It is a Papaya front row in the opening race of the new 2025 Formula 1 season with Lando Norris leading Oscar Piastri to a McLaren 1-2 at the Australian Grand Prix. Defending world champion Max Verstappen is third for Red Bull.
In the other Red Bull, Liam Lawson was eliminated in Q1, as was new Mercedes recruit Andrea Kimi Antonelli, while Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda producing awesome Q3 efforts for Williams and Racing Bulls respectively.
The McLaren drivers had to work for it on the final runs in Q3, as both made mistakes on their first runs, after which Verstappen led the pack.
Piastri, who slid too deep at the penultimate corner on his first flying lap in the final segment, going at the top of the pack on the final laps – the home crowd favourite set a time of one minute, 15.180 seconds and provisional pole with a huge gain on the rest in the final sector.
But behind came Norris – having lost his first Q3 lap for a track-limits slip at Turn 4 – and Abu Dhabi winner went even quicker in the final sector after leading the opening third too, with pole established at one minute, 15.096 seconds by a 0.084 seconds margin to Piastri.
Because the rest could not match the McLarens, as Verstappen’s Q3 run two improvement left him 0.385 seconds adrift at the finish.
George Russell took fourth for Mercedes, with Tsunoda’s final lap missed by Formula 1’s world television feed as it came after so many of the rest – including Albon ahead on the track – and finished.
The Racing Bulls driver demoted Albon to sixth, plus the Ferrari pair led by Charles Leclerc in seventh.
Lewis Hamilton was eighth in his first qualifying session with the Scuderia.
Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz trailed Hamilton at the end of the top ten, with all three producing personal bests at the end of Q3.
In the middle segment, Isack Hadjar’s late personal best was not enough to progress and it was the same story for the Aston Martin drivers behind – Fernando Alonso leading Lance Stroll – with the racing green team later stating Alonso had damaged his floor in an early Q2 off in the gravel behind Turn 10.
Jack Doohan went to P14 on a late lap set just after Hamilton spun awkwardly at Turn 11 as Ferrari kept its drivers circulating on aging softs, with Gabriel Bortoleto was the last Q2 faller but left a memorable first impression on Formula 1 qualifying by saving a wild moment exiting Turn 4 on his final flier.
In Q1, Bortoleto’s last-gasp improvement knocked out Antonelli, who produced a personal best on his final flying lap after his previous lap had featured his Mercedes scraping dramatically along the ground and the team later said was linked to damage to his car’s floor.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and his replacement at Haas, Esteban Ocon, were eliminated in P17 and P19 – either side of Lawson, the other shock Q1 faller.
After missing FP3 with his engine issue he headed out immediately, but multiple wayward moments on his final lap meant he abandoned it in the pits. This was a challenging start for Lawson.
Lawson only qualifies ahead of Oliver Bearman in the other Haas, who reported a gearbox issue on his Q1 outlap, which followed his FP1 crash, missed FP2 and FP3 gravel-beaching.
So an awesome start to the new season with a solid team effort by McLaren to take the front row. Rain is on the horizon on Sunday so expect Max Verstappen to showcase his impressive wet weather driving. Bring on race day!
Australian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.096
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:15.180
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:15.481
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:15.546
5 Yuki Tsuonda Racing Bulls 1:15.670
6 Alex Albon Williams 1:15.737
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.755
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:15.973
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:15.980
10 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:16.062
11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:16.175
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:16.453
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:16.483
14 Jack Doohan Alpine 1:16.863
15 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:17.520
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:16.525
17 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:16.579
18 Liam Lawson Red Bull 1:17.094
19 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:17.147
20 Oliver Bearman Haas No time
Lando Norris surged to pole position for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the McLaren driver having just edged out team mate Oscar Piastri by 0.084s to secure a front row lockout for the reigning Teams’ Champions.
After Max Verstappen had initially secured provisional pole during the first runs of Q3, Piastri thrilled the crowd at his home event by stunningly beating that effort by four-tenths. But the Australian did not keep P1 for long, as Norris went even faster on a lap of 1m 15.096s.
Verstappen wound up in third, the Red Bull man seemingly ready to take the fight to McLaren, while George Russell was fourth for Mercedes ahead of an impressive fifth place for Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bulls machine.
Alex Albon put his Williams in sixth – another midfield team hinting at promise – with the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton having to settle for seventh and eighth in a not entirely smooth session for the Scuderia. Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for Alpine, with Carlos Sainz ending his first qualifying for Williams in P10.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/norris-storms-to-pole-position-for-the-australian-grand-prix-ahead-of.7xW094Sd0b5e2qHIvAaf3s
Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli was eliminated from Q1 in Australia. The Italian driver will start the race from the 16th position on the grid.
Antonelli’s W16 was running incredibly low to the ground with sparks spotted underneath the bib. With just seconds to go until the end of Q1, Antonelli was sitting 15th but was ultimately knocked out by fellow rookie driver Gabriel Bortoleto in the last moment.
Mercedes confirmed to the media, including Motorsport.com:
“We saw bib damage on Kimi’s car during his second run. That caused a loss of performance for his final two laps, unfortunately.”
The Brackley driver reacted to his early qualifying exit:
“I did the same, to be honest, I did the same line as FP3.
“It’s just there was a big plot of gravel on the curb, and when I went through, it picked up quite a bit of damage.
“I mean I was losing quite a bit on the straights first of all because the floor was scrubbing on the track.
“And then I lost quite a bit of air load because obviously the floor was not aligned as well because one part was on the tarmac scratching, so definitely it was quite the changeable conditions.
“I mean obviously it’s raining [tomorrow], so many things can happen and we’ll try to build something good from there with the progress.
