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Tsunoda beats Albon! It’s now a Racing Bulls in fifth.
Albon beats the Ferraris! The Williams driver stuns with fifth on the grid.
Russell goes temporarily third, but Verstappen takes it off him.
Piastri keeps it tidy and goes top by a huge margin! A 1’15.180. But Norris is along seconds later to disappoint the locals, a 1’15.096 puts him on top.
Joseph: “Lando, why don’t we go first, do our own thing?” Norris: “Nope.”
“The guy in front of me kept going off everywhere,” Verstappen reports. It was Hamilton, who’s only seventh, 0.656s off the Red Bull driver.
Leclerc briefly goes quickest, Russell beats that and then Verstappen produces a 1’15.671 to take provisional pole position by two-hundredths of a second.
It’s all going wrong for McLaren – Norris produces a 1’15.921 for exceeding track limits at turn four!
Q3 is go. Piastri was a little bit wide in the penultimate corner and sets a 1’16.147.
The stewards rule no investigation needed.
The stewards have noted Russell for potentially impeding Leclerc between turns three and four.
Aston Martin confirm Alonso’s run was compromised by floor damage.
Alonso goes 12th so both Aston Martins are out. Out in Q2: Hadjar, Alonso, Stroll, Doohan and Bortoleto.
Sainz goes seventh, Albon ninth, Gasly gown to 10th and Alonso is improving.
Hamilton spins at the exit of turn 11, that’s caused yellow flags which compromised a few drivers’ laps.
Bortoleto gets seriously ragged at the exit of turn four. He won’t get into Q3 now but at least he’s not in the wall.
There’s a tight queue to get out at the end of the session. Verstappen has made it out just ahead of Norris.
Drop zone: Hadjar, Stroll, Bortoleto, Alonso (who had a bumpy run on the kerb at turn 11 earlier) and Doohan. No time from the latter pair yet.
Five minutes to go. Leclerc improves by just 0.011s and stays fifth. Hamilton moves up to sixth behind him, 0.451s off the pace.
Piastri takes the top time off Verstappen by two-tenths of a second. Norris can’t quite match that, he’s 0.088s behind in second place.
A big improvement straight away from Verstappen. A 1’15.688 puts him on top and it was a slightly scruffy lap too. Leclerc goes second, 0.15s behind.
Q2 has begun and Verstappen heads out straight away.
Mercedes confirm the bib on Antonelli’s Mercedes was damaged which compromised his final laps.
Q1 is over and the following drivers are eliminated: Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman.
Great effort by Bortoleto! A 1’16.516 gest him into Q2 at the expense of Antonelli. He out-qualifies team mate Hulkenberg too.
Hamilton goes sixth with his last effort, Antonelli looking precarious in 15th.
Albon goes seventh in the Williams, Stroll only gets to 13th which could be risky.
Mercedes have worked on Antonelli’s car, he goes 10th for now. Hadjar jumps to ninth and has a good chance of getting through.
It’s all gone wrong for Lawson, he slides off at turn 13 and his hopes of reaching Q2 are over.
Drop zone: Gasly, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Ocon and Bearman, the latter not having set a time yet.
A lot of sparks from the back of Antonelli’s car as he drives back in, something definitely awry with his W16.
Hamilton: “Where am I down?” Adami: “Turn one mainly.”
Fernando Alonso has produced the best time we’ve seen from Aston Martin so far, 0.376s off Norris for fifth place. He complains about gravel at turn 12.
Leclerc goes third 0.026s off Norris – it is incredibly close at the sharp end.
A strong effort by Russell who pops up to fourth on his mediums, 0.292s off Norris.
Verstappen is on a hot lap but he narrowly fails to beat Norris, just 0.015s behind.
Leclerc puts up a 1’16.453 but Norris goes substantially faster, a 1’16.003 putting him on top, less than a tenth of a second slower than the fastest time of the weekend, set by his team mate. Speaking of whom, Piastri slots into second, 0.154s off Norris.
Verstappen joins the track, leaving just the Racing Bulls drivers the only ones who haven’t left the pits yet.
Russell is on mediums, five drivers are quicker than him on the softs including Jack Doohan.
More problems for Bearman? He heads back to the pits without setting a time. Ocon sets the first time with a 1’17.517.
The cars head out quite slowly. Alexander Albon, the 10th driver to head out, is only reaching the pit exit as Ocon flashes past to start his first lap. Lance Stroll, the 11th driver to leave the pits, joins the track behind the first driver to head out.
The pit exit light goes green and the Haas drivers head out first, Esteban Ocon followed by Bearman, who badly needs a clean session.
There is an added complication for the teams to factor in as they set their cars up for qualifying. Weather forecasts indicate a very strong chance of rain tomorrow, which will likely encourage them to run higher wing angles. However there are four DRS zones at Melbourne, and if they take that too far, they will be too slow on the straights and potentially vulnerable if the track dries out at some stage in the grand prix.
Liam Lawson faces a tough challenge in his first race for Red Bull, too. He was well off Verstappen’s pace yesterday and did effectively no running in first practice due to a power unit problem on his car. That will also have compromised Red Bull’s attempts to compare two different front wings: Lawson has been running the original specification, Verstappen an updated version.
However first of all we need to see who will get beyond Q1. Haas face an uphill struggle, especially Oliver Bearman who’s had one crash and one spin in two days, covering just a dozen laps. Sauber also haven’t been quick, though Nico Hulkenberg pulled out a quick time in second practice yesterday, so he could spring a surprise.
Mercedes could have a say in this as well. George Russell was right up there in final practice, less than four-hundredths of a second off Piastri, and he had pole position for two of the last three grands prix last season.
Ferrari looked like strong candidates yesterday when Charles Leclerc set the fastest time. He was less happy with his car in final practice, however, and it remains to be seen whether Ferrari will get it back in the shape he wants. Lewis Hamilton has been behind his new team mate so far this weekend, but has gradually edged closer, and the gap between them was less than two-tenths of a second in final practice.
McLaren took pole for the last grand prix in Abu Dhabi and appear to have picked up where they left off. Oscar Piastri was fastest in practice this morning and is vying to become the first Australian ever to start their home race from pole position. His team mate Lando Norris is not to be discounted, of course. He may only have been 10th fastest in final practice, but conspicuously backed out of what looked like being quick laps.
However Red Bull haven’t had pole position for a grand prix since June last year – the Austrian Grand Prix. Verstappen would have had pole in Qatar, of course, but for that hotly debated one-place grid penalty.
So who’s the favourite for the first pole position of 2025? Max Verstappen has set pole at this race for the last two years in a row and was within a tenth of a second of the fastest time in final practice.
Qualifying for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix is coming up next.