Norris quickest in first practice ahead of Sainz as 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship gets underway in Melbourne
Lando Norris set the pace in the first practice for the F1’s 2025 season-opening Australian Grand Prix with McLaren driver outpacing Williams’ Carlos Sainz by 0.149s, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third ahead of the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen opened his title defence with fifth place.
With just three days of testing in Bahrain preceding this weekend’s opening race, the session was busy from the start with the full field taking to the Albert Park circuit in the opening 10 minutes. There was a nervous moment early on for new Red Bull Racing recruit Liam Lawson when the New Zealander brushed the wall at Turn 9, but the former RB driver was able to continue.
The red flags did eventually appear, however. With a number of offs leading to gravel being strewn across the track, the session was briefly halted to allow a clean-up operation to take place.
When the session resumed, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had held P1 with a lap of 1:17.880 was dislodged by Verstappen who lowered the benchmark to 1:17.696. His stay at the top was short, however, as new Williams recruit Sainz popped up with a new P1 time of 1:17.401.
The second red flag of the session then appeared when Bearman went into the gravel exiting the Turn 9/10 chicane and then, when he tried to rejoin, he was pitched into barriers doing significant damage to the rear of his car.
When the session got going once again, Norris jumped to top spot with a lap of 1:17.252s, a tenth-and-a-half up on Sainz, as Leclerc, local hero Piastri and Verstappen rounded out the top five positions.
Alex Albon continued Williams’ positive start with sixth position, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell – who also had a scare late on when he spun at Turn 4 late on – and Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, who were split by the Racing Bulls car of rookie Isack Hadjar.
The French driver’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was 11th, while Lewis Hamilton’s first session as a Ferrari driver ended with the seven-time champion in 12th place and complaining that he was “struggling to turn the car”.
Alpine rookie and home hope Jack Doohan was 13th ahead of Mercedes new boy Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto and Lawson.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg finished in 17th and 18th respectively, while Haas’ Esteban Ocon was 19th ahead of team-mate Bearman.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:17.252 21 245.958
2 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:17.401 0.149 25 245.485
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:17.461 0.209 21 245.295
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:17.670 0.418 20 244.634
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.696 0.444 21 244.553
6 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:17.713 0.461 18 244.499
7 George Russell Mercedes 1:17.716 0.464 26 244.490
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.736 0.484 23 244.427
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:17.847 0.595 25 244.078
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.057 0.805 20 243.422
11 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:18.061 0.809 23 243.409
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:18.071 0.819 20 243.378
13 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:18.232 0.980 20 242.877
14 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:18.390 1.138 25 242.388
15 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:18.438 1.186 22 242.239
16 Liam Lawson Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:18.455 1.203 22 242.187
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:18.505 1.253 23 242.032
18 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:18.586 1.334 18 241.783
19 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:19.139 1.887 16 240.094
20 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:19.312 2.060 12 239.570
Leclerc quickest in FP2 in Melbourne ahead of Piastri and Norris
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the second practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, beating McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda was fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari, as defending champion Max Verstappen finished seventh.
Leclerc was at the top of the times early in the session, with his time of 1:16.794 on Medium tyres setting the initial benchmark, a little under half a second clear of team-mate Hamilton.
The field then began to make the move to Soft tyres for qualifying simulations and Leclerc was demoted by the quick looking Racing Bull car of Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver set a time of 1:16.784 to claim top spot.
Verstappen then went out on the red-banded tyres but struggling with his RB21 the Dutchman abandoned the lap. Norris then moved ahead with a lap of 1:16.580, as Piastri’s first flier on Softs put him third.
Leclerc was out on the red rubber, however, and with a little under 30 minutes remaining, the Monegasque racer logged a time of 1:16.439 to take P1, which he would go on to hold for the remainder of the session.
Piastri made gains with a second run to take P2 with a lap of 1:16.563 that left him 0.124 behind Leclerc and 0.017s ahead of McLaren team-mate Norris. Tsunoda’s best time of 1:16.784 kept ahead of Hamilton who finished a little over four tenths of a second off his team-mate.
Verstappen also improved late on, but he couldn’t go quicker than stablemate Isack Hadjar. The French/Algerian rookie delivered a good lap of 1:17.019 to end the session 0.580 off Leclerc and a little over two tenths off team-mate Tsunoda.
Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth for Sauber, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and lead Mercedes driver George Russell.
Elsewhere, Oliver Bearman missed the entire session as his Haas crew repaired his car following a heavy crash in the opening session.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.439 32 248.574
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.563 0.124 30 248.172
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.580 0.141 30 248.117
4 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:16.784 0.345 29 247.457
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:16.859 0.420 31 247.216
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:17.019 0.580 30 246.702
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.063 0.624 22 246.561
8 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.161 0.722 24 246.248
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.279 0.840 28 245.872
10 George Russell Mercedes 1:17.282 0.843 30 245.863
11 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:17.302 0.863 30 245.799
12 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:17.302 0.863 28 245.799
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.330 0.891 27 245.710
14 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:17.394 0.955 30 245.507
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:17.493 1.054 30 245.193
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:17.634 1.195 31 244.748
17 Liam Lawson Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:17.640 1.201 30 244.729
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:17.847 1.408 29 244.078
19 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:18.034 1.595 31 243.493
