Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix ended with a resounding triumph for George Russell, but the Mercedes driver has revealed that the race almost slipped away from him before the first corner – thanks to a shockingly depleted battery.
What should have been a clean getaway from pole instead turned into a scramble as Charles Leclerc blasted past into the lead, exposing a vulnerability Russell hadn’t anticipated as the lights went out at Albert Park.
For a moment, the season opener looked destined to belong to Ferrari.
A Start Gone Wrong
Russell lined up on the front row with confidence after securing pole position. But as the cars launched down to Turn 1, the Mercedes driver quickly realized something was off.
The reason, he later admitted, was painfully simple: he had no electrical punch left in the system.
"I'm feeling incredible. It was a hell of a fight at the beginning," Russell said after the race.
"We knew it was going to be challenging. I got on the grid and I saw my battery level - I had nothing in the tank! I made a bad start and then obviously there were some really tight battles with Charles."
With his energy deployment compromised, Leclerc surged ahead while the two quickly became locked in an intense early duel for control of the race.
Russell briefly reclaimed the lead in the opening laps, only for Leclerc to immediately fight back — a tug-of-war shaped by the delicate balance of energy deployment under Formula 1’s new regulations.
"We had this suspicion that it was gonna be a bit of a yo-yo effect and as soon as one of us got in front, it just felt impossible to hold it," Russell explained.
Compounding the problem was the way the car behaved in straight-line mode.
"Obviously, with this straight mode we lose a lot of the front end on the car, so we're sort of just understeering a lot around these corners,” he said.
“So I'm sure maybe the FIA are going to have to improve that a little bit because it was a bit sketchy."
Antonelli’s Own Grid Nightmare
Russell wasn’t the only Mercedes driver caught out when the lights went out.
Kimi Antonelli, starting alongside his team-mate on the front row, endured an even more chaotic launch. Swarmed by fast starters including Lewis Hamilton, Arvid Lindblad, and Isack Hadjar, the young Italian tumbled down the order to seventh place.
Like Russell, he had also started the race short on electrical energy – leaving him vulnerable to rivals who had conserved more battery on the formation lap.
But the Italian responded with an impressive recovery drive, carving his way back through the field.
"It was the best start [to the season] we could have wished for. Unfortunately, the start was really bad and lost a lot of places and I find myself having to recover," Antonelli said.
"Overall, it was a good race. The pace was very strong, especially at the end and I'm just looking forward to next week!
"The racing was incredible the first few laps, with the overtake it's powerful and that can give a lot of action. So it was really good fun at the beginning."
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Australian GP: Russell kicks off F1 new era with Mercedes 1-2While the Ferraris initially looked in control, the race soon began to swing back toward Mercedes.
Virtual safety car periods proved decisive, allowing the Silver Arrows to pit efficiently while Ferrari hesitated on strategy. That hesitation eventually put Russell back into the lead – a position he would never relinquish.
From there, Mercedes tightened its grip on the race, with Antonelli also climbing back into contention.
By the closing stages, the team had transformed an uncertain opening lap into a dominant one-two finish.
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