Lando Norris led a McLaren one-two in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, but he suffered a scare in Q3 when his first lap time was deleted.
Q1
Norris set the pace in the first phase of qualifying but his advantage over his closest rivals was thin. Russell was only a few hundredths of a second slower after switching to soft tyres and set some competitive laps on the medium rubber earlier in the session. Verstappen also looked quick, almost matching Norris on his first soft tyre run.Oliver Bearman’s dire weekend continued, albeit this time seemingly through no fault of his own. Having had a crash and a spin during practice, his participation in qualifying ended after one lap with a technical problem. Completing Haas’s misery, his team mate Esteban Ocon was slowest.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli limped into the pits with sparks flying from the rear of his W16, the legacy of bib damage apparently caused by an earlier kerb strike. Mercedes were unable to repair it before the end of the session, which compromised his final runs.
He slipped to 15th place in the closing moments, then fell victim to fellow newcomer Gabriel Bortoleto. The Sauber driver pinched the final place in Q2 from Antonelli with his final lap, beating his team mate Nico Hulkenberg on his debut in the process. Hulkenberg said his car “just didn’t feel very good, very connected,” said on his way back to the pits.
New Red Bull driver Liam Lawson joined those who were eliminated in the first round. He complained his tyres faded at the end of his final lap, and slid off at the penultimate corner before pitting.
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Q1 result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’15.912 | |
| 2 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W16 | 1’15.971 | 0.059 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’16.018 | 0.106 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’16.029 | 0.117 |
| 5 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’16.062 | 0.150 |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’16.213 | 0.301 |
| 7 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’16.225 | 0.313 |
| 8 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’16.245 | 0.333 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’16.288 | 0.376 |
| 10 | 7 | Jack Doohan | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’16.315 | 0.403 |
| 11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’16.328 | 0.416 |
| 12 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’16.354 | 0.442 |
| 13 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’16.360 | 0.448 |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’16.369 | 0.457 |
| 15 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber-Ferrari | C45 | 1’16.516 | 0.604 |
| 16 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | W16 | 1’16.525 | 0.613 |
| 17 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | C45 | 1’16.579 | 0.667 |
| 18 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’17.094 | 1.182 |
| 19 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas-Ferrari | VF-25 | 1’17.147 | 1.235 |
| 20 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas-Ferrari | VF-25 | No time |
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Q2
Norris stayed on top in the second phase of qualifying, though his team mate led much of the session until the dying moments. The McLaren pair both lapped in the 1’15.4s, Verstappen’s Red Bull an ever-present threat just a tenth of a second behind.
Russell went through in fourth place. The stewards briefly suspected he had impeded Leclerc at turn three but ruled no investigation was needed. The Ferrari drivers followed him into Q3, Hamilton doing so despite a spin at the exit of turn 11.
That spin led to DRS being briefly deactivated, which disadvantaged some drivers, notably Jack Doohan, who dropped out in 14th place. Bortoleto was 15th after a hair-raising moment on the exit kerb at turn four.
Both Aston Martin drivers also went no further. Fernando Alonso damaged his floor earlier in the session which his team said impaired his final run. Newcomer Isack Hadjar missed the cut for Q3 by just six-hundredths of a second on his debut.
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Q2 result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’15.415 | |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’15.468 | 0.053 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’15.565 | 0.150 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W16 | 1’15.798 | 0.383 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’15.827 | 0.412 |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’15.919 | 0.504 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’15.931 | 0.516 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’16.009 | 0.594 |
| 9 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’16.017 | 0.602 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’16.112 | 0.697 |
| 11 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’16.175 | 0.760 |
| 12 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’16.453 | 1.038 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’16.483 | 1.068 |
| 14 | 7 | Jack Doohan | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’16.863 | 1.448 |
| 15 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber-Ferrari | C45 | 1’17.520 | 2.105 |
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Q3
McLaren’s challenge looked like it was going to fall apart after their final runs in Q3. Piastri made a mess of the penultimate corner, slithering wide, and producing a 1’16.147 which his rivals made light work of. Norris appeared to be among them, but his 1’15.921 was deleted when he ran wide at turn four.That handed an opportunity to their rivals, who grabbed it. Leclerc was first to beat Piastri, then Russell and finally Verstappen, whose 1’15.671 put him on top.
