Grand Prix qualifying F1 Australia 2026 have left a bitter taste in Ferrari's mouth. While Charles Leclerc has already recognized Mercedes' huge advantage after George Russell's pole position, Lewis Hamilton also questions the origin of this discrepancy. The seven-time world champion points to a possible technical issue with the Mercedes engine, and is awaiting explanations from the FIA.
An untouchable Mercedes in Melbourne
The first qualifying session of the season immediately set the tone. Mercedes dominated the session with authority, George Russell taking pole position ahead of team-mate Kimi Antonelli. The two German cars settled comfortably on the front row by impressive margins.
Behind them, the competition struggled to keep up. Charles Leclerc finished fourth in his Ferrari SF-26, almost eight tenths off the fastest time. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, was only seventh fastest. A gap that intrigued the Briton, especially when he observed Mercedes' performance on the straights.
Hamilton questions the power of the Mercedes engine
After the session, Lewis Hamilton mentioned a hypothesis already circulating in the paddock: Mercedes had not shown the full power of its engine during testing and practice sessions.
According to him, qualifying suddenly revealed a particularly visible advantage in the various sectors of the circuit. «Mercedes? I think the obvious thing is that they didn't show the power of their engine during testing, because there are discussions about the compression ratio,» explains the Ferrari driver.
Hamilton acknowledges that Mercedes may simply have done an excellent job on its engine. But he remains intrigued by the size of the gap observed on track. «They've clearly done a very good job on their engine, which we've also done, but it will be interesting... I'm trying to understand why the gap can be as much as two tenths or more just on power in each sector.»
A question for the FIA
The Briton also raised the question of the engine's famous compression ratio, a technical point which has been the subject of discussion in the paddock for several weeks. If this is indeed where the advantage lies, Hamilton believes the FIA should clarify the situation.
«If it's related to compression, then I want to understand why the FIA hasn't done anything and what's being done to correct that,» he explains. But the Ferrari driver remains lucid: if this advantage simply stems from the better performance of the Mercedes engine, then Ferrari will have to improve.
«If it's not that and it's just pure power, then we need to do a better job.»
🚨| Sir Lewis Hamilton on Mercedes' engine: "What's clear is that they didn't show the engine power through any of the practice, because there's the whole talk of compression ratio, and they've obviously done a really solid job with their engine, which we have as well, but it... pic.twitter.com/JurwIo36xG
- sim (@simscircuit) March 7, 2026
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