Oscar Piastri wins the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix, with Lando Norris just managing to take P2, followed by Russell in P3. Verstappen finished fourth, Leclerc fifth and Hamilton sixth.

The race was filled with tyre strategy, brake issues and points for both Haas drivers and Alex Albon. Fernando Alonso was the only car to retire from the race, and Oscar Piastri dominated from start to finish.

McLaren won their 50th 1-2 finish, with Alpine now being the only team yet to score any points.​

Post race Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly were disqualified due to their cars being below the minimum weight required. Lewis Hamilton was also disqualified following his skid wear being below the minimum thickness of 9mm.  

Oscar Piastri started on pole position for the second race of the 2025 season, the Chinese Grand Prix. Weather conditions were cooler than Qualifying and the Sprint race with a very small chance of rain in the race's closing stages.

All of the drivers started on the medium compound tyres except for Stroll, Bearman and Lawson, who all started on the hard compound tyres. Lawson started on hard tyres but did so from the pit lane after changing the Red Bull's set-up under Parc Ferme conditions.

Oscar Piastri started on pole and held onto the race lead into Turn 1 despite a challenge from Russell, who was too busy trying to get past Piastri that he let Lando Norris through and into second. Lewis Hamilton took fourth position from Verstappen but made contact with Charles Leclerc in the process after Charles bounced out from the kerb and straight into Hamilton.

Leclerc reported front wing damage from his teammate's contact but continued in the race.

On lap two, Piastri led the Grand Prix, followed by Norris, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen, Antonelli, Tsunoda, Hadjar, Ocon, Albon, Gasly, Stroll, Sainz, Bearman, Doohan, Lawson, Hulkenberg and Borteloto.

Verstappen lost two places at the race start, as did Hadjar, with Hulkenberg losing seven places, Gasly gaining three, and Lawson gaining two.

Alonso reported a problem with his breaks and had to slow down, making his way slowly back to the pits and had to retire his car.

Drivers started to report tyre graining very early into the race, with a potential two-stop on the cards. Piastri was leading 1.5 seconds clear of Norris in second, with Russell dropping two seconds back during the opening part of the race after just 1.5 seconds covered the top three in the first few laps.

Despite having a damaged front wing, Leclerc started to put pressure on Hamilton, gaining to within DRS range for P4. Meanwhile, Verstappen dropped 4.5 seconds behind the two Ferraris, with questions over a drop of pace from graining on his tyres or just the pace of the Red Bull.

After the first round of pit stops, Tsunoda manages a successful undercut on Antonelli, with Ocon and Gasly doing the same to Hadjar. The first of the front runners to pit were Hamilton and Verstappen, which didn't show good signs for Verstappen's pace.

Piastri and Russell were next to pit in reaction to the stop from Hamilton, but Piastri had a very slow stop after an issue with his front right tyre, and he was also waiting for Russell to pass him in the pit lane.

Norris pits next, but Russell gets him with the undercut for P2, pushing Norris back into P3. Leclerc also pits and comes out behind Hamilton but doesn't take a new front wing.

This left Alex Albon leading the Chinese Grand Prix for a couple of laps for the first time since the 2020 Grand Prix in Turkey, when Alex was racing for Red Bull.

Leclerc got within DRS range of Hamilton and tried to pass him, but Hamilton, followed by Leclerc, passed Sainz at the same time, leaving Leclerc behind Hamilton again for the time being.

Meanwhile, further forward, Norris passes Russell at Turn 1 and is back into P2. Albon ran long with his tyres and managed to keep Norris and Russell behind him for longer than they would have wanted before Albon pitted.

Hamilton knew he was under pressure from Leclerc behind, and Ferrari made a call to switch positions, with Leclerc passing Hamilton and moving up into P4. Leclerc soon caught up with Russell for P3, putting pressure on the Mercedes driver with Norris only two seconds ahead of them both.

Leclerc expresses on the radio that "the Mercedes is a dragster out of Turn 12. Unbelievable. the traction they have out of them is unbelievable."

At the halfway mark in the race, just ten seconds covered the top five: Piastri, Norris, Russell, Leclerc, and Hamilton. However, the drivers were managing their pace, with many radio conversations about whether they could carry on until the end by just making one stop for the hard compound tyres.

At that point in the race, on lap 34, Stroll was the only car left yet to pit, having started on hard tyres; this gave the leading teams vital information about the hard compound tyres.

Norris was told on the radio that there was a small chance of rain for the final three laps of the race, just as Oliver Bearman makes a series of overtakes thanks to his offset tyre strategy, on medium tyres, surrounded by others on older hard compound tyres.

Verstappen started coming alive in the race and threatened Hamilton of P5. Still, Ferrari made the call to pit Hamilton for a new set of hard compound tyres, committing to the two-stop strategy, and Hamilton came out onto the track 20 seconds behind Verstappen.

Oliver Bearman cleared Gasly for P10, with Albon five seconds in front of him for P9. Piastri retained the lead of the race, by over 2.4 seconds from Norris, with Russell 6.3 seconds further back, all trying to make their tyres last until the end.

