Lando Norris led the way in an opening practice session which was interrupted by two red flags at the Albert Park circuit.
The most significant disruption came when rookie Oliver Bearman crashed his Haas at the exit of turn 10. The driver was unhurt in the incident, but caused significant damage to the right-hand side of his car.Bright sunshine greeted drivers as the first official practice session of the season began. It took little time for drivers to start beating the fastest time from the same session last year and by the time the chequered flag fell every team bar Haas had beaten it.
Charles Leclerc led the way early on as the drivers favoured the medium tyre compound. His new team mate Lewis Hamilton was off his pace to begin with, complaining he was struggling to turn his car at one stage.
Max Verstappen and the McLaren drivers were also consistently in the hunt for fastest time on the medium rubber. But once drivers switched to the soft tyres Carlos Sainz Jnr became a factor in the Williams, setting a 1’17.401 to head the times.
Seconds after Sainz set that time the session was red-flagged. Bearman had run wide at the exit of turn 10, snapped sideways as he rejoined the track and made a heavy impact with the barrier on the outside of the circuit. His VF-47 came to a rest with its right-hand wheels hanging off. Bearman apologised to his team as he climbed out.
That caused a significant delay in proceedings. The session eventually resumed with 10 minutes remaining, which gave Norris enough time to displace Sainz from the top. He had to contend with Yuki Tsunoda, however, who passed him at the final corner as the McLaren driver prepared to begin one lap, leading the pair to swap places at the next two turns.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Leclerc ended the session third followed by Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren. Verstappen, who switched back to medium rubber for the final minutes, was fifth ahead of Alexander Albon in the second Williams.
George Russell was seventh for Mercedes after a harmless spin at turn four late in the session. Fernando Alonso took eighth ahead of Isack Hadjar, the rookie telling his team on the way in he hadn’t been happy with his fastest lap. Lance Stroll completed the top 10.
Hamilton was 12th for Ferrari, two places ahead of his replacement at Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The pair were split by Jack Doohan, whose off-track excursion at turn six dragged gravel onto the circuit, causing a brief early red flag.
2025 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix first practice result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’17.252 | 21 | |
| 2 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’17.401 | 0.149 | 25 |
| 3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’17.461 | 0.209 | 21 |
| 4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’17.670 | 0.418 | 20 |
| 5 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’17.696 | 0.444 | 21 |
| 6 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’17.713 | 0.461 | 18 |
| 7 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W16 | 1’17.716 | 0.464 | 26 |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’17.736 | 0.484 | 23 |
| 9 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’17.847 | 0.595 | 25 |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’18.057 | 0.805 | 20 |
| 11 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’18.061 | 0.809 | 23 |
| 12 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’18.071 | 0.819 | 20 |
| 13 | 7 | Jack Doohan | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’18.232 | 0.980 | 20 |
| 14 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | W16 | 1’18.390 | 1.138 | 25 |
| 15 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber-Ferrari | C45 | 1’18.438 | 1.186 | 22 |
| 16 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’18.455 | 1.203 | 22 |
| 17 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’18.505 | 1.253 | 23 |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | C45 | 1’18.586 | 1.334 | 18 |
| 19 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas-Ferrari | VF-25 | 1’19.139 | 1.887 | 16 |
| 20 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas-Ferrari | VF-25 | 1’19.312 | 2.060 | 12 |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2025 Australian Grand Prix
- F1 rules change to prevent repeat of Verstappen-Bearman Australian GP confusion
- Contact with team mate may have led to Bortoleto’s Australian GP crash
- Hamilton dismisses ‘negativity’ over his radio calls. ‘Other drivers are almost abusive’
- Antonelli “got really scared” when he made “big save” on first lap of Australian GP
- Williams explain role played by car’s systems in Sainz’s race-ending crash
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
14th March 2025, 3:30
Pleased for Lando. Happy for Carlos. Interested to see what the rest can do later.
El Pollo Loco
14th March 2025, 3:42
As I predicted, Haas really is slow. And, as I also said, people were giving Ayao Komatsu (who I really like) credit for performance that was due to Ferrari (especially given the fact the 2024 car was designed largely under Gunther’s tenure) and fixing all of Gunther’s mistakes. No one can overhaul a team’s entire technical structure in just five months while simultaneously producing a radically revised and improved car.
Sainz/Williams P2 in first session of the year vs Hulkenberg/Sauber: P18. Probably has something to do with Williams hiring 300+ new engineers while Audi just sit on their hands. It might only be PF1/Round 1 and Audi might be focusing solely on next year (though technically, no one was allowed to start work on ‘26 car until Jan. 2), but I know who’ll I be betting on in 2026 between the two.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
14th March 2025, 3:55
Remember that’s only the chassis, not the power unit.
El Pollo Loco
14th March 2025, 4:01
Indeed. No excuse for their chassis still being so bad. As for next year’s car, it won’t matter how good their PU is if they’re a disaster on the chassis side. The much more simplistic PU spec also means the chances of a team having a giant power advantage are far more slim.
Ideals (@ideals)
14th March 2025, 5:23
Ultimately Ayo was the technical director under Steiner and responsible for the car they raced last year, so it would be weird to not give him credit for it.
SteveP
14th March 2025, 7:44
So, what you’re saying is that Steiner gave the technical team the freedom to develop the car in 2023 to be used in 2024, and Komatsu stifled that, which is why this year’s car (developed in 2024) isn’t so good?
That’s the opposite of the narrative pushed around in 2024.
El Pollo Loco
14th March 2025, 9:11
He was also the most senior developer under Steiner for years. So, he played a big part in all of it. And my point was not that Ayao doesn’t deserve any credit for last season or has not improved how Haas operates, but with the validity of the media narrative/hype that in a handful of months Ayao had fixed everything Steiner was doing wrong + was the primary driver of Haas’ big step in performance.
Things are rarely that simple, but the media, especially TV coverage, like a simplistic feel good story. In this case: “With new TP at helm restructuring and reinvigorating Haas’ technical structure and staff, the feisty independent has defied expectations to compete for the title of best of the rest.”