Formula 1: Australian Grand Prix Free Practice Three and Qualifying

Getty Images/ Red Bull Content Pool

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.

Ferrari media

Free Practice Three

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.

Getty Images

Australian Grand Prix Qualifying

Q1

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.

Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Q2

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.

Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Q3

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.”

Getty Images

Written by Anny Wooldridge