Hamilton was lapping a second faster per lap than the five cars in front of him but couldn't close the gap very quickly with Verstappen for P5. Verstappen was closing the gap between himself and Leclerc, putting just 3.5 seconds between himself and the Ferrari. Further ahead, Norris started to drop back from Piastri, with Russell gaining on him.

Tsunoda had to pit for the third time after his front wing was damaged, seemingly all on its own, without any contact.

Norris started to gain on Piastri with a gap of 3.5 seconds but reported issues of a long brake pedal. Verstappen closed up to 1.5 seconds behind Leclerc, and they had a great battle for P4 with less than seven laps remaining. Verstappen got the move done, going around the outside of Leclerc on Turn 3; he had to fight for it, however, setting up the move at Turn 1 and switching back to the inside of Turn 2.

Norris was told on the radio that his brake situation was critical and that he needed to back off Piastri and try to keep some sort of gap between himself and Russell.

Oscar Piastri wins the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix, with Lando Norris just managing to take P2, followed by Russell in P3. Verstappen finished fourth, Leclerc fifth and Hamilton sixth.

1) Oscar Piastri
2) Lando Norris         +9.748
3) George Russell     +11.097
4) Max Verstappen    +16.656
5) Charles Leclerc     +23.211  DSQ
6) Lewis Hamilton      +25.381 DSQ
7) Esteban Ocon        +49.969
8) Kimi Antonelli         +53.748
9) Alex Albon             +56.321
10) Oliver Bearman   +61.303
11) Pierre Gasly        +67.195  DSQ
12) Lance Stroll        +70.204
13) Carlos Sainz      +76.387
14) Isack Hadjar       +78.875
15) Liam Lawson      +81.147
16) Jack Doohan      +88.401
17) Gabriel Bortoleto +1 Lap
18) Nico Hulkenberg
19) Yuki Tsunoda
DNF) Fernando Alonso

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who wins the Chinese Grand Prix from pole position: “It’s been an incredible weekend from start to finish, the car has been pretty mega the whole time. I think today was a bit of a surprise with how the tyres behaved but I’m super proud and what I feel like I deserve from last week. I’m extremely happy and the team did a mega job, a one-two obviously, I’m very happy.”

On the tyres: “On the medium [tyre] it was still a bit tricky but much better than yesterday, and the hard was a much better tyre than what everyone expected, certainly than we expected, so to go all the way to the end that was a bit of a surprise, but a happy surprise.

“I’m very proud of the race we managed to pull off and it wasn’t an easy one going in, I’m proud of the whole team and the weekend I’ve been able to pull off.”

​On the crowd: “Thanks for the support, the crowd has been exceptional this week, there’s a few too many Lewis Hamilton fans but that’s OK, we will convert some of you next year. Thanks for coming out, the support has been incredible this year, I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Oscar Piastri takes his first pole position in Formula One at the Chinese Grand Prix, with George Russell in P2 and Lando Norris in P3.

Isack Hadjar has his highest qualifying, starting at the Chinese Grand Prix in seventh place, and Max Verstappen in fourth place.

Less than half a second covered the top eight in qualifying with five different teams, with really fine margins over a single lap on the current grid.

Lewis Hamilton won his first Sprint race with Ferrari in a race that was filled with tyre graining after Norris lost position and finished eight after losing positions at the start after going wide. Oscar Piastri came second after a late overtake on Max Verstappen, who finished third.

Lewis Hamilton started from pole position in the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint race and quickly built a commanding lead, which he maintained throughout the 19-lap event, despite experiencing some graining on his tires.

Four-time World Champion Max Verstappen held second place for most of the Sprint race, but lost the position to Oscar Piastri, who overtook him in the final laps.

Yuki Tsunoda delivered an impressive performance, finishing sixth for Racing Bulls. He was followed closely by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, who added to his points from Melbourne by finishing seventh. Lando Norris managed to secure eighth place after initially losing positions due to a wide moment early in the race, before reclaiming it in the closing stages.

Nico Hulkenberg started the Sprint race from the pit lane after modifications were made to his car under Parc Ferme conditions. All drivers used medium compound tires for the race, with most opting for previously used tires.

In a dramatic conclusion to the race, Gabriel Bortoleto and Jack Doohan collided on the final lap.​

Lewis Hamilton, who started on pole position and won the sprint race earlier today, his first for Ferrari: "Real, real special weekend so far. Shanghai has always been really good to me since my first race here in 2007. It is one the best new tracks they have built over the last couple of decades.

"It’s a much different view starting from pole, it is quite some time since I had that view. I got in the car early because I wanted to enjoy it.

"[It was a Challenging race, the tyre degradation was pretty huge. The last five laps I was in a pretty comfortable position, hard to put into words what it feels like, it is the sprint race not the main one but it is a good stepping stone.

​"The car was feeling really good today and it’s a good platform. I don’t think Lando [Norris] got this lap yesterday and it will be difficult but we will give it our best shot."