Verstappen’s effort was a tenth of a second off his best from Q2. “The guy in front of me kept going off everywhere,” he reported. That was Hamilton, who only managed seventh, 0.656s off.
With Norris sitting 10th without a time, race engineer Will Joseph suggested they avoid risking being held up in traffic. “Lando, why don’t we go first, do our own thing?” he asked. “Nope,” Norris replied confidently.
His confidence was repaid. Piastri produced a stunning final lap, thrilling the local fans with a 1’15.180 to claim the top spot. But Norris displaced him moments later, claiming pole position with a lap of 1’15.096.
Russell temporarily took third place off Verstappen until the Red Bull driver hit back. The Ferrari drivers were poised to claim the third row of the grid, then were stunned by a pair of brilliant laps by two midfielders.
First Alexander Albon claimed fifth on the grid, then Yuki Tsunoda took it away from him. Hamilton will therefore start his first race for Ferrari in eighth place.
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Q3 result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’15.096 | |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’15.180 | 0.084 |
| 3 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’15.481 | 0.385 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W16 | 1’15.546 | 0.450 |
| 5 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’15.670 | 0.574 |
| 6 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’15.737 | 0.641 |
| 7 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’15.755 | 0.659 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’15.973 | 0.877 |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’15.980 | 0.884 |
| 10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’16.062 | 0.966 |
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2025 Australian Grand Prix
- 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
- Norris is only driver besides Verstappen to win back-to-back races since 2021
El Pollo Loco
15th March 2025, 6:08
Highlights: Albon, Yuki
Lowlights: Lawson, Kimi
I genuinely wonder what lap time Max could have put in w/that RB (Yuki is only two tenths off). We’re headed for an amazing race. So, excited to see what Williams, who look amazing on the C3, can do if it’s dry. If it’s wet, even better.
Doggy
15th March 2025, 6:16
Tbf with Lawson the guy could barely do any practice to no fault of his own. Also, he never raced in this track.
Canderous (@yoshif8tures)
15th March 2025, 7:01
1. Kimi Antonelli
2. Jack Doohan
3. Isack Hadjar
4. Gabriel Bortoleto
4 drivers with less experience than Lawson, yet also out qualified him.
Also for context, Yuki’s stats; remember he was a rookie in 2022 and yet still qualified P13 (with no experience)
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:15
It’s also not a fair comparison, as in for all we’ve seen so far, antonelli and lawson can compete fairly with the cars they have, but the other 3 have bad or horrible cars (haas) in comparison, so it’s actually a humilation to be outqualified by those when you have a red bull.
kpcart
15th March 2025, 8:28
how are rookies your low lights? weird.
David
15th March 2025, 12:14
Lawson is not a rookie in reality. 11 F1 starts already across two seasons. And he was poor.
El Pollo Loco
15th March 2025, 20:02
Bizarre, right! There was no hype around Antonelli (myself included), but he’s out in Q1 while his teammate was P4 and LL was P18 vs P3. I wonder…
If it makes you happy, I was going to have an honor mentions list rookies for that included Bortoleto, Doohan and Hadjar for being as fast as Gasly throughout testing, practice and Q1 despite the pressure with only an error in Q2 making it look like there’s a disparity there. I’d already predicted Bortoleto’d beat Hulk this season. So, that didn’t surprise me, but Hadjar did.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:16
No hype on antonelli? That’s either sarcasm, or you must be one of the few, mercedes hyped antonelli a lot and several of us thought he could compete with russell, so very disappointing start in my view.
El Pollo Loco
16th March 2025, 0:29
It was sarcasm. I think I meant to include “no hype at all” to make it clear. And I meant myself included in hyping him.
normality78 (@normality78)
15th March 2025, 6:08
Get in there Albon and Williams. Good job… those teams that drop Sainz, look at your 2nd driver performance.
