F1 hits Melbourne: All you need to know for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix

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The 2025 Australian Grand Prix sees the Albert Park event return as the season opener after a cracking year which saw Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes win races – including a pair of wins from Melbourne local Oscar Piastri.

Massive changes in the driver line-ups, a world champion saying his car can't win, and an Albert Park event that's geared up for another massive crowd – this year's race comes with more anticipation, excitement and genuine uncertainty as to who will come out on top.

Lewis Hamilton's first race in a Ferrari

MORE: 2025 F1 Australian Grand Prix: On-track schedule

The shock news announcing the seven-time world champion's move to Ferrari was seismic: Lewis Hamilton's Instagram post from his arrival at the team's Italian headquarters earlier this year is now the most liked post in F1 history.

While the arrival has been met with adoration from the tifosi – the passionate Italian fan-base – this weekend pushes aside the emotion and promise for a reality check: can 40-year-old Hamilton really win races and achieve his dream of a record eight drivers' title?

The stakes are high: is the car good enough? Can the team – known for bumbling race strategy – give him what he needs to win? Or will his younger team-mate Charles Leclerc upstage him and blow him into the weeds…

Ultimately, is this a masterstroke by Hamilton – and Ferrari – or a mistake?

The strongest chance yet of an Aussie victory

Fourth place: that's the best result for Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri at Albert Park – so far.

While Australian Lex Davison won his fourth and final Australian Grand Prix in 1961, there hasn't been an Aussie podium let alone a victory since – although Ricciardo came tantalisingly close when he crossed the line second in 2014 but was later disqualified. 

An in-form Piastri is the strongest chance for an Australian win – arguably ever – having taken the first Grand Prix victories of his career in 2024 on the way to helping McLaren win the constructors world championship.

McLaren was also fast in pre-season testing in February – but while all eyes are on his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, it's Piastri who'll be keen to show he's the better driver as the two head to Albert Park as favourites for the race – and the 2025 title.

Two-up: An Australian tradition

Piastri isn't the only Aussie on the grid: The Gold Coast's Jack Doohan makes his Albert Park debut with Alpine – having replaced Esteban Ocon at the team for the last race of 2024 ahead of scoring a full-time drive.

Doohan – son of five-time 500cc motorcycle racing world champion Mick – may not have a car as competitive as Oscar Piastri, but with a chance of rain and a revitalised Alpine team, anything could happen.

McLaren are favourites, but will Oscar and Lando help each other out? Not a chance…

While never a true show of the pecking order, pre-season testing saw great speed from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and – most surprisingly – Williams, but McLaren came away looking the fastest from the start of this year.

That's unfamiliar territory for both Piastri and Norris, after Red Bull dominated the early part of the 2024 season, winning seven of the first 10 races – before Norris won in Miami, the first of four Grand Prix career wins, McLaren growing stronger to challenge for both titles.

There were several tense moments between the McLaren pair – strategy calls preferencing one over the other (resulting in team orders in Hungary), a brutal yet brilliant pass by the Australian on the Brit at Monza again ruffling feathers – yet the pair worked together to win the constructors title after an agreement was made.

With the slate clean and the points reset at zero – and with both drivers knowing the car is fast with multiple wins under their belts – Albert Park will be all about who is The Man and McLaren, and both Lando and Oscar will be out to beat each other before the rest of the grid.

Will Verstappen destroy his new team-mate?

Pre-season didn't run smoothly for Red Bull, with 2024 world champion Max Verstappen saying the team doesn't have a shot of victory in Melbourne – but you can never count out the Dutchman, a master of mind games.

That's something feisty New Zealander Liam Lawson – who has been promoted to Red Bull alongside Verstappen – has to be aware of, with your team-mate being your biggest rival in F1.

In Lawson's case, it's maximum risk, maximum reward to go against the current number one.

While there's no better yardstick than the current champion, that makes Verstappen also the hardest to compete with – with nowhere to hide if the New Zealander doesn't measure up.

Red Bull has great expectations for any driver it puts in one of its cars and is notorious for dumping those who fail – quickly and brutally.

After replacing Daniil Kvyat in 2016, Verstappen has already seen off Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez – with Lawson his fifth team-mate at Red Bull.

Is Carlos Sainz Williams' saviour?

Last year's Australian Grand Prix winner, Carlos Sainz was the in-form driver for Ferrari in the early part of last season knowing he'd be leaving the team to make way for Hamilton's arrival in 2025.

Signing for Williams – who has Australian company Atlassian as its new naming rights sponsor – Sainz was fastest over a single lap in pre-season testing, showing the 2025 Williams more promising than the team's 9th place in last years' constructors title, second last ahead of the Kick Sauber team.

Historically one of the most successful competitors in F1, Williams hasn't won a title since 1997 – when Sainz was three years old.

While fuel load and other factors play into testing times – meaning the Williams is not expected to be the fastest car at Albert Park – the 30-year-old proven Grand Prix winner can take full advantage of what appear to be genuine gains.

Rookies to race – changing of the guard

There are four rookies on the Albert Park grid, with the youngest – 18-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli – taking forty-year-old Hamilton's place at Mercedes-Benz.

Hamilton's former Mercedes-Benz team-mate and Australian Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas has left Sauber, where Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto will join veteran Nico Hulkenberg for 2025.

Liam Lawson's promotion to Red Bull replacing Sergio Perez alongside Verstappen sees rookie Isack Hadjar move into Lawson's old seat the Kiwi wrestled from Daniel Ricciardo at Racing Bulls.

English driver Oliver Bearman will start his first full season at Haas-Toyota with only two Grands Prix under his belt, having filled it for ill drivers on separate occasions at Ferrari and Haas in 2024.

Bearman has one more race than Australia's Doohan, who made his Alpine debut at the season finale in Abu Dhabi last year to be – technically speaking – not an F1 rookie, even if it will be his first Albert Park Grand Prix.

Support categories: A V8 Supercars bonanza

Support categories at Albert Park include Formula 2 and Formula 3 – the feeder categories to F1 – as well as the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship and the second round of the 2025 V8 Supercars Championship.

The V8 Supercars are set for four races – beginning on Thursday – which are all-out lights-to-flag sprints with no compulsory pit stops for tyres or fuel.

That spells a no-holds barred battle – with cars four-wide in previous battles around Albert Park – as the teams look to reign in the Ford Mustang of championship leader Cam Waters, who took all three pole positions and all three race wins at the season-opening round in Sydney last month.

Tickets are still available – but be fast.

At the time of writing, there are still some three-day corporate passes  available, as well as single-day 'Park Passes' on Thursday, Friday and Saturday – with F1 cars first hitting the track at 12:30 on Friday and qualifying at 16:00 on Saturday.

The 58-lap Grand Prix itself takes place at 15:00 local time on Sunday March 16, but tickets are already completely sold-out.

Tickets can be purchased online here, or check out the full event schedule here.

How to watch the 2025 Australian Grand Prix

The 2025 Australian Grand Prix will be broadcast live on free-to-air and streaming services, with coverage kicking off on Thursday March 13.

Fox Sports (Channel 506) and Kayo Sports will stream from Thursday – with exclusive V8 Supercars coverage – across the weekend, with Network 10 and 10 Play offering free-to-air coverage on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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