Key events
Lap 26/57: Verstappen is now 14 seconds off the leading Norris – the McLaren’s are one-two and then it’s daylight – figurative daylight, it’s still quite grey and wet – behind them. Those papaya cars are absolute lightning, nothing has been able to go with them this weekend.
Lap 25/57: Leclerc gets on the radio asking if there’s a leakage, because his seat is full of water. “Must be the water,” pit lane responds. “Let’s add that to the words of wisdom.” says the driver.
Lap 24/57: As Albon and Hamilton battle for seventh, Tsunodo is taking advantage to stretch his buffer on them in sixth.
Hamilton tries to force his way up but Albon shuts the door on it.
Lap 23/57: Antonelli has now moved past Stroll and is up into 11th place.
Norris leads from Piastri and Verstappen. Russell in fourth, Leclerc follows, as does Albon, Hamilton, Gasly, and Alonso.
Lap 22/57: With Verstappen back in third, Leclerc is now the biggest riser in the race, up to fifth from his start of seventh. Alonso and Stroll have also gained two spaces down in 10th and 11th. Antonelli is down in 12th but that’s a four place improvement and he’s lapping at the same pace as fourth-placed Russell.
Lap 21/57: McLaren CEO Zak Brown is on the broadcast and mentions that he’s had four different weather forecasts given to him in the last 20 minutes. Welcome to Melbourne, buddy.
Lap 20/57: Norris holds his lead from Piastri, with the former’s garage getting on the blower saying that the plan is to stay out on the track as long as more rain holds off.
Both Hamilton and Albon have escaped the wrath of the stewards.
Lap 19/57: Verstappen is on the radio saying that if there’s more rain coming he’ll need to change his tyres – his garage telling him they’ll lose places with a stop and that conditions are clearing.
Lap 18/57: Verstappen is on the radio saying his tyres are dead. As opposed to pining for the fjords. A big decision coming up for the Red Bull garage as the McLarens get out in front.
Albon and Hamilton have been noted for potential safety car infractions.
Lap 17/57: Verstappen goes too deep as he underbreaks, finds the kerb as he locks up, and that allows Piastri to take advantage of the rare mistake and move into second! McLaren are now one-two, Norris leads Piastri, with Verstappen following in third.
Lap 16/57: Drizzle has begun to fall at Albert Park. Norris leads from Verstappen and Piastri.
Antonelli spins out and is able to recover but that sees his work to overtake Hulkenberg undone.
Lap 15/57: Norris continues to hold his lead over Verstappen but the champion is benefitting from the DRS being turned on to stay with him. Piastri is the fastest man on the track, keeping the pressure on Verstappen.
After starting in 16th, Antonelli has darted past Hulkenberg and is up into 12th.
Lap 14/57: Norris retains the lead in the Australian grand prix, with Verstappen second and Piastri third. Russell is more than six seconds back of the Australian in fourth, followed by Leclerc and Tsunoda. Albon is seventh, Hamilton sits at eight, Gasly is ninth and Alonso rounds out the top ten.
Some warnings of light drizzle being inbound delivered to drivers.
Lap 13/57: Hamilton is on the radio, saying that his Ferrari is snappy and that he’s having trouble with driveability. The Brit is sitting in eighth place at the end of the lap, while his teammate Leclerc is fifth, dropping further back of fourth-placed Russell.
Lap 12/57: Piastri is right up the back of Verstappen, with the activation of the DRS set to give the local lad a further boost in his effort to grab second.
Antonelli is all over the back of Hulkenberg further back in the race for 12th.
Lap 11/57: A dry line is now clearly discernible on the racing line, with drivers diving in and out to get some water on their tyres to try and cool their intermediates down.
Conditions have also dried enough for DRS to be enabled.
Lap 10/57: Norris has now extended his lead over Verstappen to over a second and looks to be pulling away further. That McLaren is quick.
Alonso and Tsunodo are being investigated for leaving too great a gap between themselves and the car in front of them while the safety car was on the track.
Lap 9/57: Norris retains his lead from Verstappen and Piastri but the Dutchman has closed the gap from second to first slightly.
Tsunoda is also under investigation by stewards for a bit of mischief during the safety car.
Lap 8/57: The first full lap of the Australian Grand Prix under race conditions is completed and after coming under some initial pressure from Verstappen, he’s starting gradually gave himself some breathing room as the lap continued.
Alonso may have done something a bit naughty under safety car conditions, stewards have launched an investigation.