Oople
15th March 2025, 6:20
@normality78
Cringe bias
Doggy
15th March 2025, 6:48
Both, Sainz and Hamilton got out qualified by their teammates…so your logic is faulty/bias mate
I prefer to see it as both did a good job, particularly because its the first qualy of the season
kpcart
15th March 2025, 8:29
its sainz first qualifying in a new team. geez this forum has got so dumb over the years.
baasbas
15th March 2025, 10:50
there is some irony there
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:17
Good point, but I’m guessing sainz can recover that little gap he has, whereas lawson is nowhere, like antonelli.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
15th March 2025, 6:08
Antonelli and Lawson already have their backs against the wall. Ferrari look a fair distance back.
El Pollo Loco
15th March 2025, 6:10
Looks like the change in temperature really impacted their ultimate pace. It was 90 degrees today. Radically higher than Friday.
Jane (@janedone)
15th March 2025, 6:22
Kimi car was damaged during qualifying, and Liam car had power unit issues before qualifying happened and had to rely on Max’s setup. Albert Park itself is a unique track and hard to measure overall car paces.
BasCB (@bascb)
15th March 2025, 6:47
Front tyre pressure was upped since friday too, that might have done a lot to how the car reacts as well.
MichaelN
15th March 2025, 8:11
That is just typical. Can Pirelli do anything without making themselves part of the story? They’re a supplier of spec parts. The last they could do is just be a neutral factor in all this.
S
15th March 2025, 8:35
Let’s not over-react here; Pirelli are just being cautious. Same thing happens in every other series running tyres (spec or otherwise) on a per-event and even per-session basis. Except without as much fuss as is made in regard to F1.
The tyres are as identical as practically possible for all teams. How much more neutral can they get?
This action comes as a direct result of the teams running the tyres at 99.9% of their mechanical/thermal/performance limits at all times. By their own choice.
I’ve said this countless times – this is not specifically a Pirelli problem, it’s an F1 problem. And they continue to refuse to address it, because being that extra 2-3 tenths of a second per lap faster makes F1 so much better, doesn’t it…
MichaelN
15th March 2025, 12:07
A lot of fuzz was made when Pirelli started doing this, and rightly so. Tyre pressure are an important part of any car set up.
It’s unfortunate that it is now seen as normal that Pirelli is able to prescribe tyre pressures on a session by session basis, with potentially significant consequences for the competition.
S
15th March 2025, 12:45
Not unfortunate – it’s totally normal.
What’s unfortunate is that the teams have been allowed – encouraged, actually – to put so much downforce on the cars that F1’s tyres have to be run this way just to cope with the intense and sustained forces involved.
Of course there are consequences when tyres pressures change – but it can go both ways. As much as it can hinder one team, others can benefit relative to each other – and it changes for each in differing conditions and on different surfaces. ‘Better’ teams do better in those situations.
In addition – higher pressures can mean less traction, and that means more difficult driving and (subjectively) better racing.
From this perspective as a viewer, I want F1 to have truly difficult and unpredictable tyres.
Only as a participant do I want more traction, durability and consistency.
BasCB (@bascb)
16th March 2025, 8:11
As S mentions, this is just Pirelli reacting to the feedback from the on track running they got and deciding that the softest tyre need to be a bit higher pressure, which is rather normal given the high temperatures, and expected even higher temperatures for saturday were.
The same for everyone, it just means that not everything we saw going on on friday will still apply the same to saturday and might slightly influence who does well, who does better and who has a slight downturn in fortunes.
kpcart
15th March 2025, 8:30
the first race of the year hasnt even started, but here you go….
Doggy
15th March 2025, 6:13
RB19: You were a dominant car
MCL39: hold my beer
El Pollo Loco
15th March 2025, 20:05
Maybe wait and come back to us when McLaren have 20+ wins and a fresher meme.
