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Preparing your Formula Dream journey
Twenty-five Australian Grands Prix have been held at Albert Park since 2000. Lewis Hamilton took pole eight times and won twice, David Coulthard won from eleventh, and the 2023 race was stopped three times. Every winner, grid slot, safety car and red flag, measured.
Lewis Hamilton has taken pole for the Australian Grand Prix eight times, more than anyone. He has won it twice.
Albert Park is a place where Saturday promises more than Sunday delivers. Of the twenty-five Australian Grands Prix since 2000, twelve were won from pole, fewer than half. It is usually the first race of the season, on a park circuit lined with walls, and in 2023 the race was red-flagged three times. In 2026 George Russell won the first race of the new regulations, from pole.
Twenty-five Japanese Grands Prix have been held since 2000, all at Suzuka except two at Fuji. Pole won seventeen, Max Verstappen won four in a row from 2022, and Kimi Raikkonen won from seventeenth in 2005 with a last-lap pass. Every winner, grid slot and safety car, measured.
The first thirteen:
| Year | Winner | Team | Started |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 3rd |
| 2001 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | Pole |
| 2002 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 2nd |
| 2003 | David Coulthard | McLaren | 11th |
| 2004 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | Pole |
| 2005 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | Pole |
| 2006 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 3rd |
| 2007 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | Pole |
| 2008 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | Pole |
| 2009 | Jenson Button | Brawn | Pole |
| 2010 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 4th |
| 2011 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | Pole |
| 2012 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 2nd |
The last twelve:
| Year | Winner | Team | Started |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus | 7th |
| 2014 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 3rd |
| 2015 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Pole |
| 2016 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 2nd |
| 2017 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 2nd |
| 2018 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 3rd |
| 2019 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 2nd |
| 2022 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | Pole |
| 2023 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Pole |
| 2024 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 2nd |
| 2025 | Lando Norris | McLaren | Pole |
| 2026 | George Russell | Mercedes | Pole |
| Year | Safety cars | Virtual safety cars | Red flags |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2023 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 2024 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The 2023 race was stopped on lap 8 after Alexander Albon's crash, again near the end after Kevin Magnussen hit the wall, and a third time after a chaotic standing restart with two laps left, when several cars collided at the first corners. Carlos Sainz was given a five-second penalty for hitting Fernando Alonso at that restart, which dropped him out of the points. He was not happy:
DriverSo we have five seconds penalty. No, it cannot be, Ricky. Do I deserve to be out of the points? No. No. It's unacceptable. Tell them. It is unacceptable. They need to wait until the race is finished and discuss with me. Okay. No. Please, ask them. Please, please, please, please. To wait. To wait and discuss with me. Clearly the penalty is not deserved. It's too severe.
"Do I deserve to be out of the points? No. No. It's unacceptable." Verstappen won from pole, with Hamilton second and Alonso third.
A year later, Sainz had his appendix removed after the first race of the season, missed the second, and then won in Melbourne from second on the grid after Verstappen retired with a brake problem. Asked about his recovery, he joked on the radio:
Engineerah the appendix is just one there not two can repeat yeah yeah
Drivermaybe i operate again see if there's another one out there uh now i need to get out of here
"maybe i operate again see if there's another one out there". His 2026, at Williams, is measured in Carlos Sainz's 2026.
George Russell won the first race of the 2026 regulations from pole, with Kimi Antonelli making it a Mercedes one-two. The radio from that race is not in our archive: coverage of 2026 starts at the Canadian Grand Prix. Russell's season is measured in George Russell's 2026.
Monaco, Silverstone, Spa, Hungary, Zandvoort, Monza, and every race still to come in 2026: Baku, Sepang, Singapore, Austin, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Winners, grid positions, poles and finishers come from Formula 1's official results via FastF1.
Safety cars and red flags are counted from race control messages, which are available from 2018 only. A suspension logged on two consecutive laps is counted once. Earlier race stories are as widely reported.
Quotes are taken only from lines where the speaker label and the words agree.
Michael Schumacher, with four. Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel have three each.
George Russell, from pole, for Mercedes, in the first race of the 2026 regulations.
Crashes by Alexander Albon and Kevin Magnussen stopped the race twice, and a multi-car collision at the final standing restart stopped it a third time.
It was called off on the morning of first practice at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first race of every season sets the tone, and its radio goes out live.
The Formula Dream app plays live driver radio as it is broadcast, transcript beside the audio, and collects every FIA document of the weekend as it is published, including penalties like Sainz's in 2023. There is also a live timing Dashboard, currently in beta.
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Nineteen Chinese Grands Prix have been held in Shanghai since 2004. Lewis Hamilton won six, pole won twelve, and in 2026 Kimi Antonelli took the first win of his career there, at 19, with Hamilton on the podium for Ferrari for the first time. Every winner, grid slot and safety car, measured.
