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2025 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

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Piastri pips Norris for pole in Barcelona; Verstappen heads Russell, P3 to P4

In a tense and intriguing Saturday Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren’s Lando Norris set the ultimate one-lap pace with a blistering final effort to wrest pole position from his teammate, Lando Norris. with Norris sitting atop the pylon ahead of the final flying laps of Q3, Piastri was letter perfect in all three sectors of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, while Norris seemed to overdrive on his ultimate effort and ended up losing time to his hard-charging Aussie teammate. It was Piastri’s fifth pole of the season but only the second front row lockout for team McLaren.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also saved his best for last, getting the better of the very competitive Mercedes of George Russell, P3 to P4. Both of those elite drivers will be looking to pounce if there is any kind of kerfuffle between the McLaren duo on the opening lap of tomorrow’s race, a distinct possibility as their duel for the championship really heats up. Verstappen’s quali was even more impressive in the context of the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda ending up dead last in P20, while Russell’s Silver Arrows wingman Kimi Antonelli earned a more representative P6. No matter who Red Bull put in that second car, it seems apparent that only Verstappen can get a handle on the tricky RB21.

Filling out a very competitive top seven, Ferrari showed well, with Lewis Hamilton getting the better of Charles Leclerc, P5 to P7, at a track where the seven-time champ has always run well. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in P8, Racing Bulls’ impressive rookie Isack Hadjar in P9 and home race favorite Fernando Alonso in P10 rounded out the top ten starting spots on the grid.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:12.551

1:11.998

1:11.546

14

2

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:12.799

1:12.056

1:11.755

15

3

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:12.798

1:12.358

1:11.848

12

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:12.806

1:12.407

1:11.848

12

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:13.058

1:12.447

1:12.045

15

6

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:12.815

1:12.585

1:12.111

18

7

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:13.014

1:12.495

1:12.131

12

8

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:13.081

1:12.611

1:12.199

18

9

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:13.139

1:12.461

1:12.252

15

10

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:13.102

1:12.523

1:12.284

14

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9 AM Eastern here in the States. While McLaren are clearly the cars to beat, those directly behind them will be hoping they beat themselves and will be looking to pounce on any internecine combat between Piastri and Norris. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Norris holds off Leclerc for maiden Monaco win in plodding, strategic race; Piastri P3, Verstappen P4: FIA double-pit stop rule change backfires

Formula 1 and the FIA tried to fix the age old problem of passing at the venerable Monaco circuit and avoid last year’s Red Flag-induced processional by mandating two separate pit stops for Sunday’s dry and sunny Monaco Grand Prix. It did not quite work out exactly as planned. Instead of creating more opportunities for strategic overtakes, the clever team engineers bent the procedure to their own individual goals for the race and ended up using whichever car and driver that qualified lower as a blocker for the car that qualified in the better position to create a safe window for their pit stops. This created long stretches of the 78-lap race where most of the field were running well below full speed, as drivers like Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon took turns playing cork in the bottle to the second half of the field to ensure each of them could pit twice without any real threat of being overtaken. In the end, the key to Monaco, as it almost always is in good weather, was the Saturday qualifying order. And pole-sitter Lando Norris, who also set the track record in his McLaren en route to the top starting spot, was able to survive the best efforts of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, as well as having to wade through a slew of back markers, to capture his first Monaco victory.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen did his best to put a spanner in Norris’s works by running a long and not particularly fast second stint from nominal the race lead while waiting for the penultimate lap to make his mandated second stop for fresh Pirellis. This backed Norris into Leclerc late in the going as Verstappen was simply goal hanging for a Safety Car of some sort or a Red Flag, and therefore the proverbial “cheap” pit stop.  But there were no late incidents and once Verstappen ducked in, Norris sped away from Leclerc’s Ferrari rather easily to secure the win, with the Monegasque and last year’s storybook winner settling for second place. Norris’s McLaren teammate Piastri had a bit of wild and wooly weekend in the principality, with plenty of drifting and airborne kerb-banging, but kept it clean enough in the race to bring the car home in P3. Piastri now leads in the Drivers’ championship by a mere three points over the reinvigorated Norris. Verstappen, who had nothing to lose by running  to the bitter end for his second stop due to his massive time cushion over the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, claimed P4 at the finish, exactly where he started.

While Hamilton ran a lonely and unsatisfying race after a bit of clever pit strategy early on to get him out in front of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, his P5 was two places better than his penalty-induced seventh place start on the grid and about as much as one could expect for improvement here on the streets of Monte Carlo. Hadjar continued to impress despite ceding a spot to Hamilton early in the race on pit cycles and came home a very solid P6, with Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson also scoring for the squad in P8. Esteban Ocon secured his and Haas’s best result of the season in P7, while the Williams duo of Albon and Sainz were rewarded for their slow going shenanigans by scoring valuable team points in P9 and P10 respectively.