RH
15th March 2025, 22:45
Car being dominant and team being successful are not the same things. Red Bull have possibly the most consistent driver of all time and a very reliable operations team. The RB19 was a consistently good car with great advantages from time to time. McLaren so far this year seems to have great advantages already. RB19 was also weak in qualifying relative to McLaren and McLarens race pace is expected to be larger. Norris’ stint in testing was so good it was ridiculously amazing.
Edvaldo
15th March 2025, 6:17
So, Red Bull now is paying two drivers to perform at the same level Perez was doing last year.
Great deal.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 8:03
Just unbelievable choice to pick lawson instead of tsunoda, it’s not like verstappen needs a weak team mate to destroy him, he’s capable of destroying even pretty good drivers, so it’s crazy they didn’t pick the most experienced driver they had, given they had similar speed.
Patrick (@paeschli)
15th March 2025, 8:13
What is even more crazy is that Marko has already said if they need a replacement driver last minute they would NOT put Tsunoda in the Red Bull but Iwasa instead.
El Pollo Loco
15th March 2025, 20:07
Came here to say this and note the irony of Marko trashing Doohan and Bortoleto while he’s got a driver who was nowhere near as impressive as either in F2.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:19
Yes, it’s just very ironic that he criticises other drivers when his own is doing worse, and so was the previous red bull number 2 driver as well for the last couple years.
MichaelN
15th March 2025, 8:15
Tsunoda is just there for Honda. Red Bull doesn’t want him. They won’t even have him sub if anything happens at RB1.
RH
15th March 2025, 11:12
Tsunoda wasn’t significantly better than Lawson objectively with far less experience.
Leo B
15th March 2025, 12:33
Even more bizarre not to take Sainz!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:20
Indeed, forgot about that: both tsunoda and lawson would’ve been 2nd tier choices in terms of performance when they had an easy way to get sainz (who was desperate to stay with a top team) mid season.
kpcart
15th March 2025, 8:31
Red Bull are using the old Ferrari early 200s strategy of putting all their focus on one driver. it worked for Ferrari and is working for Redbull.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
15th March 2025, 6:28
As expected, McLaren have absolutely dominant car! If both their drivers don’t win at the very least 20 races this season, it will be a gigantic failure.
David
15th March 2025, 12:17
F1 has a habit of making early season dominance disappear. But McLaren without the sandbags was in a different class today.
El Pollo Loco
15th March 2025, 20:08
Wow, pretty early for that kind of prediction. Also, not enough races for them both to win 20+ races. ; )
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:22
When reading armchair’s comments you have to imagine verstappen is the best driver of all time, with a gap of 3 tenths on the 2nd best driver of all time, so him being a few tenths behind mclaren means this must be like the mclaren 1988!
I’m gonna say mclaren could win 10 races or so.
El Pollo Loco
16th March 2025, 0:31
I should have known better than to trust expert armchair craftsman.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
15th March 2025, 6:32
Surprised at the amount of tiny mistakes from every single driver. The margins are really that thin. Sad they don’t go as flat out in the race, because that’d be great.
El Pollo Loco
15th March 2025, 20:09
+1
Tamudo
15th March 2025, 6:41
Of course that McLaren was so unbelievably quick that it’s basically no contest as soon as I saw their last attempt in Q3. That Max was 3 tenths behind Piastri despite being the quickest in S2 told everything.
Quite unlucky for Doohan and Antonelli who’ve got pace to Q3 if not for some misfortune from both (yellow flag in last Q2 attempt for Jack Doohan and floor damage on Antonelli). Also feel like Sainz could have been P5 without floor damage, but still a stonking and a statement lap from Tsunoda against Red Bull’s.
Ferraris being this far behind is just not good enough considering the hype. Also Haas, the less said about it the better.
Doggy
15th March 2025, 6:52
Margins are tight from Max downwards. McLaren is in a league of their own.
Toto, Horner, and Fred B just commented/agreed that McLaren is at least .2/.3 faster than any other car. Not only qualy but also race pace
PeteB (@peteb)
15th March 2025, 10:46
It’s irrelevant what Toto, Horner and Fred say about the pace of other cars. If you listen to people in F1 talking about other teams, you’d believe every team is the slowest by a considerable margin.
