The Australian GP qualifying session has been consigned to the record books and as usual we have things that went as we expected and others that didn’t.
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McLaren 1-2
McLaren secured the front row of the grid with Lando Norris taking pole from Oscar Piastri, it would seem that it was exactly as expected, at times, however it was closer that the reigning Constructor Champions would have liked, but in the end they rose to the challenge and secured the 1-2.
Piastri’s reaction to Qualifying:
“Pretty happy. It’s obviously a great to start the year on the front row – one position further back than I would’ve liked. It’s a great start to the year and great to have the team on the front row.
We’ll reset and see what tomorrow has in store. Pretty happy with how qualifying went but not quite enough in Q3, but it’s the start of a long season.
I lost a little bit of time in sector three compared to the lap before in Q2; I also locked up there and went off in the first round in Q3, so I didn’t really want to do that twice.
Maybe I left a little bit on the table but it’s pretty tricky out there for everybody. Q3 at the start was pretty messy, but I’m just happy to be on the front row and to have a good start”.
Zak Brown was also full of praise for both drivers and the team as he reacted to the result on social media platform X:
In what could be an ominous sign to the rest of the grid, Zak Brown conformed that the Melbourne track doesn’t suit the McLaren. I wonder what the car will be like when they get to a track that they like.
Pole Sitter Lando Norris was extremely happy with how qualifying went:
“it’s the perfect way to start the year. A big congrats to the team, everyone has done an amazing job, to continue where we were at the end of last season and to start with a one-two. It’s just qualifying so let’s see what happens tomorrow, it’s going to be a tricky race.”
On fine margins: “The car is extremely quick and when you put it together it’s unbelievable, it’s just difficult to put it together. There was a lot of fight between me and Oscar [Piastri] today so that was a tough one and especially after my first lap where I went off and got track limits.
“You are in a tough position and for the second lap you have to take a lot of risk but you also need to get the lap clean and don’t make any mistakes. It’s a difficult mindset to go into the final lap but I managed to pull it off so I’m very happy.”
On the race: “I’m never going to get ahead of myself, I’m not that kind of guy, I’m confident the car is in a great position but we’ve also never run in the wet.
“We know how quick Max [Verstappen] and Red Bull is in the rain so let’s wait and see. There are many opportunities for everyone but also a lot of new things that we are going to be learning along the way.”
A familiar story for Redbull
Max Verstappen took 3rd place with a solid session for the reigning Drivers’ Champion, however the story of Redbull having a tail of two cars continues, with Liam Lawson out in Q1 and starting in 18th, I can almost hear the majority of Mexico screaming at the TV!
It was a difficult session with the “rookie” struggling to control the difficult Redbull car, ultimately failing to make Q2 with a very scrappy final run ended any hopes of progression.
This is a plot that we have seen in Redbull several times, let’s hope that Lawson can have a good Race and gather some well needed early points.
On the other side of the Redbull garage, Max Verstappen puts his car in the best possible place with 3rd behind the McLarens’ and in a good position for the changeable GP on Sunday.
Max Verstappen’s reaction:
“It was good, yesterday was quite tough so for us to be in P3 today I will take that. The qualifying laps were really exciting and I think a lot of good grip around here and some fast corners so that’s always very fun in an F1 car.”
On Tyres: “It was quite tough in qualifying, I don’t know how the others felt but for me it never felt like we nailed that bit, but the gap was quite big to them [McLaren] so it wouldn’t have mattered in terms of position.”
On the Race: “For me dry or wet is fine, in the weather there is always some crazy things that can happen and especially around here it can be quite slippery, I think but it’s the same for everyone and so we will see what happens tomorrow.”
Liam Lawson Reflects on his Qualifying Performance:
We expected the start of qualifying to be tough, the first laps we expected to be off and then we were planning on building throughout the session.
“Obviously going off in that second lap put everything out of the water, the last lap was good until the last sector where I had a big drop. Missing FP3 doesn’t help any of us but I also shouldn’t be going off in qualifying
Rookie Watch
An extremely difficult session for the 2025 rookie class, with Lawson, Bearman and Antonelli all having a bit of a nightmare.
Ollie Bearman, who was sensational in his “super sub” performances in 2024, will wish he could use several EA Sports style “Flashbacks” after crashing in FP1 and FP3, which led to a gearbox issue at the start of Qualifying. The HAAS driver will start dead last for tomorrows GP
Ollie Bearman’s reaction:
Yeah, I mean, pretty unforgiving circuit and you know, two seemingly small errors giving big consequences and missing out on all of my running clumsiness from my side to make these errors, honestly, and that’s not good enough
Kimi Antonelli, who has been given ALOT of praise, not least from Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolfe, was sent packing in Q1 after being pipped for a Q2 spot by Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
It later transpired that he had damaged the floor of his Mercedes during the session, leading to a loss of several tenths in pace, leading to a 16th place start for the GP
Racing Bulls and Alpine
The Racing Bulls of Tsunoda and Hadjar had a great session with Tsunoda take a great 5th place and ahead of both Ferrari cars. Rookie, Isak Hadjar, also had a solid session with a respectable 11th place and puts himself in a great position to get some points in his first F1 GP.
Yuki Tsunoda, will be using the 2025 season reminding the main Redbull team of his mere existence, putting the Racing Bull into 5th and 13 places ahead of Liam Lawson. A great way for Yuki to say “remember me” without actually saying it.
Jack Doohan is doing exactly what he requires, with the strange situation at Alpine, how have about 13 reserve drivers and have not exactly came out in defence of Jack. Doohan stuck the Alpine in 14th and only 5 spots being his teammate, Pierre Gasly, who will start in 9th.
Williams Resurgence
Williams have arguably one of the best driver pairings on the grid, along side the McLaren pair and the Ferrari pair and to go along with that they finally have a car that will compete for points on a regular basis. Gone are the days of celebrating a Williams getting into Q2, we are now expecting regular Q3 appearances’ and consistently challenging for points. Alex Albon put the Williams into a solid 6th place, with Sainz a solid 10th.
15.03.2025. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 1, Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Qualifying Day. (credit Williams Media)
Finally, Ferrari
One of the biggest storylines for the 2025 season was Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for 2025, the 7-time Drivers’ Champion had a good, if not spectacular session, qualifying 8th and only 2 tenths behind his team mate Charles Leclerc. The biggest concern for the team and the tifosi will be the gap to McLaren, which was around 9 tenths, not what they expected and plenty to work on as the season progresses.
Lewis Hamilton Reacts to Qualifying:
I generally feel good. I had a really good time out there today – everything has been a first this weekend. My first Fp1 with Ferrari, my first qualifying… It’s been a lot of work to really adapt. This car is so much different to what I’ve experienced in the past.”
“I definitely didn’t expect us to be 9 tenths off today but there is a lot to dissect for sure.”
As Usual Formula 1 does not completely follow the script, who would have thought that Ferrari would be nearly a second behind McLaren or Ollie Bearman have such a mare. Lets see what tomorrow brings … I’m sure we will have something to talk about.
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