Formula 1 News: Norris tops opening practice for Australian GP

Lando Norris turned the fastest lap in his superior McLaren to top Practice 1 for the Australian Grand Prix with a time of 1m17.252s around the Albert Park circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni

With Williams’ Carlos Sainz Jr. out in front, in the dying stages of the hour-long run at Melbourne’s Albert Park, Norris posted a lap of 1:17.252s on Pirelli’s soft tires, finishing 0.149s clear of Sainz, the Spanish driver in his maiden race weekend outing for his new team.

Sainz was 0.060s faster than his former Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in third, with home hero Oscar Piastri four-tenths of a second adrift of Norris in fourth, with the Australian narrowly ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen in his Red Bull to round out the top-5, 0.444s behind Norris.

On his practice debut with Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton was a lowly 12th, at one stage complaining he could not get the car to turn as he would like, finishing 0.819s behind Norris.

Alex Albon was 6th in the 2nd Williams, 0.461s behind Norris.

George Russell was seventh fastest in the Mercedes-AMG, but finished the session  dropping a tire onto wet grass and spinning at Turn 4.

Best of the rookie drivers was Isack Hadjar, the Frenchman looking very good in the Racing Bull, which finished ahead of Lance Stroll and his teammate, the experienced Yuki Tsunoda.

Two Red Flags

The first red flag of the new season appeared courtesy of Australian Jack Doohan. The Alpine driver skirted the edge of the fast Turn 6, spewing gravel across the track.

It forced race control to halt proceedings for seven minutes whilst a sweeper cleared the asphalt. The skirmish, though, also resulted in Doohan sustaining damage to the left-hand edge of his floor.

Coming out of the high-speed Turn 10 right-hander Oliver Bearman lost control of his Haas and he smacked the wall hard.

2025 Australian GP Practice 1 Results