According to Toto, Ferrari has the dominant car between 2014 and 2020!
Doggy
15th March 2025, 11:20
However, 3 team principal, from different
Teams, coinciding that one team is faster and with the same parameters, is worth considering.
Also, Zac Brown and Lando yesterday fater qualy, admitted they have the better car. Which is great, they finally own it.
Moi
15th March 2025, 12:32
Agreed, normally the team principals are about as trustworthy as Trump, except in this case the actual numbers back up the narrative.
Peter707
15th March 2025, 13:53
Max is also a league on his own.
Badger74 (@badger74)
15th March 2025, 7:00
Great performance will rightly get the headline for McLaren. That’s a big gap for the end of the rules cycle. Enormous sector 3. From an historic general lack of front end bite to a front end that grips like a baby to its mother. Combined with apparent massive traction on exit.
Albon and Tsunoda deserve the plaudits too, but Hamilton being ‘only 8th’ gets the subhead?! Looking at you Andrew Benson
Riccard
15th March 2025, 7:50
Some people are speculating that McLaren’s real advantage is tyres, and their race pace will be even stronger than quali.
If they’re right, watch out – or start a rain dance.
Jere (@jerejj)
15th March 2025, 7:10
Antonelli’s failure to reach Q2 was at least down to car damage from gravel contact & he still out-qualified Lawson.
Sauber was a positive surprise, while Haas is surprisingly the outright slowest for now.
Unsurprisingly a McLaren front-row lockout, so their race victory to lose, although with Max right behind & the race being wet in all likelihood, anything’s possible.
Williams ultimately proved as good as expected based on testing, I don’t think anyone saw P5 coming for VCARB, & Doohan fared better relative to Gasly than anticipated, which is bad news for Flav, but early days.
S Arkazam
15th March 2025, 8:08
If your surprise based on Haas being the slowest in FP1, or being the slowest again in FP2, or the slowest in FP3?
Real surprise indeed :P
El Pollo Loco
15th March 2025, 20:12
Kimi didn’t have so much damage he had a good excuse for being out qualified by a Sauber IMO. And I’m someone who’s predicted he’ll live up to the hype. So, I’ve got good reason to agree with excuses.
Davethechicken
15th March 2025, 7:53
Great effort by Yuki.
Shame he wasn’t given Lawsons seat.
Less than 2 tenths off Max in the the junior car which without doubt will prove significantly slower than the Red Bull as the season goes on.
S
15th March 2025, 8:09
Probably for the best, or he’d be in Lawson’s position right now – same as Perez before him.
PeteB (@peteb)
15th March 2025, 10:50
Sure but let’s be honest, if Yuki had been given the 2nd Red Bull seat, he’d be the one getting eliminated in Q1 and we’d all be saying “it’s a shame Lawson wasn’t given the seat.”
I think the Toro Rosso is a nicely balanced car that different drivers can extract a lot from. The Red Bull is right on the edge… If you can drive it exactly how it needs to be driven (and obviously that’s tailored towards what Max wants), it’s very quick but unless you can adapt your style to the car, you’re going to struggle.
If Max was in the Toro Rosso, he’d be slower than he is in the Red Bull but pretty much anyone else would be faster in the TR.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
15th March 2025, 11:38
@peteb
Toro Rosso haven’t been on the grid for 6 seasons ;)
They were last here in 2019, then were Alpha Tauri for 4 years, followed by being RB last year and now are Racing Bulls.
PeteB (@peteb)
15th March 2025, 14:56
@thegianthogweed – Yeah I know…. I’ve given up with their annual name changes now though so they’re Toro Rosso going forward. “Racing Bulls” is a shocking name and RB is already the short version of Red Bull so I have to call them something else and Toro Rosso is my favourite of their previously names- so that’s what I’m calling them. :)
David (@nvherman)
15th March 2025, 19:51
I absolutely agree.
They should never have changed the name in the first place.