Lap 7/57: The safety car has diverted back into the pit lane and racing has resumed. Norris leads from Verstappen as we prepare for a rolling start, with Piastri, Russell, and Leclerc making up the rest of the top five. Tsunoda follows, as does Albon, Hamilton, Gasly, and Alonso.
Lap 6/57: The safety car has remained out on the track as work continues to clear the debris from Doohan and Sainz’s crashes.
Lap 5/57: All the cars are being redirected through pit lane as work is done to clear Sainz’s car off the track just before the home straight, with Bearman and Lawson using the opportunity to put a new set of intermediates onto the car.
Messages are being passed onto the drivers that there is unlikely to be any rain for the next half an hour or so, meaning the track could start to dry out soon.
Sainz’s car has been cleared, opening the path for the race to be started.
Lap 4/57: Three cars are already out of the race and we haven’t even completed a full lap yet – Hadjar didn’t even get a chance to start the race after spinning out on the formation lap.
Ground crews are still working to get Sainz’s car off the track.
Lap 3/57: Verstappen got good traction off the line and was able to keep that moving as he moved ahead of Piastri. Leclerc, meanwhile, was able to leap up to fifth before the safety car came out.
Lap 2/57: Carlos Sainz has gone off at turn 14 under safety car conditions, spinning out and hitting the tail and side of his car into the wall. His race is done.
He was on the racing line at the time, with last year’s race winner in Melbourne getting on the radio saying he experienced a torque surge.
Lap 1/57: Verstappen comes out flying and while Norris is able to see of the challenge the world champion has overtaken the hometown hero Piastri. It’s a clean start, too, with every car on the grid making it around turn one.
But disaster for the Australian fans as Jack Doohan crashes into the wall just before turn six! Yellow flags immediately come out and a safety car enters the track. Another rookie comes a cropper in the opening race of the season.
Lights Out! The 2025 Formula One Season is underway
We are racing in Melbourne!
Everyone seems to have got through unscathed on this attempt. Lights out is moments away.
Our second attempt at a formation lap is underway, potentially with a bit less spray being thrown up than in the first attempt.
Stroll seems to have thought better about starting the race on wets, the broadcast noting he’s using the time afforded by the aborted starts to get a set of intermediates delivered to his car.
To add a bit more drama to it all, it sounds like we’re going to get some more drizzle here in Melbourne in just a few minutes – probably coinciding with the new race start time.
Race control is sending a signal that the start has been aborted as Hadjar’s car is removed from the track, with the youngster looking like he’s on the verge of tears.
Crews are coming streaming back out onto the track as the remaining 17 cars take position back on the home straight. We’ll have another formation lap in ten minutes.
Oh dear! The track has claimed a victim and we haven’t even started the race yet, Isack Hadjar has spun out and put the rear of his Racing Bulls car into the wall on turn two. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
The formation lap is underway, with it already apparent how low visibility is going to be.
Every driver on the grid has opted to start today’s race on intermediate tyres with the lone exception of Lance Stroll, who will set out with a set of full wets on his Aston Martin.
We’re five minutes away from lights out in Melbourne.
Isask Hadjar proved the fastest of the rookies in qualifying yesterday, just missing the cut-off for Q3 and starting his Racing Bulls car from 11th on the grid.
Teammate Yuki Tsunoda, though, was even quicker; the Japanese driver registering the fifth fastest time in the final qualifying session to ensure he will start on the third row of the grid – well ahead of Lawson, who got the nod to join Verstappen with Red Bull this season.
It wasn’t quite the nightmare session his fellow rookie Bearman had, but new Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli also struggled in qualifying yesterday.
The Italian broke a part of his floor after sliding onto one of the kerbs surrounding the Melbourne street circuit, hampering him enough to eliminate him in Q1 while his teammate Russell went on to qualify fourth.
Confirmation coming in that Liam Lawson is also set to start form pit lane after Red Bull was forced to change his rear wing.
After getting a brief taste of the track on wets, Norris is heading back into the pits to put a set of intermediates onto his car before the race gets underway.
Zak Brown, McLaren CEO, is on the broadcast and says he’s expecting a rolling safety car start.
With conditions wet and wild it’s going to be a first wet-weather race in Melbourne since 2010, when Jensen Button won from fourth. Another Brit in George Russell has qualified in fourth today, an omen?
