News Summary
- The 2026 F1 Mexico City Grand Prix starts at 7:00am AEDT on Monday, November 2 in Sydney and Melbourne, with a 9:00am NZDT start in Auckland and Wellington.
- Qualifying begins on Sunday, November 1, at 8:00am AEDT in Sydney and 10:00am NZDT in New Zealand.
- Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson will compete as Andrea Kimi Antonelli arrives in Mexico with an opportunity to secure the Formula 1 World Championship.
The 2026 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix will begin on Monday morning for fans in Australia and New Zealand, with the race scheduled for 7:00am AEDT in Sydney and Melbourne and 9:00am NZDT in Auckland and Wellington on November 2. The 71-lap event takes place on Sunday afternoon in Mexico, but the time difference moves the starting time into the following day across Oceania.
The race marks the 19th round of the season and follows Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s victory in Austin, where Australian driver Oscar Piastri finished seventh and New Zealand’s Liam Lawson secured ninth. Both will attempt to improve their results at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, while Antonelli could mathematically clinch the World Championship.
What time is the Mexican Grand Prix in Australia?
The scheduled start of the Mexico City Grand Prix is 7:00am AEDT on Monday, November 2 in Sydney and Melbourne.
However, Australia has multiple time zones, and not all states observe daylight saving.
Viewers in Brisbane will see the race begin at 6:00am AEST, while those in Perth must tune in at 4:00am AWST.
Adelaide is half an hour behind Sydney and Melbourne, with the race beginning at 6:30am ACDT.
F1 Mexican GP — Race start times across Australia
| City | Date | Local start |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | Monday, November 2 | 7:00am AEDT |
| Melbourne | Monday, November 2 | 7:00am AEDT |
| Canberra | Monday, November 2 | 7:00am AEDT |
| Adelaide | Monday, November 2 | 6:30am ACDT |
| Brisbane | Monday, November 2 | 6:00am AEST |
| Darwin | Monday, November 2 | 5:30am ACST |
| Perth | Monday, November 2 | 4:00am AWST |
The conversions correspond to the scheduled race start of 2:00pm on Sunday in Mexico City.
What time is F1 qualifying in Australia and New Zealand?
Qualifying takes place on Saturday, October 31, in Mexico, which corresponds to Sunday morning in Australia and New Zealand.
The session starts at 8:00am AEDT on Sunday in Sydney and Melbourne, and at 10:00am NZDT in Auckland and Wellington.
Unlike sprint weekends, Mexico follows Formula 1’s traditional format, featuring three practice sessions and one qualifying session before the Grand Prix.
For Australian and New Zealand viewers, most sessions fall during the morning, although the third practice session starts particularly early on Sunday.
F1 Mexico 2026 — Full weekend schedule for Australia and NZ
| Session | Sydney / Melbourne (AEDT) | Auckland / Wellington (NZDT) |
|---|---|---|
| FP1 | Sat 31 Oct, 5:30am | Sat 31 Oct, 7:30am |
| FP2 | Sat 31 Oct, 9:00am | Sat 31 Oct, 11:00am |
| FP3 | Sun 1 Nov, 4:30am | Sun 1 Nov, 6:30am |
| Qualifying | Sun 1 Nov, 8:00am | Sun 1 Nov, 10:00am |
| Grand Prix | Mon 2 Nov, 7:00am | Mon 2 Nov, 9:00am |
All times are local and based on Formula 1’s official Mexican Grand Prix schedule. Television coverage may begin before each session.
Piastri and Lawson seek stronger results after Austin
The race will be particularly important for fans following Piastri and Lawson.
Piastri finished seventh in Austin after another difficult weekend for McLaren, which struggled to extract consistent performance from its car.
The Australian has 144 points and will be seeking to improve his championship position during the closing five rounds.
Lawson finished ninth for Racing Bulls, collecting two points and reaching 77 in the Drivers’ Championship.
The New Zealander admitted that ninth was effectively the highest possible finishing position outside the four leading teams when all their cars completed the race.
Mexico may offer a different competitive order because the circuit’s altitude significantly affects aerodynamic and cooling requirements.
The teams must adapt their setups to compensate for the unusually thin air at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Could the Formula 1 title be decided in Mexico?
The Mexican Grand Prix could also be the race in which Antonelli secures the World Championship.
The Mercedes driver leads George Russell by 123 points and Lewis Hamilton by 124, with 125 points still available.
He needs only ninth place in Mexico to clinch the title, regardless of their results.
The complete Mexican GP title scenarios explain the potential outcomes.
For viewers in Australia and New Zealand, that means the championship could be decided on Monday morning, November 2, rather than Sunday afternoon.
Readers in other regions can consult the worldwide Mexico City Grand Prix schedule, while fans in India have a dedicated IST guide.
GRANDE PRÊMIO is following the Mexican Grand Prix, including practice, qualifying, the race and championship developments, with live updates and full coverage in its Formula 1 section.