Top Eight Finishers
1) Lewis Hamilton
2) Oscar Piastri                   +6.889
3) Max Verstappen              +9.804
4) George Russell               +11.592
5) Charles Leclerc               +12.190
6) Yuki Tsunoda                   +22.288
7) Kimi Antonelli                   +23.038
8) Lando Norris                    +23.471

Out In Q1
16) Pierre Gasly
17) Oliver Bearman
18) Jack Doohan
19) Gabriel Bortoleto
20) Liam Lawson

At least 15 drivers were waiting at the lights at the end of the pit lane to start qualifying, with some waiting up to four minutes, allowing their tyres to cool down, with most on used soft tyres.

Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell were the last cars out on the track in the first part of the session.

Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri battle it out for the top spot, while Norris and Doohan get their first qualifying lap time deleted for track limits.

Charles Leclerc and Norris struggled through Q1, hitting curbs and losing time throughout the laps.

Lawson was noted for failing to slow under yellow flags after Doohan spun in the middle sector, but it was deemed no further investigation.

With three minutes to go, Ocon, Gasly, Sainz, Lawson, and Doohan were in the bottom five, with Charles Leclerc under pressure in 13th. All drivers head onto the track on new soft tyres, except Verstappen and Tsunoda, potentially giving them the upper hand later in the session.

​Bearman was investigated after qualifying for potentially impeding Stroll in Q1.

Pierre Gasly, Oliver Bearman, Jack Doohan, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson were all out in Q1, with Lando Norris, Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top three on the timesheets for the session.

Out In Q2
11) Esteban Ocon
12) Nico Hulkenberg
13) Fernando Alonso
14) Lance Stroll
15) Carlos Sainz

Drivers waited just a short time before heading out onto the track, with everyone lining up at the pit exit. Mercedes, Sainz, Ocon, Hadjar, and Stroll were among the first to head out on track.

​Russell was at the top of the timesheet with ten minutes to go but was knocked off the top spot by both McLarens. Stroll, Ocon, Hadjar, Alonso and Sainz were in the bottom five.

All the drivers returned to the garage five minutes to go and five minutes to go after the first qualifying runnings, with Norris at the top with a 1m 30.787s.

Piastri, Verstappen, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton and Leclerc headed back onto the track early with four minutes to go.

​Piastri ran used soft tyres while the rest of the field was out on the new soft tyre compound, with only 12 sets of tyres available for the weekend.

Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz were all knocked out in Q2, with Norris topping the session's timesheet.

Starting Top 10
1) Oscar Piastri         1m 30.641
2) George Russell       +0.082
3) Lando Norris           +0.152
4) Max Verstappen      +0.176
5) Lewis Hamilton       +0.286
6) Charles Leclerc       +0.380
7) Isack Hadjar            +0.438
8) Kimi Antonelli          +0.462
9) Yuki Tsunoda          +0.997
10) Alex Albon             +1.065

In Q3, the cars lined up at the end of the pit lane to start their Q3 sessions, with McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Verstappen had two new sets of soft compound tyres, with Albon having no new sets of soft tyres for the session.

The wind picked up and changed its angle in Q3, with all drivers out on track.

Verstappen was first to go on a flying lap, with a 1m 30.925s taking provisional pole, but is knocked off by Piastri by two-tenths. After the first fast runs of the session, Piastri led over Norris by 0.090, followed by Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Hadjar, Tsunoda, Albon and Antonelli.

Antonelli had a trip into the gravel and had his lap time deleted, with no time set and five minutes to go.

Hadjar and Verstappen had a near miss in the pit lane after Hadjar was released into the path of Verstappen, which was investigated after the session.

​Verstappen was the first to set his final flying lap in the session but could only manage P3. Norris aborts his final lap, heading into the pits.

Oscar Piastri takes pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix, with George Russell in P2, Lando Norris in P3 and Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Isack Hadjar, Kimi Antonelli, Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon rounding out the top ten.

​​McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who takes his first pole position in Formula 1: "I’m glad it looked like that [being hooked up] because it didn’t feel like that. In Q3 I just found a lot of pace, in Q1 and Q2 I was genuinely struggling but the car just came alive in Q3 and I came alive.

“I’m happy with what I did in the end, the laps were still a bit scruffy but I’m just pumped to be on pole.”

On the track: "It’s a lot of fun, with the new surface it’s extremely grippy which for us is the best feeling in the world. The only thing that comes with that is if you lose grip it bites and you’ve probably seen a lot of snaps and a lot of moments this weekend; with the surface we’ve got it’s pretty tricky.

“When you hook it up, it feels pretty mega, so I will take the fastest lap of Shanghai.”

On the race on Sunday and clean air: “That’s hopefully going to be a help, I’ve got to make sure I keep that clean air but I was pretty happy after the sprint. We did the most that we could have and I was pretty happy. I would have been happier with one spot higher but how the race turned out I couldn’t have asked for much more.

​“I feel like we learnt a lot this morning and looking forward to trying to put that in to use tomorrow.”

