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Lando Norris claimed pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, the opening race of the 2025 Formula One season with an immense lap for McLaren in Melbourne.
In what was an enormously tight fight he beat his teammate Oscar Piastri into second by just eight-hundredths of a second. As had been anticipated, the McLaren was the class of the field, comfortably quicker than Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in third and George Russell’s Mercedes in fourth.
Lewis Hamilton in his first qualifying session for Ferrari was in eighth place, including suffering an uncharacteristic spin in Q2 and his teammate Charles Leclerc was in seventh, a disappointing finish for the Scuderia.
Williams however will be enormously pleased with what constitutes a giant leap forward for the struggling team, with Alex Albon claiming sixth and Carlos Sainz in tenth.
The pole is the perfect start to the season for Norris and McLaren, demonstrating that given full rein, the MCL39 is a genuinely quick car and very much a title contender without doubt. The car had looked good in testing but when let fully off the leash in Melbourne in a tightly-contested fight it definitively had the edge.
Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/AP
Crucially it demonstrates that McLaren are going to be quick from the off this year, a vital part of any tilt at the title for Norris. Last season he was always trying to claw back points from Verstappen after they brought their car up to speed but only by the sixth round in Miami.
This time Norris is in position to potentially put the hammer down on Red Bull and establish his own advantage from the off. On this form it must be Norris’s best shot at a title since he made his F1 debut in 2019.
It is his first pole in Australia and McLaren’s first here since 2012 when Hamilton took the top spot, which was the last time the team won the season-opening race, with Jenson Button taking the flag.
Photograph: Mark Peterson/Reuters
Norris has demonstrated repeatedly his ability to mix it competitively at the front of the grid but admitted last year he made mistakes in his battle with Verstappen and has addressed them. He had also repeatedly downplayed McLaren’s pace but when it mattered his team had more pace in hand even than they had demonstrated in testing.
McLaren had been considered favourites going into Australia and certainly over the single lap they were. Race pace and tyre wear may yet prove a differentiator come Sunday but in this opening salvo of the new season, they were absolutely on top.
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On the first hot runs in Q3 Norris opened with a quick time, which was then deleted for exceeding track limits at turn four, while Piastri had looked to challenge him but for a tiny lapse going wide at the very end of his lap. However Verstappen immediately countered taking the top spot with a time of 1minute 15.671seconds clear of Russell who moved into second with a fine lap just two-hundredths back.
There was little to choose from them as the final runs commenced. Piastri went out first and put in a blinding lap to claim provisional pole only for his teammate Norris to pile in behind at a rate of knots to claim pole with a superb lap by eight hundredths of a second with a 1min 15.096s. Verstappen could not match them and was three-tenths back, while neither Ferrari was able to stay with the leaders in what might cause a little concern, seven-tenths in arrears of Norris.
Yuki Tsunoda was a superb fifth for RB and Pierre Gasly in ninth for Alpine. Rookie Isack Hadjar was 11th for RB, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in 12th and 13th for Aston Martin, Australian rookie Jack Doohan was in 14th for Alpine, while Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto did well to claim 15th for Sauber in his debut qualifying session.
Red Bull’s new driver Liam Lawson, struggled on his first outing for the team, twice overcooking it at Albert Park and failing to get out of Q1 he finished 18th.
British rookie Ollie Bearman, who crashed out in both first and third practice sessions and was unable to take part in the second session, had a gearbox issue and did not set a time in Q1 and will start from the back of the grid for Haas.
Kimi Antonelli was 16th for Mercedes, Nico Hülkenberg 17th for Sauber, and Esteban Ocon in 19th for Haas.