Mercedes had a disastrous day as their gamble on running a long first stint on Hard tires with both their cars did not pay off at all due to the slow pace of the midfield runners in front of them. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli scored exactly zero points on a frustrating day the Silver Arrows team will be keen to put behind them as they pack up for the short trip to Barcelona next weekend.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

78

1:40:33.843

25

2

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

78

+3.131s

18

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

78

+3.658s

15

4

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

78

+20.572s

12

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

78

+51.387s

10

6

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

77

+1 lap

8

7

31

Esteban Ocon

Haas Ferrari

77

+1 lap

6

8

30

Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

77

+1 lap

4

9

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

76

+2 laps

2

10

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams Mercedes

76

+2 laps

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time as F1 wraps up another hectic sequence of three races on the trot with the Spanish Grand Prix from the well-loved Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Hope to see you then at a much more conventional and faster race track where overtaking should at least be reasonably possible and we’re also sure see the return of only the single mandatory pit stop after this weekend in Monaco’s unintended consequences from the FIA’s fiddling.

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna — Results & aftermath

Verstappen takes win with immaculate start at Imola, Norris bests Piastri for P2; Hamilton maximizes performance to score P4 for Ferrari; Williams closing the gap as Russell plummets to P7

Top 10 finishers of the Emilia-Romagna GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

63

1:31:33.199

25

2

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

63

+6.109s

18

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

63

+12.956s

15

4

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

63

+14.356s

12

5

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

63

+17.945s

10

6

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

63

+20.774s

8

7

63

George Russell

Mercedes

63

+22.034s

6

8

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams Mercedes

63

+22.898s

4

9

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

63

+23.586s

2

10

22

Yuki Tsunoda

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

63

+26.446s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna — Qualifying results

Piastri keeps mojo rolling with McLaren pole at Imola; Verstappen & Russell just behind in P2 & P3, but Norris disappoints in P4; Ferrari on back foot on home soil with Leclerc only good enough for P11, Hamilton P12

Top 10 qualifiers for the Emilia-Romagna GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:15.500

1:15.214

1:14.670

18

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:15.175

1:15.394

1:14.704

17

3

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:15.852

1:15.334

1:14.807

17

4

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:15.894

1:15.261

1:14.962

19

5

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:15.695

1:15.442

1:15.431

19

6

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams Mercedes

1:15.987

1:15.198

1:15.432

21

7

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:16.123

1:15.521

1:15.473

20

8

18

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:15.817

1:15.497

1:15.581

21

9

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:16.253

1:15.510

1:15.746

17

10

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:15.937

1:15.505

1:15.787

17

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9 AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Qualifying results

Verstappen nabs pole from Piastri as Norris crashes out; Russell P3, Leclerc P4 foreshadowing hyper-competitive race

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen once again showed that he’s not ready to cede his current championship crown to McLaren or anyone else, as the flying Dutchman laid down a blistering lap on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit to secure pole for Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In a hyper-competitive Saturday Qualifying under the lights of the tight and twisty Jeddah street track, Verstappen’s final flier in Q3 was good enough to pip McLaren’s Oscar Piastri for P1 by a slim .01-seconds. Earlier in that final quali session, Piastri’s teammate and current point leader Lando Norris lost control running over the curbs exiting Turn 4 and binned his car in the walls  across from that the exit. Under pressure from not only his teammate Piastri, the dominant winner last week in Bahrain, but also the stubbornly excellent Verstappen, Norris will be forced to start from P10 on the grid at a track where overtaking is extremely difficult.

Once again, Mercedes’ George Russell capitalized by keeping it clean and putting in a very solid effort good enough for P3. While the Silver Arrows may not quite be ready to take a win on pure pace, Russell certainly shows all the signs of earning one should one or more of the top two come to grief in the race. His rookie Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli also acquitted himself well in P5. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc spilt the Silver Arrows in P4 but teammate Lewis Hamilton was out qualified by the Williams of Carlos Sainz, P6 to P7. Sainz seems to really be getting to grips with his new mount for this season, while Hamilton continues to suffer from inconsistency in the Prancing Horse. The second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda completed qualifying in P8 and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took P9, both ahead of the stricken McLaren of Norris, which will certainly require some overnight repairs.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Saudi Arabian GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:27.778

