F1 Australian Grand Prix 2025: Starting grid for season-opening race

The first race of the 2025 Formula 1 season is just a few hours away.

How will the drivers take to the grid?

McLaren locked out the front row for the Australian Grand Prix, with Lando Norris capturing pole position just ahead of teammate — and hometown hero — Oscar Piastri. This gives Norris a chance to win his second race when starting from pole position, and his second in a row, as he ended the 2024 season with a win at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix starting from P1.

However, there are some quick drivers that will be behind the McLaren duo when the lights go out. 2024 F1 Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen starts third, with George Russell alongside him in P4. The third row offers a pair of surprises, as Yuki Tsunoda will start fifth, and Alex Albon sixth.

It is an all-red fourth row, as Charles Leclerc starts seventh alongside new teammate Lewis Hamilton, who qualified eighth.

Pierre Gasly from Alpine starts ninth while Carlos Sainz Jr. from Williams rounds out the top ten, starting in tenth.

At the back of the field Oliver Bearman — who failed to set a time after a gearbox failure in Q1 — will start from pit lane after Haas made a change to the suspension on his car under parc ferme conditions.

Here is the full starting grid for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.