Written By Anny Wooldridge

Lewis Hamilton took his first pole position for Ferrari in the Sprint qualifying session, while also setting a new lap record at the Shanghai International Circuit of 1m 30.849.

Lewis will be joined on the front row for Saturday's Sprint Race with Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc founding out the top four. Last week's Australian Grand Prix winner will start the Spring race in sixth.

Lando Norris topped the timesheet in the only practice session of the weekend.

Top 10 Results
1) Lando Norris       1m 31.504s
2) Charles Leclerc     +0.454
3) Oscar Piastri         +0.649
4) Lewis Hamilton     +0.691
5) George Russell     +0.873
6) Nico Hulkenberg   +1.003
7) Alex Albon             +1.183
8) Fernando Alonso  +1.262
9) Kimi Antonelli       +1.370
10) Yuki Tsunoda      +1.430

During Friday's only practice session at the Chinese Grand Prix, Lando Norris set the fastest time, with the McLaren driver leading the timesheets ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and his teammate, Oscar Piastri. 

The session began at 11:30 local time with Ollie Bearman, driving for Haas, leading a queue of cars all on medium tires. The rookies were eager to recover from a tough outing last week in Melbourne. Early in the session, Red Bull's Liam Lawson and Williams' Alex Albon both had minor excursions into the gravel. Albon reported an issue, stating that there was "something loose" around the pedals of his FW47.

A red flag was subsequently waved when Jack Doohan, driving for Alpine, pulled off the track due to a power steering issue. This caused a flurry of activity as the green light signaled the resumption of the session with only seven minutes remaining. A line of cars formed in the pit lane as most drivers were keen to complete a run on soft tires.

Bearman, Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin, Esteban Ocon from Haas, Pierre Gasly from Alpine, and Carlos Sainz from Williams occupied positions 11 to 15, respectively. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen was down in 16th place for Red Bull after aborting his lap on soft tires, meaning he did not achieve a competitive time during the session.​

Out In SQ1
16) Jack Doohan
17) Pierre Gasly
18) Esteban Ocon
19) Nico Hulkenberg
20) Liam Lawson

Cars lined up to get out of the pit lane, and Mercedes headed out on the track first.

In Sprint Qualifying, all drivers must use new medium tyres for SQ1 and SQ2, with soft tyres being used only in SQ3.

Most drivers took a couple of laps to prepare the tyres before getting a qualifying lap in. Verstappen, Hadjar, Tsunoda and Bortoleto were among the first to set lap times, with the circuit ramping up after being resurfaced before the Grand Prix weekend.

Antonelli took a little trip off the track, with one second separating the top ten. Stroll and Bearman were both noted for impeding. Along with Russell was noted for impeding Tsunoda, but both had no further investigation.
​
With just over two minutes to go in SQ1, Tsunoda, Sainz, Bearman, Bortoleto, and Ocon were in the drop zone. Liam Lawson had his last lap deleted for track limits and ended up 20th.

Jack Doohan, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson were knocked out in SQ1. Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets, followed by Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

Out In SQ 2
11) Fernando Alonso
12) Oliver Bearman
13) Carlos Sainz
14) Gabriel Bortoleto
15) Isack Hadjar

Russell and Antonelli were first out on track again, along with Norris, Piastri, Verstappen, Hamilton and Bortoleto.

With three minutes to go, Albon, Alonso, Hadjar, Bearman, Tsunoda, and Stroll were in the bottom six, while Norris and Piastri were at the top of the timesheet.

Fernando Alonso, Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjak were all knocked out in SQ2. Lando Norris topped the timesheet, followed by George Russell and Oscar Piastri.

Sprint Race Starting Top 10
1) Lewis Hamilton        1m 30.849
2) Max Verstappen         +0.018
3) Oscar Piastri              +0.080
4) Charles Leclerc          +0.208
5) George Russell          +0.320
6) Lando Norris              +0.544
7) Kimi Antonelli             +0.889
8) Yuki Tsunoda              +0.924
9) Alex Albon                  +1.003
10) Lance Stroll              +1.133

Piastri was first out on track in SQ3, followed by Lando Norris, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, with others opting to stay in the garage a little longer, following on the soft compound tyres later in the session.

Norris and Piastri were the first to set times in the session, with Piastri setting a time of 1m 30.929s, taking provisional sprint pole, with Russell and Antonelli also setting early lap times, getting in a flying lap before the other cars headed out to the track.

The rest of the drivers headed out on track with time to do one flying lap with two minutes to go.​

Lewis Hamilton takes Pole Position for the Chinese Sprint Race, followed by Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc and George Russell.

Lewis Hamilton thanks the crowd in Shanghai and says he didn't expect the result. "So, so happy and proud," he adds.

"The last race was a disaster for us, and clearly we knew there was more performance in the car but we just weren't able to extract it. To come here to a track that I love; Shanghai, beautiful place, and the weather has been amazing and the car really came alive from lap one.

"We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready. I'm a bit in shock. I can't believe we got a pole in a sprint.

"It's not the main race, we've still got work to do for tomorrow but it puts us in good stead for the race."

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Formula One is back for its second weekend in a row as drivers and team head to the Chinese city of Shanghai.