1:27.529

1:27.294

19

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:27.901

1:27.545

1:27.304

18

3

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:28.282

1:27.599

1:27.407

16

4

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:28.552

1:27.866

1:27.670

19

5

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:28.128

1:27.798

1:27.866

17

6

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams Mercedes

1:28.354

1:28.024

1:28.164

23

7

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:28.372

1:28.102

1:28.201

20

8

22

Yuki Tsunoda

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:28.226

1:27.990

1:28.204

16

9

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:28.421

1:28.025

1:28.367

22

10

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:27.805

1:27.481

DNF

11

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 1PM Eastern here in the States. Expect a real street fight between at least the top four players and it wouldn’t be surprising if an accident-induced Red Flag jumbled things up. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

McLaren’s Piastri romps to dominant win at Bahrain; Russell holds off Norris for P2 amidst Mercedes electrical gremlins; Red Bull’s Verstappen struggles mightily en route to P6

McLaren’s rising young superstar Oscar Piastri made the most of his pole position at Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, controlling the race from the front in the opening stanza and then maintaining his cool when a mid-race Safety Car wiped out his large lead. The Aussie still went on to take assured victory over fifteen seconds ahead of his closest pursuer and dramatically narrowed his championship points defect to teammate Lando Norris. Norris did rally from a poor P6 qualifying effort, and then a 5-second penalty for lining up just over his grid box at the start of the race, but could not quite get by the very game George Russell’s Mercedes as the laps wound down, settling in the end for P3. While Norris was perturbed by what he felt was a subpar effort here at what is a home race of sorts for McLaren — the Bahrain Wealth Fund is a major investor in the team — Piastri was overjoyed to get back on terms in the championship battle against his teammate, trimming Norris’s lead to just three points after four rounds. With McLaren back to being the dominant car in F1 for 2025 after a lackluster outing at Suzuka a week ago, it looks to be game on between the Papaya teammates in the quest for the Drivers’ Title.

Mercedes had the second fastest car here at Sakhir, with Russell holding off the dogged late race pursuit of Norris to secure second place despite dealing with numerous electrical gremlins in the car. Russell and the team were also somewhat fortunate not to be penalized due to an accidental use of the DRS in an unauthorized zone, also caused by those pesky electronics issues. And while the freshly Medium-shod Norris was able to pass both Ferraris after the Safety Car restart, making the Scuderia pay for their decision to switch to Hard Pirellis after opening the race on a Medium-to-Medium strategy, Russell was somehow able to keep enough life in his Soft Pirellis to hold off Norris until the checkered flag flew some twenty-two laps after the end of the Safety Car period. Ferrari will be left wondering about that tire strategy decision, as the Hard tires proved a very bad race tire, which several drivers who chose that option for their opening stint could have confirmed. In the end, Charles Leclerc headed his teammate Lewis Hamilton, P4 to P5, with the Prancing Horses showing some signs of joining the party at the front but still not quite there yet.

A week after a vintage drive to take victory in Japan from the pole, Red Bull and Max Verstappen were back in the wilderness here in the desert. After only qualifying P7, Verstappen found that his RB21  was not particularly good in race trim either, especially on the Hard tires. The team and driver’s misery was compounded by a peculiar failure of their pit go/no-go lighting system that led to the Red Bulls being stationary far longer than they should have been on their first stops. Verstappen hung in, though, even prevailing over a second slow pit stop with a sticky right front tire that funneled him back out in last place on Lap 27, working his way all the way back to a last lap pass on Pierre Gasly’s Alpine to secure a P6 finish. And even if that was not exactly Champagne-popping news, two Red Bulls finally scored this year, as Yuki Tsunoda battled and banged his way to ninth place by the end of the 57 laps. While Gasly did lose that position to Verstappen on the final lap, P7 was still an excellent result for the Frenchman and the Alpine team. Similarly, Haas had an excellent day, with veteran Esteban Ocon hustling his car to P8 by the end, and rookie teammate Oliver Bearman grabbing the last point in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

57

1:35:39.435

25

2

63

George Russell

Mercedes

57

+15.499s

18

3

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

57

+16.273s

15

4

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

57

+19.679s

12

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

57

+27.993s

10

6

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

57

+34.395s

8

7

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

57

+36.002s

6

8

31

Esteban Ocon

Haas Ferrari

57

+44.244s

4

9

22

Yuki Tsunoda

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

57

+45.061s

2

10

87

Oliver Bearman

Haas Ferrari

57

+47.594s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next tilt is in but a week’s time, as the teams scramble off to Saudi Arabia to finish up the first hectic three in a row of 2025. The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is the fastest street circuit ever built, with speeds rivaling the purpose built Monza. It should be fun to see McLaren stretch their legs there and to find out if Mercedes or another marque has the pace to keep up with the Norris-Piastri Papaya duo. Hope to see then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

