Mercedes dominates
If during the pre-season the teams bounced the role of favorite back and forth, during the Australian Grand Prix qualifying they had to drop their masks and F1 2026 unequivocally showed the great favorite for this season: Mercedes.
Of course, this is the first qualifying of a twenty-four race championship, but the advantage the Silver Arrows have over their rivals seems significant and only a very steep development curve from the opponents could challenge what appeared to be dominance.
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Was Mercedes hiding?
Speaking to Sky Sports Uk, Mercedes co-owner and team principal – Toto Wolff – addressed the topic in his usual style, essentially denying it: “Everyone will say: ‘There, they were hiding. They had much more.’ But you can’t hide your cards or at least, we can’t do it because we don’t really know where the car is. Sometimes did we have 10 kg more fuel? Maybe yes. But we don’t yet have enough confidence in understanding these cars to carry more weight for the purpose of hiding. We are surprised too, but I accept it”.