The Chinese Grand Prix brings with it the first Sprint weekend of the season, along with the first of seven F1 Academy race weekends. During a Sprint weekend, the grid will only get one practice session to try to get up to speed before pushing their cars to the limit in Sprint Qualifying on Friday. Saturday, we will see the Sprint race followed by race qualifying, with the race on Sunday.

The Chinese Grand Prix brings with it different challenges. The most famous section of the circuit is the first corner - ranked among the most exciting on the calendar - a massive 270-degree turn that decreases in radius. Cars can go side-by-side heading into it but then need to settle into a position when it tightens.

Following last weekend's Melbourne Grand Prix, Hadjar, Sainz, Doohan, Alonso, Ferrari, Lawson, Piastri, and Bortoleto will all be looking to improve their performances from last weekend, with Norris, Russell, and Antonelli looking to continue their forward momentum into the second race of the season.

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Lando Norris wins the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen finishing second and George Russell third.

Lando Norris managed to take the win at the chequered flag after a hard-fought victory with mixed conditions, six crashes, multiple safety cars, a late downpour which shook up the grid and pressure from Max Verstappen in the final few laps of the race.

Isack Hadjar, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto all retired from the race, with Isack Hadjar crashing on the formation lap.

Lando Norris started on pole position for the 2025 season opener, the Melbourne Grand Prix. Conditions were unfavourable, with heavy rain through the morning in and around the city, lots of water on the track, and slippery surfaces.

All drivers started on intermediate tyres except Lance Stroll, who started on wet tyres, as Ollie Bearman and Liam Lawson started from the pit lane after Red Bull changed Lawson's rear wing and rear beam wing spec under parc ferme changes.

As the drivers got underway for the formation lap, Isack Hadjar spun into the wall at Turn 2 and damaged his rear wing, bringing an end to Isack's F1 debut before it even began. The race start was aborted with a new formation lap taking place at 15:15 local time.

All the drivers headed back onto the grid, and Stroll switched to the intermediate tyre compound.

Another formation lap took place at 15:15 local time and the race officially started. Lando Norris managed to stay leading the race into Turn 1, but Oscar Piastri was overtaken by Max Verstappen at Turn 2 and moved into third place.

Running didn't last long as Jack Doohan spun into the wall but was ok and brought out the first safety car of the race.

Carlos Sainz lost it as he turned the final corner and crashed into the wall under the safety car, as his first race with Williams ended before it even began. There were reports that Sainz and Doohan both lost it when touching the painted road markings on the track, according to Bono via Antonelli's radio.

The safety car used the pit straight to avoid Sainz's car, allowing for Lawson and both Haas drivers to pit for new intermediate tyres.

During the safety car, Norris led the Grand Prix, followed by Verstappen, Piastri, Russell, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Albon, Hamilton, Gasly, Alonso, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Antonelli, Bortoleto, Ocon, Lawson and Bearman.

Racing restarted again on lap 8, with Antonelli, Hulkenberg and Ocon making up the most places at the start of the race.

Norris held the lead over Verstappen at the race restart, but Verstappen found himself in trouble from Piastri.

Alonso, Albon, Hamilton and Tsunoda were all investigated for safety car incidents but were ruled no further investigation.

After the restart, Norris was the slowest of the top three, with just 1.6s covering Norris, Verstappen and Piastri.

Antonelli was straight in with the overtakes, overtaking Hulkenberg for P12 at Turn 11, but stakes a spin after dripping a tyre onto the grass out of Turn 3, manages to keep it out of the wall, but Hulkenberg retakes the place. It doesn't last long as Antonelli does an exact copy of his previous overtaken into Turn 11 and regains P12.

Verstappen turns wide at Turn 11 and touches the gravel, allowing Piastri to move into P2, with huge eruptions from the crowd during the process. Just as Verstappen complains about his tyres, he drops eight seconds behind Piastri as light rain hits again. Piastri quickly catches up to within 2.1s of Norris in the battle for P1.

Piastri quickly closed the gap to 1.2s and then within DRS of his teammate, with Verstappen over 15 seconds behind. Just as Piastri is told to hold position as they move past some back markers and the track continues to dry, which didn't go down well with the Australian driver.

Piastri is soon told he is allowed to race Norris again, but a mistake in Turn 6 drops him 2.7s behind his teammate.

Another safety car is brought out as Alonso heads into the wall - he is ok. Alonso's safety car brings a flurry of pit stops onto slick tyres, with Verstappen, Albon, Hulkenberg and Bortoleto changing onto mediums with everyone else, including both McLaren, opting for the hard tyre compound. Hamilton expressed concerns about difficulty switching on the hard tyres, with Haas drivers being the only two drivers to stick with the intermediate tyres.

Lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves, but Haas pitted for slicks after one lap, and Bearman had to unlap himself again from a long way behind.

The safety car came in and racing resumed on lap 42. During the race restart, Tsunoda gets ahead of Leclerc.

There was a threat of heavy rain with a flurry of radio messages from multiple teams to their drivers saying very heavy rain for one or two laps.

