Lando Norris pipped team-mate Oscar Piastri to pole position as McLaren began the 2025 Formula 1 campaign with a front row lockout at the Australian Grand Prix.
Piastri had appeared to secure a coveted pole on home soil, but Norris delivered the goods at the death as the reigning champions headed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The sun was gleaming down on the Albert Park Circuit as the opening qualifying of the season began, with several drivers thought to be in contention to secure pole.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, making his third outing on home soil, had headed a close third and final practice session which saw less than one-tenth cover the top three.
Oliver Bearman had been restricted to 14 laps having experienced a big crash in FP1 that caused him to miss FP2 and then beached his Haas car in the gravel in FP3.
The Briton had been on track along with the rest, but he reported an issue with his Haas VF-25 and soon returned to the pits with time against the side to get him out.
Norris placed down a marker on his first lap as he went 0.450 seconds quicker than Charles Leclerc, who was close to three-tenths above team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Fernando Alonso split the Ferrari drivers in the Aston Martin alongside Alpine’s Jack Doohan, whose compatriot Piastri wound up 0.154s down on Norris’ benchmark.
Red Bull had struggled through the opening practice sessions, but FP3 had indicated the side had made a step overnight and Verstappen used that to go into second.
Surprise exits in Q1
But like Bearman, team-mate Liam Lawson had been restricted to mere mileage in the practice hour that preceded the session that would determine the starting grid.
Lawson, who had admitted he was “slow” earlier in the weekend, locked up into Turn 3 and ran through the gravel, leaving him in the drop zone with five minutes to go.
Along with Lawson, the two Haas drivers, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly were the drivers who needed an improvement to avoid being eliminated.
Lawson’s last attempt comprised another detrimental mishap as he went deep into the penultimate corner, resigning the Red Bull debutant to a disappointing Q1 exit.
But there was one more driver in a top team who wouldn’t be participating in Q2 as Gabriel Bortoleto’s last-ditch lap bumped Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli to 15th.
At the sharp end, though, Norris remained the benchmark over George Russell, whose Mercedes discarded the Medium compound to make a late switch to the Softs.
Norris was unable to usurp his team-mate, ending up 0.088s short. Behind Verstappen, Russell was quicker than Leclerc as Williams’ Alex Albon was above Hamilton.
Bortoleto out-qualified his more experienced Sauber team-mate Hulkenberg, who bowed out in Q1 with Antonelli, Lawson and the Haas duo – Ocon heading Bearman.
Verstappen mixes it with the McLarens
Verstappen started the second stage with the fastest lap over Leclerc’s Ferrari, though that didn’t stand long as Piastri’s McLaren lowered the headline to a 1:15.468s.
Racing Bulls had sustained a muted time through pre-season testing, but had shown promising pace in Melbourne and Yuki Tsunoda popped his VCARB 02 into sixth.
Hamilton was aiming to guarantee his passage into Q3 when he spun exiting Turn 11 on his last lap, prompting the stewards to disable DRS on the preceding straight.
That threatened to compromise the drivers wishing to escape the drop zone, which contained Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, the Aston Martin duo, Doohan and Bortoleto.
Bortoleto had a wide moment approaching Turn 5 which curtailed his chances, while Fernando Alonso had sustained floor damage to the AMR25 on his initial Q2 run.
Verstappen had gone fastest in the opening two sectors on his last attempt but lost time later on, which allowed Norris to lead a McLaren 1-2 in the second segment.
Verstappen capitalises on McLaren mistakes
Heading into the pole position shootout, McLaren CEO Zak Brown had insisted that up to six drivers could be in contention to land the inaugural pole position in 2025.
McLaren opened the door to the chasing pack as Piastri crept deep at the penultimate turn, while Norris exceeded track limits at Turn 4 and had his sole time deleted.
Leclerc and Russell traded spells at the top, but it was Verstappen who eclipsed them all to claim provisional pole on a 1:15.671s, 0.024s quicker than Russell behind.
Piastri kept it together this time to go near to five-tenths faster than Verstappen’s initial benchmark, but the crowd’s delight was shortlived as Norris went even faster.
Russell climbed into third behind the McLaren pair until Verstappen retained the position, although the Dutchman was powerless to displace Norris or Piastri ahead.
Tsunoda and Albon produced cracking laps to relegate the Ferrari pairing to seventh and eighth, Leclerc above Hamilton, with Gasly and Sainz completing the top 10.
READ MORE – F1 2025 Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
