What happened in Australian GP qualifying: McLaren top, Ferrari dips and brutal F1 debut for rookies

McLaren has locked out the front row for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with a commanding performance in qualifying that saw both drivers 0.3sec clear of anybody else.

Lando Norris will start on pole after a final lap that was less than a tenth of a second faster than team-mate Oscar Piastri who had been spooked by locking up at the penultimate corner on the previous lap, and admitted he may have “left something on the table”.

That disappointment will be minor compared to the reaction at Ferrari. After developing an all-new car and signing Lewis Hamilton in a blitz of publicity, Charles Leclerc only manage to secure seventh and Hamilton will start eighth on the grid, just over 0.2sec behind despite a Q2 spin. Both drivers appeared to struggle with overheating rear tyres, which slowed their pace in the final sector of their laps.

The red cars were outqualified by Yuki Tsunoda‘s Racing Bull in fifth place, as well as the Williams of Alex Albon, who qualified sixth.

Above them, McLaren’s closest challengers were Max Verstappen and George Russell, with just one Red Bull and one Mercedes in the final Q3 stage after their young team-mates both made errors and were knocked out in Q1.

Kimi Antonelli put a wheel in to the gravel and damaged the floor of his Mercedes, leaving him short on performance. He’ll start 15th, ahead of Liam Lawson, starting his first full F1 season. He missed most of the third practice session, then had scrappy runs in qualifying, running wide at Turn 3, which will see him start 18th.

Most of this year’s group of rookies had a brutal introduction to F1 in Melbourne. Ollie Bearman has had a nightmare start to his Haas career after crashing in first practice and missing the second session; going off in the third practice session and then failing to set a qualifying time after a gearbox issue.

Gabriel Bortoleto was looking strong, having knocked out his experienced team-mate Nico Hülkenberg to progress to Q2, but then ran too wide at Turn 4. He saved the car from a big snap of oversteer on the kerb, but will start 15th.

Jack Doohan will start one place ahead in 14th, knowing that he’ll need to close the gap to his team-mate Pierre Gasly who was over six-tenths of a second faster in the Q2 session that saw Doohan eliminated. The Australian can. however, point to being hampered by Hamilton’s spin.

Isack Hadjar, however, will be relatively content. While he was also knocked out in Q2, he was less than two-tenths slower than Tsunoda, who went on to set the fifth-fastest time in Q3.

The grid order, however, may prove to be largely academic. Overheating tyres affected a number of teams and cooler temperatures for Sunday’s race could affect the performance order. As could the forecast of rain.

“In the wet there are always some crazy things that can happen,” said Verstappen. With drivers looking to recover from poor qualifying sessions, Williams and Racing Bulls amid the frontrunners, and Piastri in the hunt to be the first Australian to win their home grand prix, his words could be prophetic.

Many drivers are still getting to grips with their new cars. “It’s been a lot of work to re-adapt to this car,” said Hamilton. “There is a lot to dissect so far. I don’t even know the rain setting!”

2025 Australian Grand Prix qualifying results