Some interesting developments coming out of Albert Park as the cars get a first look at the sodden circuit – plenty of cars taking the opportunity to practice a standing start as they head out of the pits.
And there’s a bit of a surprise from Ferrari, as Hamilton is being sent out on intermediates, while Leclerc looks to have full wets on.
2025, of course, sees the launch of a new partnership. The sport’s most successful driver teaming with the sport’s most successful team.
Lewis Hamilton, driving a Ferrari. A man with seven world titles seeking to bring a first world champion to the Italian giants since 2007.
Are you bored of Max Verstappen’s dominance of F1? If so, I’m afraid you’ll get little sympathy from the Dutchman, who spoke to Giles Richards.
Indications from pre-season testing were that Williams were perhaps ahead of schedule in their attempts to rebuild for 2026 but even still, their pace so far this weekend has been one of the major talking points.
James Vowles’ team will start with two cars in the top ten today, Alex Albon qualifying in sixth – ahead of both Ferraris – while Carlos Sainz will get things going from tenth.
One of five rookies on the grid this season, Ollie Bearman’s first weekend in F1 couldn’t be going much worse so far.
The Brit put his Haas into the wall in FP1, missed FP2 as repairs were made, and subsequently spun off and beached his car in Fp3, meaning he had only 13 laps of practice before qualifying.
Gearbox problems then forced him back into the pits at the start of Q1, preventing him from setting a lap time and forcing him to the start today’s race from pit lane.
If Verstappen is to take out his fifth title in 2025, it may just prove to be his most hard-fought yet.
Pre-season testing showed that the Red Bull will be challenged by the cars of McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes this season, and that Christian Horner’s team are still trying to nail down their best approach.
This bore out in qualifying, as the McLaren’s of Norris and Piastri looked to have that extra edge of their rivals and duly qualified one-two.
After some in-depth work by Red Bull engineers, Verstappen found an extra level of pace after a sluggish Friday and to secure third place on the grid but teammate Liam Lawson had no such luck – qualifying all the way back in 18th.
Today marks the start of the 2025 F1 campaign and Max Verstappen, who qualified in third, once again enters as the hunted.
The Dutchman took out his fourth consecutive world title in 2024, arguably his most hardly fought since his first back in 2021. But there are 19 other drivers on the grid, eager to hunt him down and make their own piece of history. To get you up to speed, here’s Giles Richards’ team-by-team preview.
The Grid Down Under
1. Lando Norris – McLaren
2. Oscar Piastri – McLaren
3. Max Verstappen – Red Bull
4. George Russell – Mercedes
5. Yuki Tsunoda – Racing Bulls
6. Alexander Albon – Williams
7. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
8. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari
9. Pierre Gasly – Alpine
10. Carlos Sainz – Williams
11. Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls
12. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
13. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
14. Jack Doohan – Alpine
15. Gabriel Bortoleto – Sauber
16. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
17. Nico Hulkenberg – Sauber
18. Liam Lawson – Red Bull
19. Esteban Ocon – Haas
20. Oliver Bearman – Haas
Preamble
Howdy one and all, my name is Joey Lynch and it’s great to have your company for The Guardian’s live coverage of the first race of the 2025 Formula 1 season. And we’re coming to you from a grey, wet, and windy Melbourne.
The aphorism in motorsport, not just F1, is that rain is the great equaliser and if that bears true then today’s race might be staged on one of the most level playing fields we’ve seen for quite a while. In contrast to the scorching temperatures of yesterday, the temperatures are in the mid teens in the Australian sporting capital (low 60s in freedom units) and could drop even further in the afternoon. In addition, rain has already buffeted Melbourne across the morning and the forecast is projecting further, spotty showers over the course of the race.
Already today, race organisers, doing what they can to ensure the main event is put in the best position to go ahead, have been forced to cancel today’s V8 Supercars race after just two laps and the scheduled Formula 2 race before it could complete its formation lap.
What does that mean? In theory, it means the technological advantages enjoyed by the grids heavyweights – while still there – will be lessened by the conditions. That means that the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri atop the grid, who have possessed a clear edge in pace throughout this weekend, won’t glean the same kind of boon they otherwise might have in dry conditions.
For the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in seventh and eighth, conversely, whose cars haven’t shown the same kind of speed as their rivals thus far but are expected to show better pace once the race gets underway, the conditions could serve to give them a leg up in their attempts to move through the pack in front of them.
Lights Out: 9pm PST/4am GMT/3pm AEDT
