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Norris, McLaren Shows Instant Speed Claiming Australian GP Pole

Lando Norris in Friday Practice (Photo Credit: Pirelli & C. S.p.A.)

Qualifying for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix has provided the first competitive showing for what is the new, hotly anticipated Formula 1 campaign. In setting the grid for the 58-lap race, the cars belonging to the 2024 Constructors’ champion McLaren demonstrated a desire to realize even more greatness this season.

Lando Norris secured pole position on the eve of the opening round for the new season by wheeling his McLaren around the 5.278-kilometer Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in blistering 1-minute, 15.096-second lap. The British driver knocked his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri off the top of the time chart disrupting what might have been a home crowd triumph for the Australian inside the #81 car. With Q3 times separated by 0.084 seconds, the McLaren MCL39 lock up the front row of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.

Norris’ pole-scoring time of 1-minute, 15.096-second lap time was 0.819 seconds faster than Max Verstappen’s top time in last year’s Australian Grand Prix qualifying. In fact, the top-seven cars in Q3 set a fast lap quicker than the 2024 pole time.

Defending the Formula 1 World Champion for a third consecutive year, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was third fastest on Saturday set to start alongside the Mercedes AMG car of George Russell. Both Verstappen and Russell out-qualified their new teammates by a sizable margin. Despite a fifth fastest showing in the third practice session, Andrea Kimi Antonelli debut with Mercedes AMG has amounted to a 16th place result in qualifying. After two seasons of partial runs with the sister team of Red Bull Racing (Scuderia AlphaTauri/Visa Cash App RB F1 Team), New Zealand competitor Liam Lawson has struggled to find speed on the Albert Park course.   

The Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team and Willams Racing cars posted promising performances in the first qualifying outing. Yuki Tsunoda was fifth quickest while Alexander Albon settled for a sixth on the time sheet. Albon’s new teammate Carlos Sainz was tenth quickest entering the event as the 2024 Australian Grand Prix winner. 

Entering 2025 with inflated expectations, the Ferrari team with drivers Charles Leclerc and organization’s high-profile new arrival, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton had a lukewarm showing. Leclerc qualified in seventh place while Hamilton’s first time trial session in a red race car ended with an eighth place result. In the closing moments of Q2, Hamilton spun his #44 Ferrari after clipping a kerb causing a brief local yellow after he swiftly recovered.   

The first event part of the 24-round 2025 Formula 1 calendar, Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix for a local start time of 3 PM (midnight Eastern time).











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