It is true that the George Russell – Kimi Antonelli pairing ultimately left Melbourne heading toward Shanghai with the trophies they had hoped to secure. Yet almost nobody would have bet an Australian dollar on the possibility of seeing a Ferrari leading the race for 26 of the 58 scheduled laps.
The first weekend of the 2026 season confirmed what had seemed like a very clear prediction: Mercedes began the championship with another gear compared to the rest of the field. There is little doubt about the superiority of the Silver Arrows at this stage, but what remains less clear is the true margin separating them from their rivals.
This is where Ferrari enters the picture. If Mercedes’ superiority was evident, it was just as clear that the Scuderia established itself as the second-strongest team on the grid. In Melbourne, there were effectively two Ferraris: the one seen in qualifying, which lined up alongside Red Bull and McLaren about eight tenths behind Mercedes, and the one seen across the 58 laps of the race.
In race conditions, the SF-26 was able to limit the gap to roughly three tenths per lap compared to the leading Mercedes duo, while also maintaining a comfortable advantage over the rest of the field. The season’s first podium was far from guaranteed before the long journey to Melbourne.
Ferrari looking for answers in qualifying
Ultimately, the race suggested that something simply did not work as expected in qualifying. The upcoming weekend in Shanghai will offer an important opportunity to verify this theory on track.
The Chinese Grand Prix will feature a sprint weekend format, meaning there will be two qualifying sessions. This will provide Ferrari with two chances to better understand where the SF-26 truly stands over a single lap.
There will also be two race starts, another interesting factor to watch. In Melbourne, Ferrari demonstrated impressive launch performance, almost like a dragster off the line. It will be fascinating to see whether this advantage becomes a long-term weapon that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc can consistently rely on.
Ferrari between potential and development
For now, Ferrari finds itself in a kind of technical limbo. It is a position from which the team could emerge strongly, especially with the momentum of its development program.
Reliability appears to be a valuable strength, while tire management looked solid during the Australian Grand Prix. However, if Ferrari wants to truly challenge for the objectives it should be aiming for, it still needs to find a few tenths of performance.
Based on what was seen in Melbourne, the deficit ranges between three and five tenths per lap. That is a significant gap, but it must also be considered within a different context than usual.
The 2026 season is effectively a kind of “year zero”, with entirely new regulations, still-immature projects and wide margins for improvement across the grid. The SF-26 is not yet a car that allows Ferrari fans to start dreaming of championships, but at the same time it leaves open possibilities that, on paper, are far from impossible.
Encouraging signs from Hamilton
Among the positive takeaways for Ferrari from the Australian Grand Prix is the return of Lewis Hamilton to a level of form worthy of his status.
Part of it may simply be about feeling more comfortable again. Hamilton never fully found the right connection with the previous generation of ground-effect cars, and the environment around him today is likely much more familiar than it was twelve months ago.
Team principal Frederic Vasseur avoided falling into easy conclusions when asked to comment on Lewis Hamilton’s strong weekend. Last year he repeatedly emphasized that victories and defeats come as a team, and he approached the Melbourne weekend with the same philosophy.
Still, the difference was noticeable. The embarrassment of qualifying exits in Q1 last season was a completely different picture compared to what Ferrari experienced this weekend. Hamilton’s final push during the race, which brought him across the finish line just behind Leclerc after 58 demanding laps, says a lot about the determination of the seven-time world champion.
For Ferrari, that is an important piece of good news—one major question mark that can now be removed from the long list of uncertainties that surrounded the team at the start of the championship.
