Lando Norris claimed the pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, the opening of the 2025 formula one season with a immense lap for McLaren in Melbourne.
In what was a huge tight fight he beat his colleague Oscar Piastri in the second with just eight hundred-hundred-hundredth of a second. As expected, McLaren is the class of the farm, which is comfortable faster than Max Versstappen’s Red Bull in the third and George Russell’s Mercedes in the fourth.
Lewis Hamilton in his first qualified session for Ferrari was in the eighth place, including the suffering of an unidentified Q2 and his colleague Charles Leclerc was in the seventh, a frustration ending for Scuderia.
However, Williams is very pleased with what creates a giant jumping forward for the fighting team, with Alex Albon who claimed Sixth and Carlos Sainz on Tenth.
The pole is the perfect start to the season for Norris and McLaren, showing that the whole Rein has been given, the MCL39 is a truly fast car and very a contender title without doubt. The car looks good on the test but when letting the melbourne be completely removing the strap in a tight fight that it is definitely the edge.
Photo: tracey nearmy/ap
It crucially shows that McLaren will be fast from this year, an integral part of any tilt in the title for Norris. Last time he was always trying to break the points from the verstappen after they accelerated their vehicle but only by the sixth spin in Miami.
At this time Norris was in the position to potentially put the hammer on the Red Bull and establish his own advantage from off. In this form it should be Norris’s best shooting in a title since he made his F1 debut in 2019.
This was his first post in Australia and McLaren was first since 2012 when Hamilton took the top spot, which was the last time the team won the season-opening race, with the Jenson button taking the flag.
Photo: Mark Peterson/Reuters
Norris repeatedly showed his ability to mix it up competitively in front of the grid but admitted last year that he had mistaken his fight against Vrstappen and discussed them. He also repeatedly lowered McLaren’s speed but if it was important to his team he had more speed in the hand even when they showed the test.
McLaren is considered a favorites who enter Australia and certainly their single lap. Race speed and tire wear can still prove a difference -Irs will come Sunday but with the opening of the new era salvo, they are completely above.
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At the first hot run on the Q3 Norris opened the time quickly, which was removed for excessive track limits at the turn four, while Piastri looked to challenge him but for a small lapse expanding at the very end of his lap. However, Vrstappen immediately denied taking the top area with a time of 1minute 15.671seconds clearly with Russell who moved to the second with a fine lap of only two hundred.
There is a little choice from them as the final running begins. Piastri first came out and was placed in a lap blindness to claim a temporary pole for his colleague Norris to pour back at a rate of knots to claim the pole with a very good lap of eight hundred a second with 1min 15.096s. Verstappen and three-ten-ten returned, while Ferrari did not join the leaders on what could cause a little concern, seven-ten in the arrears of Norris.
Yuki Tsunana is a very good fifth for RB and Pierre Gasly at Nine for the Alpine. Rookie Isack Hadjar is 11th For RB, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stoll with 12th and 13th For Aston Martin, Australia’s rookie Jack Doohan is at 14th For the Alpine, while Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto will be able to claim the 15th for Sauber in his debut qualified session.
New Red Bull driver Liam Lawson, insists on his first release for the team, twice overcooking it at Albert Park and not fulfilling outside Q1 he ended up 18th.
British rookie Ollie Bearman, who collapsed in the first and third skill sessions and did not participate in the second session, had a gearbox issue and did not set time to Q1 and start from the back of the grid for Haas.
Kimi Antonelli is 16th For Mercedes, Nico Hülkenberg 17th For Sauber, and Stephen Ocon on 19th For Haas.
