McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri recovered from a messy start to Q3 to qualify 1-2 for Formula 1’s 2025 Australian Grand Prix, as Ferrari’s pole challenge fell away spectacularly.

Having set the pace in Q1 and Q2 in Melbourne, albeit by a close margin, McLaren suddenly looked vulnerable when Norris and Piastri both ran wide on their first laps in Q3.

That left Piastri fourth and Norris down in 10th after his lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 4.

But even though the track looked to be getting slower through the second half of qualifying, both McLarens did their quickest laps of the weekend when it counted at the end to lock out the front row.

World champion Max Verstappen briefly held provisional pole after the McLarens messed up the first part of Q3.

He ended up a chunky four tenths off pole in the end, but will probably be relatively happy with Red Bull’s turnaround in form after a very difficult Friday.

George Russell was fourth quickest for Mercedes, having lapped inside the top four throughout each stage of qualifying. He was almost a match for Verstappen on both runs in Q3.

The Ferraris had a nightmare end to qualifying, failing to make the top six as the Racing Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda and the Williams of Alex Albon found laptime at the end of Q3 where Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton couldn’t.

Leclerc was third fastest after the first runs but aborted his final lap, while Hamilton improved from a 1m16.3s to a 1m15.9s but still couldn’t avoid being beaten by two midfield cars. Hamilton lapped slower in Q3 than he managed in Q2.

Pierre Gasly completed a turnaround in form for Alpine by qualifying ninth, ahead of the second Williams of Carlos Sainz, who will be disappointed after lapping seventh quickest in Q2 then failing to improve on that 1m15.931s lap in Q3.

First signs of Ferrari struggle in Q2

Signs the circuit was starting to drop off appeared during Q2, as the clouds gathered and the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton struggled to improve on their second sets of soft tyres.

Leclerc reported his front left was “completely gone” as he anxiously queued in the pits towards the end of the session, before Hamilton then spun at Turn 11 on his final flier.

Thankfully for Ferrari, others also hit a plateau in terms of finding time in the latter part of that segment and so Leclerc and Hamilton remained comfortably inside the top six at that point.

Of the five drivers who fell in this segment, Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar came closest to breaking into the top 10, but his final lap was 0.063s adrift of Gasly’s Alpine.

Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin looked top-10 fast in Q1, but he went almost two tenths slower in Q2, after going off in his first run, so ended up only 12th.

Team-mate Lance Stroll was also slower in Q2 than he was in Q1 and finished up 13th, ahead of Alpine rookie Jack Doohan (whose first lap in Q2 was scrubbed for track limits at Turn 12) and Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, whose final lap was spoiled by a near-crash at Turn 4.

Big Q1 exits

A last-gasp lap from Bortoleto’s Sauber knocked fellow rookie Kimi Antonelli out of qualifying at the first stage.

Like Mercedes team-mate Russell, Antonelli began Q1 on medium tyres but binned them off for softs before doing a second push lap.

He managed to get as high as 14th at one point, but with the front of his Mercedes’ floor dragging on the circuit, perhaps owing to an off at Turn 6, Mercedes said Antonelli was losing three tenths per straight to Russell, so Antonelli always looked vulnerable in such a tight battle.

Antonelli missed the Q1 cut by just nine thousandths of a second – a major disappointment after being top-five fast in final practice.

Red Bull newcomer Liam Lawson also fell in Q1, never looking comfortable in his car and going off the track several times.

Lawson missed final practice thanks to a technical problem with his Red Bull, but took the blame for not cleanly finishing a late lap that should have been enough to get him through to Q2.

He went too deep into Turn 10, ran wide, and then went off at Turn 13.

Lawson ended up 18th, half a second adrift of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg.

“Missing FP3 doesn’t help,” Lawson said. “But I shouldn’t be going off – that doesn’t help anybody.”

A nightmare weekend for Haas continued, with Esteban Ocon only 19th fastest in Q1, half a tenth drift of Lawson, while rookie team-mate Ollie Bearman, who suffered two crashes in practice, failed to complete a flying lap thanks to a gearbox problem.

PosNameCarQ1Q2Q31Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1m15.912s1m15.415s1m15.096s2Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1m16.062s1m15.468s1m15.180s3Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda RBPT1m16.018s1m15.565s1m15.481s4George RussellMercedes1m15.971s1m15.798s1m15.546s5Yuki TsunodaRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1m16.225s1m16.009s1m15.670s6Alex AlbonWilliams-Mercedes1m16.245s1m16.017s1m15.737s7Charles LeclercFerrari1m16.029s1m15.827s1m15.755s8Lewis HamiltonFerrari1m16.213s1m15.919s1m15.973s9Pierre GaslyAlpine-Renault1m16.328s1m16.112s1m15.980s10Carlos SainzWilliams-Mercedes1m16.360s1m15.931s1m16.062s11Isack HadjarRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1m16.354s1m16.175s12Fernando AlonsoAston Martin-Mercedes1m16.288s1m16.453s13Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1m16.369s1m16.483s14Jack DoohanAlpine-Renault1m16.315s1m16.863s15Gabriel BortoletoSauber-Ferrari1m16.516s1m17.520s16Andrea Kimi AntonelliMercedes1m16.525s17Nico HülkenbergSauber-Ferrari1m16.579s18Liam LawsonRed Bull-Honda RBPT1m17.094s19Esteban OconHaas-Ferrari1m17.147s20Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari