INDIA in F1

Tag: Aussie GP

  • Lando Norris on pole as McLaren lock out front row: Aussie Grand Prix

    Lando Norris on pole as McLaren lock out front row: Aussie Grand Prix

    Albert Park (Melbourne), 15 March 2025: Lando Norris stormed to pole position just under a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri as McLaren locked out the front row in qualifying for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. Defending world champion Max Verstappen qualified third for Red Bull. 

    At the start of Q1 Haas’ Oliver Bearman was one of the first on track. The Briton had missed FP3 due to a second crash of the weekend and was seeking to make up for lost time. However, soon after leaving the pit lane the rookie driver informed his team that he had a gearbox problem. He was forced back to the pit lane and took no part in the session. 

    Liam Lawson also endured a tough Saturday. The new Red Bull Racing recruit was forced to sit out FP3 due to a PU problem and on an unfamiliar track in a tricky car the Kiwi struggled. After two unproductive runs, a final crucial flyer began well but mistakes in Sector 2 and an off in the penultimate corner left him in P18 and out of the session. Also ruled out in Q1 were Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli who damaged the front bib on his W16 E and exited in P16, Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg, 19th placed Esteban Ocon in the other Haas and team-mate Bearman. 

    At the top of the Q1 timesheet, Norris took top spot, six hundredths of a second ahead of Mercedes George Russell with Verstappen in third.

    Verstappen led the field out in the middle session and the Dutchman posted a strong opening flying lap of 1:15.688. The Red Bull driver suffered several moments of oversteer on his lap, however, and that allowed the McLaren drivers to annex the top two places, with Oscar Piastri taking top spot a little over two tenths clear or Lando Norris. Behind Verstappen after the first flyers were Russell, Leclerc and Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda. 

    In the second runs Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto had a nervous moment when he clattered over the kerbs in Turn 4 and almost lost control, while Lewis Hamilton did lose control, spinning his Ferrari in Turn 11. 

    The resulting yellow flags disadvantaged several drivers but top spot was again taken by Norris who posted a time of 1:15.415 to beat Piastri. Verstappen was again third with a lap of 1:15.565. 

    Knocked out at the end of Q2 were Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, who ended up as the best-placed rookie in P11, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll out in P12 and P13. Alpine’s Jack Doohan exited in P14 and Bortoleto qualified in 15th. 

    In the opening runs of Q3 Piastri pushed too hard in the penultimate corner and went wide into the dirt on his opening lap. Behind him, team-mate Norris went too hard into Turn 4 and bounced over the kerb that caught out Bortoleto and the Briton’s lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. Verstappen flirted with the same boundary but managed to stay on the right said of the kerb and took provisional pole with a lap of 1:15.671. 

    The champion pushed to seal the opening pole of the season, but ultimately the McLarens were marginally quicker and Norris took top spot in qualifying with a lap of 1:15.096, with Piastri second. Verstappen’s final flyer of 1:15.481 handed him third ahead of Russell, the impressive Tsunoda, Williams’ Alex Albon and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. 

    2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix – Qualifying 
    1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1’15.096 – –
    2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1’15.180 0.084 0.112
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’15.481 0.385 0.513
    4 George Russell Mercedes 1’15.546 0.450 0.599
    5 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1’15.670 0.574 0.764
    6 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1’15.737 0.641 0.854
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’15.755 0.659 0.878
    8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1’15.973 0.877 1.168
    9 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1’15.980 0.884 1.177
    10 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1’16.062 0.966 1.286
    11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1’16.175 1.079 1.437
    12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’16.453 1.357 1.807
    13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’16.483 1.387 1.847
    14 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1’16.863 1.767 2.353
    15 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1’17.520 2.424 3.228
    16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1’16.525 1.429 1.903
    17 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1’16.579 1.483 1.975
    18 Liam Lawson Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’17.094 1.998 2.661
    19 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1’17.147 2.051 2.731
    20 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari – – –

  • Leclerc quickest in FP2 ahead of Piastri and Norris: Aussie GP 

    Leclerc quickest in FP2 ahead of Piastri and Norris: Aussie GP 

    Melbourne, 14 March 2025: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the second practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, beating McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda was fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari, as defending champion Max Verstappen finished seventh. 

    Leclerc was at the top of the times early in the session, with his time of 1:16.794 on Medium tyres setting the initial benchmark, a little under half a second clear of team-mate Hamilton. 

    The field then began to make the move to Soft tyres for qualifying simulations and Leclerc was demoted by the quick-looking Racing Bull car of Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver set a time of 1:16.784 to claim top spot. 

    Verstappen then went out on the red-banded tyres but struggling with his RB21 the Dutchman abandoned the lap. Norris then moved ahead with a lap of 1:16.580, as Piastri’s first flier on Softs put him third.

    Leclerc was out on the red rubber, however, and with a little under 30 minutes remaining, the Monegasque racer logged a time of 1:16.439 to take P1, which he would go on to hold for the remainder of the session. 

    Piastri made gains with a second run to take P2 with a lap of 1:16.563 that left him 0.124 behind Leclerc and 0.017s ahead of McLaren team-mate Norris. Tsunoda’s best time of 1:16.784 kept ahead of Hamilton who finished a little over four tenths of a second off his team-mate. 

    Verstappen also improved late on, but he couldn’t go quicker than stablemate Isack Hadjar. The French/Algerian rookie delivered a good lap of 1:17.019 to end the session 0.580 off Leclerc and a little over two tenths off team-mate Tsunoda. 

    Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth for Sauber, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and lead Mercedes driver George Russell.

    Elsewhere, Oliver Bearman missed the entire session as his Haas crew repaired his car following a heavy crash in the opening session. 

    2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 
    1  Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.439  32 248.574
    2  Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.563 0.124 30 248.172
    3  Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.580 0.141 30 248.117
    4  Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:16.784 0.345 29 247.457
    5  Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:16.859 0.420 31 247.216
    6  Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:17.019 0.580 30 246.702
    7  Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.063 0.624 22 246.561
    8  Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.161 0.722 24 246.248
    9  Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.279 0.840 28 245.872
    10  George Russell Mercedes 1:17.282 0.843 30 245.863
    11  Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:17.302 0.863 30 245.799
    12  Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:17.302 0.863 28 245.799
    13  Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.330 0.891 27 245.710
    14  Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:17.394 0.955 30 245.507
    15  Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:17.493 1.054 30 245.193
    16  Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:17.634 1.195 31 244.748
    17  Liam Lawson Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.640 1.201 30 244.729
    18  Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.847 1.408 29 244.078
    19  Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:18.034 1.595 31 243.493

  • Australian GP cancelled due to COVID-19

    Australian GP cancelled due to COVID-19

    Melbourne, 13 March 2020: Following the confirmation that a member of the McLaren Racing Team has tested positive for COVID-19 and the team’s decision to withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix, Formula 1 and the FIA convened a meeting of the other nine team principals on Thursday evening. Those discussions concluded with a majority view of the teams that the race should not go ahead. Formula 1 and the FIA, with the full support of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) have therefore taken the decision that all Formula 1 activity for the Australian Grand Prix is cancelled.
    We appreciate this is very disappointing news for the thousands of fans due to attend the race and all ticket holders will receive a full refund and a further announcement will be communicated in due course.
    All parties took into consideration the huge efforts of the AGPC, Motorsport Australia, staff and volunteers to stage the opening round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship in Melbourne, however concluded that the safety of all members of the Formula 1 family and the wider community, as well as the fairness of the competition take priority.

    China GP put off

    Earlier, FIA announced that the Chinese GP is postponed. The Statement:

    In view of the continued spread of novel coronavirus and after ongoing discussions with the Federation of Automobile and Motorcycle Sports of People’s Republic of China (CAMF) and Shanghai Administration of Sports, the Chinese Grand Prix Promoter, Juss Sports Group, has officially requested that the 2020 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix be postponed.

    The FIA, together with the Formula 1, have jointly decided to accept this official request from the promoter and postpone the 2020 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 19 April.

    As a result of continued health concerns and with the World Health Organisation declaring the coronavirus as a global health emergency, the FIA and Formula 1 have taken these measures in order to ensure the health and safety of the travelling staff, championship participants and fans, which remains of primary concern.