F1 2025 Australia GP LIVE: Race start time and schedule as rain falls for Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari debut – UK Times

On one hand, it was pure elation. A member of the McLaren family for eight years, this meant as much to Norris as anyone else. He described it as a “perfect” end to the season, beating Ferrari to the championship by 14 points. And he’d need no invitation; he was going to get “hammered” later that night over the border in Bahrain.

Yet in the same breath, even amid joyous papaya-clad celebrations on the pit-wall, the boy from Bristol could not help but sample that bittersweet taste. “It’s been a special year,” he said over team radio, before adding: “And next year is going to be my year, too.”

Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the first race of the 2025 season!

Lando Norris starts on pole position today for McLaren with Oscar Piastri – the hometown hero – alongside him on the front row!

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is down in eighth as he makes his debut for Ferrari, with Max Verstappen in third and George Russell in fourth!

It is raining heavily at Albert Park today, which may mean we’re in for a long and entertaining first day of the new campaign!

Plenty was on the line with two minutes left of qualifying for the first race of the 2025 F1 season. Lando Norris, having gone beyond the limit in his first lap, was set to start 10th. There was a second chance – but there would not be a third.

Yet when it mattered most, the man tagged as the favourite for the 2025 F1 world championship pipped his Aussie teammate Oscar Piastri to pole for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, to the dismay of thousands in the grandstands.

Piastri had looked to have taken pole from defending champion Max Verstappen, who admitted afterwards he was satisfied with third place in an under-par Red Bull car. However, Norris, stretching his McLaren to the limit on this tricky 14-turn street circuit, made it count. Not by much, though, with just 0.084 seconds in it.

As for Lewis Hamilton, after all the fandom and hype, it was ultimately an underwhelming first qualifying showing for Ferrari. The 40-year-old, who dreams of a record-breaking eighth title with the sport’s most fabled marque, will start tomorrow’s race eighth on the grid. His teammate Charles Leclerc is alongside him in seventh.

“It’s a bit disappointing, of course, to not be able to get a lap on the board, but it’s been a messy weekend so far,” Bearman acknowledged afterwards.

“I haven’t run all weekend. That’s made it tough for the guys to actually understand [what’s happening], as we’ve been running with one car all weekend.

“I can only apologise to the team for that.”

In hot conditions on Saturday afternoon in Melbourne, McLaren’s tag as the favourites bore fruit as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row, with the Brit pipping his Aussie teammate.

Yet for Ferrari, it was an underwhelming session, with Charles Leclerc seventh and Hamilton eighth on the leaderboard. Both will start behind Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda (fifth) and Alex Albon (Williams) tomorrow.

For all his stardust, Lewis Hamilton is not always the easiest interviewee.

When he’s on-form, Formula One’s biggest star is thoughtful and genuine, with the ears of everyone in the room fixed on his words. At times, however, particularly in the last three topsy-turvy years at Mercedes, he can be reticent to speak at all.

“Big congrats to the team, amazing job to continue, to start with a 1-2 but it’s just quali – it will be a tricky race but it was the perfect race to start.

“The car is extremely quick, when you put it together it’s unbelievable, little fight between me and Oscar and it was a tough one. You need to take a lot of risk but also get the lap clean, difficult mindset in the final lap but managed to pull it off.

“I’m never going to get ahead of myself, I’m not that kind of guy. We know how quick Max and Red Bull are in the rain, a lot of opportunities for everyone. We’ll see tomorrow.”

Max Verstappen does not have “a chance” of a fifth straight F1 Drivers’ Championship win in 2025, according to former driver Ralf Schumacher.

Schumacher believes Verstappen delivered a “rescue” effort in a struggling Red Bull car last year but he won’t be able to do the same again.

McLaren’s Lando Norris is the favourite to win the title this season and Schumacher is adamant Verstappen will be powerless to stop the Brit and others at the front of the grid.

Speaking on the Sky Germany podcast, Schumacher said: “Last year it was clear. Red Bull was very strong at the start of the season, but then they couldn’t handle the car. Verstappen was the rescue.

“However, he will have to get used to everything coming to an end. I don’t think he has a chance.”