F1 2025 Australia GP LIVE: Qualifying results as Lando Norris snatches pole and Lewis Hamilton falters – UK Times

“We expected the start of quali to be tough, to be honest,” Lawson said.

“The first laps, we expected to be off, and then we were just planning on building through the session, but obviously going off on that second lap sort of put everything out of order a bit.

“Then the last lap was good, honestly, just until the last sector where I just had a big drop.

“Missing P3 obviously doesn’t help any of this, but I shouldn’t be going off in quali so…”

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.

“I was expecting a fight from Ferrari,” he said. “Max has said he is surprised to be up here [top-three].

“But everyone is quick to judge, it’s difficult out there to put a lap together. I did expect Ferrari to be a bit quicker.”

“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.

“I generally feel good. I had a really good time out there today. Everything has been a first this weekend, first practice sessions and qualifying, and it’s been a lot of work to adapt to this car, there’s so much different here to what I’ve experienced in the past.

“I didn’t know we’d be nine-tenths off today, so a lot of dissect.”

On being two-tenths off Leclerc: “Given Charles has been in this team for seven years, he knows this car in and out, I’m still learning those tools. To be that close in my first qualifying session, I’ll definitely take it.

“We’ll get our heads down, try and find out why we’re not on pace with the frontrunners. Tomorrow will be a challenge, I’ve never driven this car in the rain, I don’t even know the rain setting so I’ve got to go and study that tonight and it will be a learning experience again tomorrow.”