Oscar Piastri led by Lando Norris in close F1 Australian Grand Prix qualifying

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Oscar Piastri is set to start his home Australian Grand Prix from second place, after narrowly missing out on the first pole position of his Formula One career to McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.

Less than a tenth of a second separated Piastri and Norris at the top of the Formula One timesheets – but a larger three-tenth gap to the third-placed Red Bull of Max Verstappen – in a tight field that could make for an engaging race on Sunday.

The British driver’s best time of 1:15.096 becomes the quickest lap ever recorded around Albert Park, close to a second faster than last year’s pole-position time of 1:15.915 set by Verstappen.

Piastri topped the third and final practice session earlier on Saturday, which – at the time – became the second-quickest lap ever recorded around Albert Park, behind only Verstappen’s 2024 pole position.

It is the Melbourne-born 23-year-old’s best Australian Grand Prix starting position – up from fourth in 2024 and eighth in 2023 – and the joint-best of his F1 career.

“It’s obviously great to start the year on the front row,” Piastri said in a post-race interview on the official F1 broadcast.

“Probably one position further back than I would’ve liked, but it’s a great start for the year.”

Lewis Hamilton qualified eighth in his first Grand Prix weekend for Ferrari, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Qualifying a surprise fourth was Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull Racing’s sister team, Visa Cash App RB, just ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon in fifth.

Verstappen is poised to line up for tomorrow’s race in third, after a less-than-smooth weekend for his Red Bull Racing team.

The Dutchman finished far ahead of new team-mate Liam Lawson – the Kiwi who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at the RB sister team last year – who qualified 18th after running wide at the penultimate corner on his final attempt at a fast lap.

He also missed most of the third practice session due to mechanical issues, and in Friday’s pair of practice sessions finished 16th and 17th, compared to Verstappen’s fifth and seventh.

Also set to start close to the back of the grid is Mercedes-AMG rookie Kimi Antonelli, who qualified 16th – knocked out in the first portion of qualifying – amid damage to his car that’s said to have held his last two laps back.

The other Australian on the grid – Gold Coast-born Jack Doohan, racing for Alpine – qualified 13th for Sunday’s race, after he was knocked out in the second of the three sessions.

He was beaten by his teammate Pierre Gasly, who is due to start the Grand Prix in ninth.

Carlos Sainz’s Williams rounded out the Top 10 in qualifying.

The 2025 Formula One Australian Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 3:00pm tomorrow, Sunday March 16, 2025, with rain predicted.

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