“I think [it] was very, very positive, so that’s why it’s quite disappointing the result, because I felt we could have gone for a much better position, but it is what it is, and we’ll try to move on and see what we can do tomorrow.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-reveals-kimi-antontelli-w16-damage-which-cost-qualifying-run/10703411/
Liam Lawson will start the Australian Grand Prix from 18th after an early exit from Qualifying.
The Kiwi ran into issues during the third and final practice which resulted in him missing the majority of the session while the Red Bull team worked on the car. Although the team was able to get the RB21 ready in time, Lawson ran wide at Turn 3, which ended up being detrimental to his qualifying session.
While speaking to the media after the Q1 exit, Lawson explained:
“We expected the start of Quali to be tough. To be honest, the first laps were expected to be off, and then we were just planning on building through the session. But obviously going off on that second lap put everything out of order a bit.
“And then [the] last lap was good, honestly, just until the last sector where I had a big drop so yeah missing P3 obviously doesn’t help any of this, but I shouldn’t be going off in Quali.”
When asked where he was before the issue, Lawson explained:
“So before Turn 9, we were about half a second up. I’d already had a snap at Turns 9 and 10.
“I think tyres were already starting to drop there, so that’s something we’ve been battling this weekend and something that we missed practicing in P3. I haven’t really done much high-fuel running. I think we feel we have found improvements with the car regardless of this. Obviously, Max is in a very good position so we have definitely made a step.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/pressure-builds-on-liam-lawson-after-early-australia-qualifying-exit/10703397/
Lewis Hamilton has a steep learning curve ahead of him if the rain comes down during Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver, who qualified eighth behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc, said he was unfamiliar with some switches in that context.
“Frickin’ hell, I’ve never driven the car in the wet,” he said on Saturday. “I don’t know which buttons I’m going to switch to tomorrow, so that’s going to be new.
“We’re using Brembos, which I’ve not used for a long, long time,” he said of the car’s brakes. “So I don’t know how the Brembos behave in the wet, or what settings we’re going to have to use with this car.”
Wet conditions are predicted for Albert Park tomorrow, with a 70% chance of midday showers. “When you qualify 8th you kind of hope for it to be wet, but I’ve only got three laps to learn the car in the wet and then get out [for the race],” he said. “It’s going to be a shock to the system, but I’m going to be learning on the fly and just giving it everything.”
Hamilton also admitted it had been a “slow process” finding “confidence” in the Ferrari. “When you have a problem with the car and you come in, normally when you’ve got the experience, you can say, ‘OK this is where I want to go with it’, but I don’t know which tool to use at the moment,” he said. “So I’m heavily relying for the first time on my engineers, and they’ve done a great job.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-ferrari-switches-rain-melbourne/10703494/
Max Verstappen admitted to some surprise in finishing third in Formula 1 qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, following Red Bull’s turnaround in fortunes after a lacklustre pair of Friday practice sessions.
The reigning champion ended up fifth in FP1 and seventh in FP2 after struggling with a wayward RB21 chassis during his qualifying simulations, while his new team-mate Liam Lawson found the car even harder to drive and sat in the bottom quarter of the timesheets.
Overnight work seemed to bring the Red Bull into a much better frame; Verstappen was just 0.081s away from Oscar Piastri’s FP3 benchmark to sit third fastest, and reclaimed that position in qualifying – albeit 0.385s shy of Lando Norris’ pole lap.
Reflecting on qualifying, Verstappen explained that the car was still lacking a little bit of outright pace, but that the balance changes had made it much easier to get the tyres into the right window for a qualifying lap.
“We had a bit of a tough start. This has never really been a good track to us I think as well, so it took a bit of time to understand how we can improve the situation, and we did that today,” Verstappen suggested.
“I’m quite surprised to be sitting here [in the press conference] after yesterday! I felt confident. I felt one with the car. Of course, clearly it was lacking a bit of pace, but overall, happy with the laps in qualifying.
“We were just trying to fine-tune the balance, and the car just came alive a little bit more in general, it was quite OK to drive because it was too slow.
“Today it was a little bit faster, but clearly still not fast enough. But still, to be ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes I think is good for us.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-third-australian-grand-prix-qualifying/10703450/
McLaren has started its Formula 1 season with a front-row lockout after a chaotic qualifying in Australia. The Papaya team comes off an impressive 2024 season, taking home its first championship win since 1998.
Lando Norris finished first on the grid with a lap time of 1:15.096. Oscar Piastri, racing in front of his home crowd, finished second, followed by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen who is eager to continue the championship success he’s been seeing over the last four years.
Speaking in the post-qualifying interview, Piastri was happy with the start of his season, although it’s clear he wanted more after a provisional pole earlier in the session.
“Yeah, pretty happy,” he said. “It’s obviously great to start the year on the front row – only one position further back that I would have liked – but no, I think it’s a great start to the year and great to have the team on the front row.
“Now we’ll reset and see what tomorrow has in store but I’m pretty happy with how qualifying went, just not quite enough in Q3, but it’s the start of a long season, so I’m pretty happy with a solid start.”
When being asked where he lost time to his teammate, the Australian highlighted a number of small mistakes.
“I think the sector 3, I lost a little bit of time compared to the lap before from Q2, and I also locked up there and went off in the first round of Q3, so I didn’t really want to do that twice. I maybe left it a little bit on the table, but I think it was pretty tricky out there for everybody. Q3 at the start looked pretty messy, so I’m just happy to be on the front row and have a good start.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/oscar-piastris-mixed-emotions-happy-but-i-wanted-more-as-norris-thrilled-with-perfect-start/10703462/