The rain arrived in the final sector catching Norris and Piastri out in the final sector, with both drivers going off the track. Norris manages to get his car back on track, but Piastri goes off and spins at the final chicane, getting stuck in the grass. Piastri slowly reverses and manages to get back on track.

All the drivers pit for intermediates except Leclerc, Verstappen and Hamilton, pushing Verstappen into P1, with Hamilton and Gasly behind him, followed. Still, Tsunoda and Leclerc are rounding out the top five.

Verstappen pits for intermediate tyres as Lewis Hamilton leads the Australian Grand Prix. It nearly worked out on slicks for Ferrari, but the rain started to get really heavy, with Leclerc taking a spin and Norris retaking the lead of the race.

The safety car comes back out after Lawson hits the wall at Turn 2. Hamilton states that the whole track is now wet, and Ferrari finally pits for intermediate tyres.

Bortoleto also goes off just as the race is turned on its head during the safety car. Through all the chaos, Lando Norris leads the race, followed by Max Verstappen, George Russell, Alex Albon, Kimi Antonelli, Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, with everyone on intermediate tyres.

The safety comes in with a six-lap sprint to the finish line, with Norris and Verstappen getting really close. Leclerc manages to overtake Hamilton, and they both overtake Gasly, moving the Ferrari drivers into eighth and ninth.

Verstappen got to within 1.2s of Norris with three laps to go and then within DRS range with two laps to go.

Antonelli was all over the back of Albon, closing up and managing to overtake, moving the Mercedes rookie into fourth. But just as he does his over he is noted, investigated and given a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release.

Lando Norris wins the 2025 Melbourne Grand Prix, with Verstappen in second and George Russell in third. Alex Albon moves into fourth with Antonelli's penalty moving him to fifth. Mercedes submitted a petition after the race for Antonelli's penalty, which was reversed by the stewards and he moved back up to fourth with Alex Albon in fifth.  

1) Lando Norris
2) Max Verstappen              +0.895
3) George Russell               +8.481
4) Kimi Antonelli                 +
5) Alex Albon                      +
6) Lance Stroll                     +17.413
7) Nico Hulkenberg             +18.423
8) Charles Leclerc              +19.826
9) Oscar Piastri                   +20.448
10) Lewis Hamilton             +22.473
11) Pierre Gasly                  +26.502
12) Yuki Tsunoda                +29.884
13) Esteban Ocon               +33.161
14) Oliver Bearman            +40.351
DNF) Liam Lawson
DNF) Gabriel Bortoleto
DNF) Fernando Alonso
DNF) Carlos Sainz
DNF) Jack Doohan
​DNF) Isack Hadjar

On the last laps of the race, Lando Norris continued: “Max was quick, I knew I had that good pace but I made one mistake in Turn Six and he got within the DRS and the DRS around here is probably like a second or something so that allowed him to keep staying in that second and allow him to have a couple of looks.

“I had to change my mirror a few more times than I would have liked but I stayed calm and kept it together.”

On his thoughts ahead of the rest of the season: “My weekend has been amazing from the get-go, it’s not easy to put a weekend together like this especially when I got a lot of pressure from Max and Oscar because they are hungry and competitive and they want it just as badly.

​“It was stressful but I know what I’m capable of and I know what I can do. It’s just round one so we need to go and do it next weekend and continue from there. A long season ahead but we’ve just got to keep our head down and keep pushing.”

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Lando Norris takes the season's first pole position at the Australian Grand Prix, beating hometown hero Oscar Piastri by 0.084, followed by Max Verstappen in third.

Oliver Bearman crashed once again in Free Practice Three and missed out on the qualifying session after heading out onto the track but quickly returned to the pits with a gearbox issue.

Yuki Tsunoda put in a fantastic lap and will line up fifth on the grid in his RB ahead of both Ferraris. Williams Racing had both Sainz and Albon in the top ten, with Liam Lawson and Kimi Antonelli failing to make it through Q1.

Oscar Piastri topped the timesheet during the Free Practice Three session, followed by George Russell and Max Verstappen. Oliver Bearman crashed once again on a sunny afternoon in Albert Park.

​All the drivers were out on track at the start of the session, keen to get as much running as possible. Oliver Bearman, who crashed in FP1 and didn't manage to get any running in FP2 while they fixed his car, had another session-ending crash just minutes into the session - he completed just 13 laps during the weekend so far. He dipped a couple of wheels onto the grass under braking for Turn 11, causing a wild spin and leaving him stuck in the gravel trap.

After the red flag was cleared, all drivers headed back out onto the track for the rest of the session. Liam Lawson's running didn't last long, as he was forced back into the pits with an apparent recharge issue.

The session reached its midway point, and after a flurry of soft tyre efforts, Verstappen held P1 with a 1m 16.646s, just ahead of the Williams pair Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Verstappen was looking to go even faster on the soft tyre compound but got into trouble and reported that "the car was getting a bit loose". At the same time, Friday pace-setter Charles Leclerc and teammate Lewis Hamilton slotted into P2 and P3 for Ferrari.

