F1 Australian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton vows to hold FIA accountable for Mercedes advantage

Cut out of Hamilton looking concerned in a Ferrari cap and coat with a background of Russell's Mercedes F1 car — Photo: © IMAGO

Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton vows to hold FIA accountable for Mercedes advantage

Lewis Hamilton is looking for justice after Mercedes showed blistering pace in Melbourne

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Sunday 8 March 2026 08:15

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Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton is keen to level any unfair advantage his former Mercedes team may have after the Silver Arrows unveiled their true pace at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

Mercedes had been tipped as the hot favourites all the way through the F1 2026 pre-season, with star driver George Russell looking particularly pleased with both himself and his new car after it first hit the track during January's Barcelona shakedown.

As the teams all debuted their new machinery and interpretations of the new regulations, word spread that Mercedes had managed to find a way for their geometric compression ratio within the power unit to be at the allowed 16:1 when the car was stationary, but then increase to the previously allowed 18:1 when moving, with the FIA regulations stating in the past that they would only take the measurement when the car was stationary and at an ambient temperature.

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But it soon became clear that any advantage Toto Wolff's F1 squad may have found via this regulation loophole could be at risk of being lost entirely as their rivals demanded action from the FIA over their compression ratio trick.

A decision has now been reached after a vote amongst the power unit providers that means Mercedes will not be able to use their clever trick from this year's Monaco GP onwards, but Hamilton is still demanding more answers over the issue from F1's governing body.

F1 RESULTS: Mercedes dominate chaotic Australian Grand Prix

Hamilton: 'I want to understand why the FIA haven't done anything'

On Saturday at Albert Park Circuit, Mercedes managed to lock out the front row of the first grand prix of the year after Russell and his team-mate Kimi Antonelli completed Q3 in a league of their own.

Russell, the hot favourite to win the 2026 drivers' title, posted a 1:18.518 in qualifying that catapulted him to the top of the timesheets, and though he was only 0.293 ahead of the Italian teenager, the gap between the Mercedes duo and the rest of the pack was far greater.

Upon hearing of Mercedes' pace earlier on Saturday during the final practice of the Australian GP weekend, Hamilton took to the radio, clearly shocked, questioning 'where the hell' his former team-mate had managed to find over six tenths from to finish ahead of him in FP3.

After Russell later claimed the first pole position of the 2026 campaign, Hamilton spoke to Sky Sports F1, clearly baffled by the Mercedes monster having struggled with an energy deployment issue at the wheel of his new Ferrari on Saturday.

"What's clear is they didn't show their engine power through any of the practice [sessions]," said Hamilton.

"There's a whole talk of compression ratios and they have done a solid job with their engine, which we have.

"I want to understand why it's two tenths or more just through power, per sector.

"If it is a compression thing, I want to understand why the FIA haven't done anything and what's been done to rectify it.

"If it's not, and it's just pure power, we have to do a better job."

But the Sky pundits were quick to shut down Hamilton's concerns, with F1 analyst Bernie Collins adding: "Four teams are running this [Mercedes] engine so if it was just down to compression ratio we'd have those four teams at the top of the timesheet and that's not how it stands at the minute."