Surely everyone knew that Toro Rosso was Italian for Red Bull
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:40
It’s a rebellion, we don’t like their current silly names, so we keep calling them with their original name.
Davethechicken
15th March 2025, 11:59
PeteB,
Lawson’s Q1 time was actually slower than Perez Q1 time last year!!!
MichaelN
15th March 2025, 8:13
Disappointed by Ferrari. Verstappen proving that the Red Bull struggles stories were mostly wishful thinking. If these are the gaps, he should still be considered the favorite given McLaren has no driver on his level.
kpcart
15th March 2025, 8:33
Norris and Piastri are on his level, now they get a chance to show that hopefully in the best car. They couldnt show it before when Verstappen had the best car. Alonso and Hamilton are a higher level than all 3 of them if you want to go total Verstappen fanboy.
NM
15th March 2025, 18:27
Last year Lando cleary showed he isnt up to Verstappen his level yet
El Pollo Loco
15th March 2025, 20:17
Alonso, Ham (at one point) and Max are higher than LN/OP. Last season made that extremely clear. Even when the McLaren was inarguably faster than the Red Bull, Norris was outscored. Norris is super fast, but he lacks steel nerves and consistency to relentlessly execute when the pressure is on. I’ve no doubt he can win the WDC if his car has this sort of margin all year though. OP’s got a lot to prove before he can be put anywhere near the level of either group.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:43
Last year, if you average out ALL races, mclaren had the best car on balance, and norris proved to be head and shoulders below verstappen in terms of consistency and minimising mistakes.
If the car is dominant though, that’s not gonna be a problem, but with close cars, verstappen wins all the time.
Doggy
15th March 2025, 11:27
McLaren is faster by at least 0.3 sec… so yes, RB and any other team struggles vs papaya cars.
When one have a car that is so much faster, like this McLaren l, it does not matter who the opponent is, in a dry straight race/championship, they will win and with comfort. If not ask Jenson with Brawn
Davethechicken
15th March 2025, 12:02
Let’s see how Ferrari go tomorrow, they had big rear wings on, presumably for the wet weather expected for the race.
Frank
15th March 2025, 8:30
Impressed by Albon and against my expectations. If he can keep this up: he might put himself into consideration with the top teams again.
Glad to see Williams free from the back of the grid. Vowles really seems to know what he is doing.
FW11B (@fw11b)
15th March 2025, 8:31
How about some praise for Bortoleto, who not only outqualified Hulk, but was also the only other rookie to pass Q3, in a Sauber..
An Sionnach
15th March 2025, 8:38
Yes, he was great. Good car control, too.
joe jopling (@jop452)
15th March 2025, 8:49
I am not sure what we can learn from qualifying as we do not know what wing levels they are running, bearing in mind it could be a wet race. Should be exciting though
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
15th March 2025, 9:49
Delighted to see Yuki and Alex right up there.
I wasn’t expecting anything much from the Rookies in this first race, but Hadjar and Bortoleto have impressed.
Looking forwards to the race.
HW Small
15th March 2025, 10:02
Given how close Yuki was to Max, it would be interesting to see what Max could do in a Racing Bull. Would he obliterate Yuki or could Yuki be faster?
Point being the whole Red Bull team is focussed around Max and that may actually be holding them back.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
15th March 2025, 13:00
Yeh Max is the problem there……
Whats next? Fangio, how he dragged down Maserati
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:46
He’s making a good point: why is tsunoda only 2 tenths off verstappen? That’s odd, we’re expecting verstappen to have more than that gap in the same car, and why is toro rosso that close to red bull? It’s normally a lot more gap between the 2 teams, so what if toro rosso made a better car than red bull?
A very rare thing, but it happened back when vettel was still at toro rosso.
RH
15th March 2025, 11:13
McLaren’s advantage confirmed. Lando’s title to lose of course moving forward. Others need a McL Miami 2024 type upgrade to even come close and only McLaren’s upgrades seem to work these regulations.
Davethechicken
15th March 2025, 12:00
Premature to judge RH as was simply don’t know who is set up for wet weather and who isn’t.
