Rhonan Colquhoun 12:45pm 15th March 2025
REIGNING Constructor's Champions McLaren locked-out the front-row ahead of the first race of 2025 with Lando Norris taking Pole Position ahead of home favourite Oscar Piastri.
Both McLaren drivers had their work cut-out after their first runs in Q3 with Norris' time being deleted after running over the white line at Turn 4 while Piastri ran deep at the end of his lap into Turn 13. However, both drivers showed great composure and only needed the one lap each to dislodge Red Bull's Max Verstappen from provisional pole to lock-out the front-row.
LOCK-OUT: Piastri (left) secured his seventh front-row start of his career while Norris (right) claimed his 10th pole position
The Reigning Driver's Champion would fall to third - nearly four-tenths of a second behind Norris' pole time - but was satisfied with the progress his Red Bull team had made over the weekend to get his RB21 to his liking.
George Russell put his Mercedes into fourth ahead of an impressive showing by Racing Bulls Yuki Tsunoda who secured fifth place.
Alexander Albon managed to out-qualify both Ferrari's as the Williams driver claimed sixth ahead of Charles Leclerc and new Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Seven Time World Champion not entirely comfortable with his SF-25 after the Brit spun on the exit of Turn 11 after losing the rear of his car at the end of Q2.
Alpine's Pierre Gasly managed to claim ninth while Carlos Sainz Jr rounded out the top 10 in his Williams.
LONG TIME COMING: With Albon and Sainz qualifying inside the top 10, it meant that Williams had both cars into Q3 for the first time in 20 years at Albert Park
Isack Hadjar was the highest placed rookie with the Racing Bulls driver just missing out on the top 10 in 11th place - just ahead of the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.
Starting his home race from 14th on the grid, Alpine's Jack Doohan suffered the same fate as Norris as his first lap of Q2 was deleted for track limits at Turn 12. On his final lap, Doohan had to slow under the yellow flags brought out by Hamilton's spin and encountered a lot of traffic which wasn't ideal.
Kick Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto was a surprise entry in the top 15 after the F2 Champion managed to out-qualify more experienced team-mate Nico Hulkenberg and knock-out fellow rookies - Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull's Liam Lawson.
Oliver Bearman's nightmare weekend continued with the Brit only managing a lap in the Third Practice session before the Haas driver beached his car after a spin. On his out-lap in Q1, Bearman reported a loss of power and had to sit-out the reminder of the session with a gearbox issue.
Bearman's team-mate - Esteban Ocon - was the slowest of the 19 drivers as his team-mate was unable to set a lap time.
With rain expected for the entirety of the race tomorrow, teams will get an early indication of how their car performs in the wet conditions earlier in the season than expected.
Comments