Lando Norris proves he can live up to the hype as he breaks Aussie fan’s hearts
McLaren’s Lando Norris has proved he can live up to the hype after breaking the hearts of Aussie fans and stealing pole position from Aussie teammate Oscar Piastri. Now all eyes are on the McLaren strategists.
Lando Norris backed up the pre-season hype as the man to beat in this year’s Formula 1 world championship to put himself in pole position for Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix in a front-row lockout for McLaren.
In a papaya parade in qualifying, Norris edged out his teammate and hometown hero Oscar Piastri to take his first pole at Albert Park and the 10th of his career.
The runner-up in last year’s championship behind Max Verstappen, Norris has been widely tipped by F1 pundits and bookmakers to be the favourite for the 2025 crown.
The pre-season and practice pacesetters, rivals in the paddock had expected McLaren to be the team to beat in the opening qualifying season of the season and they delivered to paint the front row papaya.
Piastri had been on target to take pole position for his home race, before Norris broke Aussie hearts with his late flying lap to bump his teammate to second, with the Brit having had his earlier fast lap deleted for exceeding track limits.
Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen will start on the second row of the grid in third position, while Mercedes’ George Russell qualified fourth.
Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda punched out a stunning late flying lap to push himself up to fifth on the grid.
A four-time Grand Prix winner last season, Norris is now aiming to start his 2025 campaign the same way he ended the season in Abu Dhabi last year - with victory.
“It’s the perfect way to start the year,” Norris said.
“First of all a big congrats to the team, everyone has done an amazing job to continue from where we were at the end of last season to start with a one-two.
“But it’s just quali, right? So let’s wait and see tomorrow. It’s going to be a tricky race, but today was a great start.
“The car is extremely quick and when you put it together it’s unbelievable, it’s just difficult to put it together. There was a lot of fight between me and Oscar today so that was a tough one and especially after my first lap where I went off and got track limits.
“You are in a tough position and for the second lap you have to take a lot of risk but you also need to get the lap clean and don’t make any mistakes. It’s a difficult mindset to go into the final lap but I managed to pull it off so I’m very happy.”
The Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton qualified seventh and eighth, while Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar was the top rookie, just missing the top 10 in 11th.
In stark contrast to the Saturday’s heat, rain is forecast for Sunday’s opening race of the season at Albert Park which could throw plenty of curve balls for the field.
“I’m never going to get ahead of myself, I’m not that kind of guy, I’m confident the car is in a great position but we’ve also never run in the wet,” Norris said.
“We know how quick Max and Red Bull is in the rain so let’s wait and see. There are many opportunities for everyone but also a lot of new things that we are going to be learning along the way.”
Verstappen, who has claimed pole the last two years in Melbourne, was happy to be starting in third position after the team’s struggles in practice on Friday.
“It was good, yesterday was quite tough so for us to be in P3 today I will take that,” Verstappen said.
“The qualifying laps were really exciting and I think a lot of good grip around here and some fast corners so that’s always very fun in an F1 car.
“For me dry or wet (race) is fine, in the weather there is always some crazy things that can happen and especially around here it can be quite slippery, I think but it’s the same for everyone and so we will see what happens tomorrow.”
Norris said this week he felt better equipped to fight for this year’s world championship after learning from his battles with Verstappen last year.
Sky Sports expert Martin Brundle said earlier Norris had to get harder with Verstappen on the track this year.
“I am a bit old school on this because I grew up learning the hard way with it with Senna and Michael Schumacher,” Brundle said.
“In the end you just need to leave your car there and show them you are prepared to have an accident with them because they psychologically become dominant.
“And subconsciously even when they’re in your mirrors you are kind of like ‘oh he is going to send one up the inside’ so if they want to beat Max in a championship crusade they will need to be able to fight him wheel to wheel and win.”
There was more drama for Haas rookie Oliver Bearman, who was unable to record a time in Q1 when he was immediately forced back to the garage with a gearbox issue and will start from the back of the grid on Sunday.
It followed his second practice mishap in as many days when he spun out earlier in the final hit out before qualifying and beached his car in the gravel.
The young Brit was one of three rookies out in Q1 with Red Bull’s Liam Lawson continuing his struggles to finish 18th, while Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was also eliminated.
F1 gods not on his side: Doohan cops unlucky quali at home debut
Australian rookie Jack Doohan must feel like the F1 world is conspiring against him.
The Alpine driver qualified 14th for his debut home Grand Prix, his flying lap in the second qualifying session ruined by a Lewis Hamilton spin that resulted in a queue of cars that blocked his path for a clear run at the line.
Having been the fastest rookie in Q1, and 10th overall, Doohan as well on track to prove all the doubters wrong who had predicted he was already facing the sack before the season had begun.
F1 expert Martin Brundle hit out at Alpine bosses for letting the Australian down by not moving to silence speculation over his future ahead of the season opener in Melbourne.
Doohan has been forced to constantly defend his spot on the grid after Argentine Franco Colapinto was signed as a reserve driver amid speculation Alpine adviser Flavio Briatore wants the Aussie replaced within five events.
As he endeavoured this week to brush aside the off-track talk that dominated the lead-in to the first race, Doohan finished as the second fastest rookie in qualifying behind Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar (11th) when he made an exit in Q2.
Brundle said Doohan has taken the excessive pressure in his stride, which is a trait shared by his famous father - five-times world MotoGP champion Mick Doohan.
“I think the team has been unfair on Jack,” the Sky Sports commentator said.
“They should’ve stopped these questions about how long until he gets replaced.
“(I was talking to Mick Doohan and) Mick was like, ‘it’s pressure, he’s got to get on with it.’
“Jack is going to be a mini-me in terms of his dad. His dad isn’t like ‘this is unfair’, he is like ‘go on, get on with it and prove them wrong.’
Brundle said Alpine’s decision to do a driver photoshoot with four drivers - Doohan and Pierre Gasly plus reserve drivers Colapinto and Paul Aron - only heightened the pressure on the Aussie rookie and would undoubtedly get inside his head.
“If I was a driver manager I would be like this should be a two driver shoot not a four driver shoot,” Brundle said.
“All that stuff gets in your head but Jack seems to be parking it fine at the moment.”
Doohan quipped on Thursday it was not only Colapinto, but Alpine’s four reserve drivers gunning for his spot.
Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes addressed the “noise” around Doohan’s seat, saying the competition from underneath was healthy, but both drivers had the team’s “full support”.
“Look, I think there has been a lot of noise,” Oakes said after final practice.
“Obviously as a race driver you’d love to probably not have someone clipping at your heels, but also from our side we have been pretty open that Jack and Pierre both have our full support.”
Pressed on why the team needed four reserve drivers, Oakes said it gave the team “options down the line”.
“Obviously we already had Paul in the wings, the option with Franco appeared there that is sort of with an eye to the future as well,” Oakes said.
“We’ve seen it recently with McLaren tying down Oscar, the driver market is going to change and for us we wanted to have options down the line.”
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