7s ahead of the other 10 squads. 
Mercedes therefore backed up the ...Keep reading

Racing Bulls' rookie Arvid Lindblad says he "showed people a bit of what I am here to do" after finishing eighth on his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

Racing Bulls' rookie Arvid Lindblad says he "showed people a bit of what I am here to do" after finishing eighth on his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

The opening race of F1's new era in Australia left the drivers with mixed feelings about what the sport had become, writes Andrew Benson.

Isack Hadjar called on Red Bull to “do better” after his lightning-quick getaway in Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix failed to pay off.
Starting from third on the grid after narrowly outqualifing the Ferraris and McLarens in Melbourne, Hadjar’s excellent reaction time meant he challenged polesitter George Russell for the lead within seconds.
However, that challenge was short-lived ...Keep reading

BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator Harry Benjamin rates how the drivers performed during the Australian Grand Prix.

Winner: Mercedes - Toto's great revenge
Toto Wolff's grin as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli coasted across the finish line said it all. Mercedes is back with a vengeance, and its years in the doldrums have only meant revenge tastes sweeter.
As F1 switched to the bouncing ground-effect cars 2022, Mercedes's reign stuttered to a halt, powerless to see first Red Bull and then McLaren take ...Keep reading

Lando Norris has suggested that McLaren “need to improve the car quite a lot” following his P5 finish in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with the Briton admitting that he was “struggling with a lot of things” during the race.

Max Verstappen has admitted that worrying about the competitive gap to Mercedes is “not going to change anything” after he charged to P6 from a P20 start in the Australian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton has been left excited for what is to come after enjoying a “really fun” Australian Grand Prix, with the seven-time World Champion admitting that he wished the race could have gone on longer – particularly after only just missing out on P3 to Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc.

Charles Leclerc was encouraged that Ferrari “delivered” by enjoying a strong start at the Australian Grand Prix, with the Monegasque also pleased that the squad performed better on race day than in Qualifying – while also suggesting that his P3 result was the “best we could do”.

Kimi Antonelli enthused that Mercedes achieved “the best start we could have wished for” at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, rounding out a rollercoaster weekend with a hard-fought P2 behind winner George Russell.

All the key BBC coverage details for round two of the Formula 1 season at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, which takes place from 13-15 March.