Another round of improvements on the soft compound as the chequered flag approached sent the timesheets into a frenzy, with Russell, Verstappen and home favourite Piastri (1m 15.921s) all lowering the benchmark.

Lawson's woes continued as his car sat on jacks in the garage, and Red Bull confirmed a "power unit or power unit system problem on the air side".

Piastri ultimately finished in first place, just ahead of Russell and Verstappen. Verstappen made an error when exiting Turn 11 on his final run with soft tyres. He was followed closely by Leclerc, Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, and the Williams drivers Sainz and Albon.

Out in Q1
16) Kimi Antonelli
17) Nico Hulkenberg
18) Liam Lawson
19) Esteban Ocon
20) Oliver Bearman

Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon were first to leave the pit lane and get out on track. However, running didn't last long for Bearman. After running 13 laps in all free practice sessions, he reported a gearbox issue on the radio and couldn't shift into fourth gear, returning to the pits.

Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris top the timesheet early in the session. In his Red Bull, Max Verstappen topped the timesheet and split the two McLarens just 0.015s behind Lando Norris.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli headed out onto the track on the medium compound tyres, but Anotellii pitted for soft tyres with ten minutes to go in the session. After getting them into the right temperature window, Russell sets the fourth fastest time with his medium compound tyres. 

With seven minutes to go in the session, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Ocon, Antonelli, and Bearman were all in the drop zone.

Lawson goes wide into the gravel briefly, bringing out the yellow flag for gravel on the track, and Anotelli also dips a tyre into the gravel.

With four minutes to go, Bearman was still in his garage after an earlier gearbox issue. Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes was sitting very low on the track, with sparks coming from the front and back of the car and a really low ride height. Mercedes report bib damage on Antonelli's car during the second run after hitting a curb.

​Lando Norris tops the timesheet, with Russell and Verstappen rounding out the top three.

Out In Q2
11) Isack Hadjar
12) Fernando Alonso
13) Lance Stroll
14) Jack Doohan
15) Gabriel Bortoleto

At the start of the session, the majority of drivers were quick to get on track during the session, with just Tsunoda, Doohan, Gasly, and Hadjar Bortoleto still in the pits with eleven minutes to go.

Max Verstappen set the fastest time with a 1m 15.688s, with Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton and Albon lining up behind the four-time World Champion. But Verstappen was topped by both Norris and Piastri, with Piastri setting a lap time of 1m 15.468.

​Ferrari continued to struggle with both cars in the session. With five minutes to go, Charles sat in fifth and Lewis in sixth.

With three minutes to go, cars lined up to get out of the pit lane, with Hadjar, Stroll, Bortelo, Alonso and Doohan in the bottom five.

Due to the lack of time, Leclerc headed into the pits but joins the pit lane line without changing his tyres. Gabriel Bortoleto has a snap but manages to save his car and continues on his way. Lewis Hamilton spins his Ferrari at Turn 11 on his final Q2 lap, bringing out a yellow flag and compromising a lot of drivers' laps.

Lando Norris sets the session's fastest time on his final lap, followed by Piastri and Verstappen.

Top 10 Qualifying Classification
1) Lando Norris       1m 15.096
2) Oscar Piastri         +0.084
3) Max Verstappen    +0.385
4) George Russell     1m 15.546
5) Yuki Tsunoda        1m 15.670
6) Alex Albon             1m 15.737
7) Charles Leclerc    1m 15.755
8) Lewis Hamilton     1m 15.973
9) Pierre Gasly         1m 15.980
10) Carlos Sainz      1m 16.062

Piastri, Norris and Leclerc set early lap times, with Charles Leclerc surprisingly headed to the top spot with his banker lap; Norris gets his lap time deleted for track limits just as Verstappen takes provisional pole with a 1m 15.671.

​Albon sets the fifth-fastest lap time on a set of used soft compound tyres, with less than a tenth of a second separating the top three.

With five minutes to go, all the cars were in the pits, with Verstappen on the provisional pole, followed by Russell, Leclerc, Piastri and Albon.

All the drivers returned to the track with three and a half minutes left in the session. Leclerc heads back on used soft compound tyres after using all his new tyres.

Norris and Piastri are the first to set lap times after returning to the track, with Piastri topping the timesheet, but Lando Norris takes pole position by 0.084, with Russell in fourth, Tsunoda in fifth, Albon in sixth, Leclerc in seventh, Hamilton in eight, Gasly and Sainz rounding out the top ten.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who takes the first pole position of the 2025 season: “It’s the perfect way to start the year. A big congrats to the team, everyone has done an amazing job, to continue where we were at the end of last season and to start with a one-two. It’s just qualifying so let’s see what happens tomorrow, it’s going to be a tricky race.”

On the margins being so fine: “The car is extremely quick and when you put it together it’s unbelievable, it’s just difficult to put it together. There was a lot of fight between me and Oscar [Piastri] today so that was a tough one and especially after my first lap where I went off and got track limits.

