Formula 1 News: Norris wins tight pole battle for Australian GP pole

Lando Norris in the superior #4 McLaren-Mercedes turned a lap of 1m15.096s to win the pole position for the 2025 Australian GP around the Albert Park Circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

So superior is the McLaren, no driver could get within 4/10ths of a second of the two Woking machines and they were eight tenths faster than last year’s pole time.

“I mean, it is the perfect way to start the year,” said a happy Norris. “A big congrats to the team, everyone has done an amazing job to start with a 1-2. But it is just quali right, let’s see tomorrow.

“The car is extremely quick and when you put it together it is unbelievable, but it is hard to put it together. I’m never going to get ahead of myself, I’m confident the car is in a good place but we have never run it in the wet…”

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Hometown hero Oscar Piastri was 2nd fastest in the #81 McLaren, 0.084s behind Norris.

“Pretty happy, great to start the year on the front row,” said Piastri. “Pretty happy with how qualifying went but just not quite enough in Q3, but it is a long season so a good start.

“Maybe left a little bit on the table, but I’m just happy to be on the front row and have a good start.”

Max Verstappen was third fastest in the #1 Red Bull, a massive 0.385s behind Norris. Tomorrow should be wet, which could play into Verstappen’s hands.

“It was good, yesterday was quite tough so for us to be P3 today, I’d take that,” said Verstappen. “Quali laps are exciting, good grip around here and some fast corners.

“Dry or wet, in the wet crazy things can happen and around here it could be quite slippery but it is the same for everyone so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

George Russell was 4th for Mercedes, 0.450s behind Norris, while Yuki Tsunoda was sensational in the #22 Racing Bull, 0.574s behind Norris.

The most disappointed has to be Ferrari with Charles Leclerc down in 7th behind Alex Albon and Lewis Hamilton in 8th.

McLaren will grab the headlines, but Verstappen and Red Bull turning their weekend around to grab third is also a big story.

Russell was right in the mix too for Mercedes, with Ferrari fading badly – Leclerc wound up seventh, Hamilton eighth with two tenths between those team mates.

And how about Tsunoda in a Racing Bull in P5? Or Albon’s Williams in P6?

The gaps were tight as predicted – 0.084s between the McLarens, Russell 0.065s off Verstappen, and Albon just 0.067s back from Tsunoda, while Leclerc was a further 0.018s back.

2025 Australian GP Qualifying Results