Lando Norris broke Aussie hearts as he beat Oscar Piastri to pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen third on the grid.

Neither Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli nor Red Bull’s Liam Lawson made it out of Q1 in their first F1 qualifying session.

Antonelli, Lawson eliminated in Q1 in Australian GP qualy

As the F1 2025 qualifying battle began at the Albert Park circuit, Oliver Bearman’s bad run continued as he reported a “gearbox problem” on his out-lap and promptly returned to the pits. “No, it’s broken.”

Although the softs were the tyre of choice, Mercedes opted to put George Russell and Kimi Antonelli on the mediums. But as Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen went quickest one after the other, the Mercedes team-mates dropped down the order into the relegation zone.

Norris upped his pace to 1:15.912 to sit a tenth ahead of Verstappen, while Russell, despite staying on the medium tyres, jumped to sixth place. Antonelli swapped to the softs and went 14th.

Meanwhile, Liam Lawson’s troubles continue as, despite being on track after Red Bull repaired a power unit issue in the break between sessions, he had a big off and had to take to the asphalt around the gravel trap before a trip through the grass left him down in the drop zone.

He was eliminated in Q1 along with Kimi Antonelli, who was P16, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Bearman.

Mercedes reported ‘bib damage on Antonelli’s car’ that ’caused a loss of performance’ after he run slightly wide at Turn 6.

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Lewis Hamilton survives a late-session spin in Q2

With one Red Bull and one Mercedes still in the fight, Verstappen and George Russell hit the front at the start of Q2 as Verstappen laid down a 1:15.688 despite a somewhat scruffy lap.

But it was soon a McLaren 1-2, Piastri 0.088s quicker than Norris. Leclerc was fifth ahead of Alex Albon and Lewis Hamilton – the latter asking his race engineer where he was losing those three-tenths to Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, asked Williams to “check” his floor after a moment over the Turn 10 kerbs.

Heading out for a second run on new soft tyres, Norris was made to wait as his rivals didn’t make a space for him in the queue. Interestingly Leclerc came into the pits for fresh tyres but instead just joined the back of the queue despite complaining that his tyres were gone.

Ferrari’s woes were compounded as Hamilton spun.

Norris finished fastest of all in Q2 while out went Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto. Hadjar finished qualifying as the best-placed rookie.

Russell was noted for impeding Leclerc, but the stewards ruled no investigation required.

Lando Norris headed a McLaren 1-2 in Australian GP qualifying

In a turnaround from Q2, Charles Leclerc went quickest in the pole position shootout as a scruffy lap cost Piastri while Norris had his time deleted for exceeding track limits.

Ferrari’s joy though was short lived as first Russell and then Verstappen went quicker, relegating Norris at the second row on the provisional grid ahead of Piastri.

Albon was up in fifth place ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Hamilton with one more final run to come.

It was all to play for, especially McLaren.

Piastri was the first to cross the line, jumping up into P1 to the cheer of the Australian fans. But it was short lived as Norris came through with a 1:15.096 to beat his team-mate to pole position by 0.084s.

Verstappen dropped to third ahead of Russell, Tsunoda and Albon.

The Ferraris fell to seventh and eighth, Leclerc ahead of Hamilton, with Gasly and Sainz making up the top ten.

Australian Grand Prix qualifying: Times

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.096
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.084
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.385
4 George Russell Mercedes +0.450
5 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls +0.574
6 Alexander Albon Williams +0.641
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.659
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.877
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.884
10 Carlos Sainz Williams +0.966

11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:16.175
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:16.453
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:16.483
14 Jack Doohan Alpine 1:16.863
15 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:17.520
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:16.525
17 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:16.579
1 Liam Lawson Red Bull Racing 1:17.094
19 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team 1:17.147
20 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team no time

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