Lando Norris took the first pole position of the 2025 Formula One season and will line up alongside McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri for the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Only three teams had both of their drivers in Q3 — McLaren, Ferrari and Williams. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson were both knocked out in Q1, and Isack Hadjar had the strongest outing of the rookies, qualifying P11.
Max Verstappen secured provisional pole early on in Q3 while the McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri had not ideal first laps, the Briton’s lap time getting deleted after a messy run while the Australian made a mistake. After the first runs, the top 10 was Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc, Piastri, Albon, Tsunoda, Hamilton, Gasly, Sainz and Norris.
Cheers roared around the circuit as Piastri made his way around for his final Q3 run, and he was in the mix, just short of Verstappen’s Sector 1 time. The home hero managed to beat Verstappen’s initial Q3 time but was beaten by Norris by 0.084 seconds.
Meanwhile, despite the offseason hype, the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were outside of the top five, qualifying seventh and eighth. It was Racing Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda who broke into the top five and will line up next to Alex Albon, who qualified sixth.
How everyone qualified
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- 2. Oscar Piastri, McLaren
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls
- Alex Albon, Williams
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine
- Carlos Sainz, Williams
- Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
- Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
- Jack Doohan, Alpine
- Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber
- Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
- Nico Hülkenberg, Sauber
- Liam Lawson, Red Bull
- Esteban Ocon, Haas
- Ollie Bearman, Haas
Q1: Antonelli, Hülkenberg, Lawson, Ocon and Bearman knocked out
Ollie Bearman’s weekend went from bad to worse. After crashing in FP3 (his second of the weekend), the Haas driver reported a gearbox issue early in qualifying and did not set a lap time, landing him P20. How this weekend has unfolded so far starkly contrasts to his F1 races last season, where he scored points in two of three weekends and starred on his F1 debut at the Saudi Arabia GP by finishing seventh. With Esteban Ocon P19, Haas is on the backfoot after having a strong, consistent 2024 season.
Bearman wasn’t the only one who had a rough Q1. Lawson, P17 at the time, took a trip through the gravel at Turn 3, while teammate Verstappen was P2 behind Norris. He later nearly lost the car at Turn 10 and ran wide at the final chicane, going off through the grass. He qualified P18 for his debut race with Red Bull.
The other rookie out in Q1 was Kimi Antonelli, after Gabriel Bortoleto knocked the Mercedes driver out of qualifying in his final run. Mercedes said after Q1 ended that Antonelli had bib damage, which impacted his performance in those final laps.
As for Bortoleto, he enjoyed a standout first qualifying. The Brazilian not only managed to get the Sauber into Q2, but he also out-qualified teammate Nico Hülkenberg.
Q2: Hadjar, Alonso, Stroll, Doohan and Bortoleto out
Ferrari’s pace raised a few eyebrows. It wasn’t quite what everyone expected as Leclerc and Hamilton ran fifth and sixth after their first runs, with Mercedes’ Russell moving into the top four. Hamilton triggered a yellow flag at one point after he spun.
Isack Hadjar will be the top rookie going into Sunday’s grand prix, after the Racing Bulls’ driver qualified P11. He was less than two-tenths of a second off teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who advanced to Q3, along with the Williams duo of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Bortoleto almost lost the car but managed to save it, qualifying P15.
The other big note from Q2 was that Aston Martin reported that Fernando Alonso had suffered floor damage from his first Q2 run. That cost him performance, but he still out-qualified teammate Lance Stroll.
(Top photo: William West/AFP via Getty Images)