“You are in a tough position and for the second lap you have to take a lot of risk but you also need to get the lap clean and don’t make any mistakes. It’s a difficult mindset to go into the final lap but I managed to pull it off so I’m very happy.”

On the race: “I’m never going to get ahead of myself, I’m not that kind of guy, I’m confident the car is in a great position but we’ve also never run in the wet.

​"We know how quick Max [Verstappen] and Red Bull is in the rain so let’s wait and see. There are many opportunities for everyone but also a lot of new things that we are going to be learning along the way.”

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Lando Norris topped the timesheet for the first session of the 2025 season with a fastest lap time of 1m 17.252, followed by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. In a session with two red flags, one for gravel and the other after rookie Bearman had a heavy crash in his Haas.

​In Free Practice Two, Charles Leclerc ended Friday with the fastest time during both sessions, with a lap time 1m 16.439 on soft tyres. The Ferrari driver managed to set a lap time just over two-tenths quicker than Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, in second and third.

​With warm blue skies in Albert Park, all twenty drivers took to the track for the two sessions, including some new faces - Oliver Bearman (Haas), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Liam Lawson (Red Bull), Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber).​

Lando Norris topped the timesheet for the first session of the 2025 season with a fastest lap time of 1m 17.252, followed by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

With warm blue skies in Albert Park, all twenty drivers took to the track, including some new faces starting a full F1 season for the first time - Oliver Bearman (Haas), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Liam Lawson (Red Bull), Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber).

Lewis Hamilton also had the moment he had been waiting months for, his first roll out of the garage at a race weekend in his red Ferrari.

All the drivers were out on track within ten minutes of the session starting time, but it wasn't without drama, with Lawson brushing the wall at Turn 9 and Verstappen dipping a wheel into the gravel at Turn 6.

The first red flag of the season was displayed after drivers, including Doohan, flicked gravel onto the track, resulting in running having to stop as marshals cleaned up the area.

Leclerc topped the timesheet early in the session with a lap time of 1m 17.880s, a few tenths ahead of Russell on medium compound tyres. After the session restarted, drivers opted for the soft compound tyres.

Verstappen also had his time at the top of the timesheet with a 1m 17.696, as did Sainz, putting his Williams into P1 with a lap time of 1m 17.401s.

Ollie Bearman lost control of his Haas exiting Turn 9/10 and hit the concrete wall, bringing out a second red flag of the session. Bearman was unharmed, but his car picked up a lot of damage.

In the final few moments of the session, Norris secured the top spot with a lap of 1m 17.252s, a tenth and a half faster than Sainz, with Leclerc rounding out the top three.

Charles Leclerc ended Friday with the fastest time during both sessions, with a lap time of 1:16.439 on soft tyres. The Ferrari driver managed to set a lap time just over two-tenths quicker than Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, in second and third.

Kick Sauder's Gabriel Bortoleto was first out on the track in the session, which took place at 4pm local time. However, luck wasn't on rookie Oliver Bearman's side, as his car remained in the garage for the entire session after his heavy crash in FP1.

Norris and Lawson have a moment early in the session, with Norris attempting to do a practice start at the end of the pit lane exit. Lawson, however, opted to go straight past the McLaren driver, with Norris having to take to the grass to avoid the Red Bull.

During the session, several drivers, including Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly, took a trip through the gravel trap at Turn 6, with George Russell venturing into a run-off and having to turn his Mercedes back around.

Leclerc, followed by Hamilton, led a Ferrari 1-2 lockout, following initial medium tyre runs before drivers began switching to the soft compound tyres.

Yuki was the first soft tyre runner to hit the top of the timesheets but was quickly replaced by Norris with a 1m 16.580 and then Leclerc with a 1m 16.439, which stuck as drivers opted to do long runs during the last part of the session.

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Formula 1 is back for its 75th season in 2025 and race one of 24 is around Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix.

​Melbourne is hosting the season opener for the first time since 2019, with five rookies making their debut into the series for the first time. Oliver Bearman (Haas), Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Isack Hadjar (RB) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber) all making their F1 debut with Kimi, Isack and Gabriel completing the entire race weekend for the first time ever.

Not only are there five rookies to watch out for, but there are plenty of team and driver swaps, too, with Lewis Hamilton to Scuderia Ferrari, Carlos Sainz to Atlassian Williams Racing, Esteban Ocon to Haas, Nico Hulkenberg to Kick Sauber and Liam Lawson to Red Bull.

Thursday March 13

• 9.50pm: F3 Practice 
• 11.00pm: F2 Practice

​
Friday March 14

• 1.30am: Formula 1 Free Practice One
• 3.00am: F3 Qualifying
• 5.00am: Formula 1 Free Practice Two
• 6.30am: F2 Qualifying

Saturday March 15

• 12.15am: F3 Sprint Race
• 1.30am: Formula 1 Free Practice Three
• 3.15am: F2 Sprint Race
• 5am: AUSTRALIAN Grand Prix QUALIFYING
• 10.00pm: F3 Feature Race

Sunday March 16

• 12.25am: F2 Feature Race
• 4.00am: THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX