'Where the hell?' - Lewis Hamilton stunned by Mercedes pace at Australian Grand Prix

Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has been left in disbelief at the pace of his rivals after Mercedes' impressive performance at the Australian Grand Prix.

The F1 season opener is once again taking place at Albert Park Circuit, with Melbourne welcoming the start of a new rules cycle in the sport that sees a comprehensive overhaul of both the chassis and power unit regulations.

After extensive pre-season tests, Red Bull impressed having seemingly put together a reliable first in-house power unit with the help of Ford, whilst Ferrari set tongues wagging in Bahrain for their ingenious 'macarena' rear wing.

But throughout the January shakedown and February's pre-season tests, there was one team who were not able to escape the sandbagging accusations, and that is Mercedes.

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Hamilton's fellow countryman and former team-mate George Russell has been tipped as the favourite to take home the drivers' championship in 2026, with the Silver Arrows having mastered regulation changes in the past.

But until this weekend, Mercedes were yet to show off the pace they had been rumoured to have been hiding, but Russell went full pelt in Melbourne on Saturday, giving a taste of what was to come across the weekend's competitive qualifying and grand prix.

After his team-mate Kimi Antonelli suffered the first crash of the season, which he thankfully walked away from unharmed, Russell shot straight to the top of the timesheets in the final minutes of FP3 on Saturday after the track had been cleared following Antonelli's smash at Turn 2.

Russell put in a spectacular 1:19.053 to go fastest in the weekend's final practice session, finishing over six tenths ahead of his nearest challenger on track, who came in the form of his ex-Mercedes team-mate, Hamilton.

In a clip shared via social media, Hamilton appeared shocked by the true pace of his former team and could be heard questioning over Ferrari team radio: "Where the hell was that six tenths?"

Russell then went on to better this time in qualifying, setting a 1:18.518 and helping Mercedes lock out the front row of the grid for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix.

READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton's new race engineer spotted in Melbourne

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