RH
15th March 2025, 11:15
Albon being 3 tenths clear of Sainz was not in my books. Quite interesting to see this pairing turn out over time.
Kurik
15th March 2025, 11:47
A good start to the season. That was a very interesting qually. Congrats to Yuki and Williams AND Gasly for getting into Q3 on the first bounce. Really keen to see how the all those drivers are going to perform this season. Nods to McLaren however I have a dark feeling that Max will comfortably win this race. I am giving some grace to Ferrari as they have changed the car alot and still finding their way and might come alive tomorrow. The wet race changes everything and I am tempted now to wake up for this race. Think it will be a banger.
David BR (@david-br)
15th March 2025, 12:06
Non-rushed conclusions about what will happen this season available below:
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Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
15th March 2025, 12:58
See you after Hungary then
David BR (@david-br)
15th March 2025, 13:56
@tonymansell Not much chance of that :)
Last season should have been a big lesson in how a season can evolve unexpectedly after the first batch of GPs. Sure there are things to spot in the 3 practices and qualifying, but I’m wary of trashing some of the rookie drivers so early for apparently poor performances with so little time to bed in given the rules on pre-season practices. Conversely, Bortoleto’s performance was a good early marker and I’m looking forward to seeing how his race goes.
PeteB (@peteb)
15th March 2025, 14:58
Yeah 100%. You can get a general feel for where the teams are but this generation of cars are very track/temperature specific so a good car in Australia might not be so good in the following races.
Leo B
15th March 2025, 12:37
Piastri has a habit of peaking in Q2 instead of Q3.
But he is far better at starting the race than Norris. Esp from p2.
Davethechicken
15th March 2025, 12:39
Lap time comparison to last years qualifying is interesting, comparing like session for like session.
Many teams such as McLaren, Aston Martin, RB, Alpine, Williams and Mercedes have gained well over 1 some nearly 2 seconds a lap compare to last year.
Haas seem an outlier although only one time was set between them in Q1.
Red Bull with Lawson slower than Perez in Q1 and Max just over 0.4 seconds quicker. Strange they have gained so little over a year.
Leclerc was also only around 0.4sec faster than Sainz in Q3 last year which is a very marginal gain.
Of course who is setup for rain tomorrow and who isn’t is an unknown.
Davethechicken
15th March 2025, 12:41
It might suggest both Ferrari and Red Bull were running setups with a wet race in mind
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
15th March 2025, 12:56
Entertaining session with Kimi deceptively slow and Doohan showing some form and class, something his chief antagonist at Red Bull will no doubt be delighted.
A track that bites should be a lesson to other circuits, jeopardy is why we tune in. Stop turning the tracks into bowling lanes with bumpers in the gutter. I can strike with that. We want to see them on the edge of disaster, time and position wise that is.
Robert Williams (@weiliwen)
15th March 2025, 14:06
No love for Pierre Gasly? His excellent qualifying result might mean better times for Alpine this year, if they can hold onto their management for an entire season.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
15th March 2025, 19:42
Sounds like enough fluttering coming from your bromance with him
MG1982 (@mg1982)
15th March 2025, 15:14
Some changes compared to the testing. We must wait at least 2-3 races to get a better idea of what’s going on, but so far Ferrari being fast only for 7th and 8th is the most unpleasant surprise. And it’s not so much the positions, but the gap to those in front. Quite worrying to be honest. Hopefully it’s just the set-up or track-specific, otherwise this will be a long season to forget. Also wonder if it’s something engine related too, since all Ferrari-powered cars performed mediocre at best.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:50
The engine can definitely be a problem if all cars using that engine are struggling, much like in 2014 with mercedes engine being super, even the williams was doing really well.
Indeed, ferrari look like the 4th best team, which is pretty bad, and what some expert hinted at after testing, as well as mclaren being fastest, and so far they weren’t wrong.
Verstappen being such an exceptional driver probably made the difference putting red bull ahead of merc, as merc was predicted as the 2nd best car.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
15th March 2025, 23:51
experts*