McLaren’s Piastri rockets to dominant pole in Bahrain but teammate Norris fumbles final effort en route to P6; Mercedes’ Russell and Antonelli qualify P2 & P4 but penalized one spot each for pit infractions; Leclerc elevated to second on grid; Verstappen and Red Bull nowhere

A week after being thoroughly outperformed by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Japanese Grand Prix, the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were keen to reassert their dominance during Saturday Qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. But it ended up only Piastri who flew the Papaya flag by laying down a stunning marker here at the very tricky and twisty 5.4 kilometer Bahrain International Circuit, blasting his way to a dominant pole position, some two-tenths ahead of his closest pursuer, Mercedes’ George Russell. Meanwhile, Piastri’s normally superlative McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, failed to get the best out of his MCL39 and to come to grips with the windy conditions in the desert and could only manage P6 on his final flier in Q3, over four-tenths behind his pole-sitting teammate. While it is certainly more possible to pass here than at what ended up a stagnant Suzuka circuit last week, Piastri will have a major advantage getting away from the point while Norris has to fight his way through a quartet of fairly fast drivers to get back on terms for a win. Piastri will certainly be looking to maximize that advantage and take a victory that would vault him ahead of Norris for the points lead. Game on.

Mercedes were impressive and were definitely the next best team on pace here, just ahead of Ferrari and well ahead of the struggling Red Bull duo. But, while Russell was hyper-competitive with a P2 effort and rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli excelled to slot in at P4, the team were penalized for a pit lane infraction under Red Flag conditions after Haas’s Esteban Ocon had a major crash earlier in Q2. Both drivers were docked a grid place for the team’s error in sending them info the fast lane prematurely while the medical car was still driving to the front of the pits after Ocon had been dropped off for examination, big no-no. That elevated Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to second on the grid and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who had a genuinely superb qualifying effort regardless, up to the second row and P4. Meanwhile, a week after their surprise victory in Japan, Red Bull were nowhere in Bahrain, with both Verstappen and Tsunoda struggling mightily with balance and breaking. It all ended up with a humbling P7 effort for last week’s winner Verstappen, with Tsunoda at least making it to Q3 for the first time in tow tries, albeit with only the tenth fastest time.

Carlos Sainz appeared to finally get the handle on his Williams with a very solid P8 result, but Lewis Hamilton again struggled in his Prancing Horse and could manage no better than an underwhelming P9.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:31.392

1:30.454

1:29.841

15

2

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:31.494

1:30.664

1:30.009

20

3

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:31.454

1:30.724

1:30.175

16

4

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:31.415

1:30.716

1:30.213

20

5

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:31.462

1:30.643

1:30.216

19

6

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:31.107

1:30.560

1:30.267

18

7

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:31.303

1:31.019

1:30.423

17

8

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams Mercedes

1:31.591

1:30.844

1:30.680

19

9

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:31.219

1:31.009

1:30.772

18

10

22

Yuki Tsunoda

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:31.751

1:31.228

1:31.303

17

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

The adjusted grid after Mercedes’ penalties are factored in is here. 

After a raft of overnighters to start the season, tomorrow’s race airs at the perfectly decent time of 11AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. With a supreme advantage over his teammate and the rest of the field, Piastri will be looking to both stamp his authority on the race from the get go and then vault himself ahead of Norris in the Championship by dint of the victory. But do the Mercedes duo of Russell and Antonelli have anything to spring an upset when the lights go out, even from their slightly demoted positions? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Qualifying results

Verstappen stuns McLaren duo at Suzuka with surprise pole; Norris out-duels teammate Piastri for P2; Tsunoda fails to impress after promotion to Red Bull for home race

Saturday qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix at the storied Suzuka Circuit looked for all the world like a battle for pole between McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. With Norris taking victory in Piastri’s backyard to open the season in Melbourne and Piastri getting the better of Norris for the win in China two weeks ago, all eyes were on the Papaya duo to see who would emerge as the fastest qualifier. But all eyes were on the wrong team and drivers. Reigning champion Max Verstappen proved he is not ready to go gently into that good night this early in 2025, with a blistering final lap that knocked a stunned Norris off the pole and relegated Piastri to P3 and the second row. With Verstappen’s Red Bull trimmed to the limit for maximum straight line speed even though Suzuka has many more twisty bits than straights, the Flying Dutchman was able to hustle his RB21 to the tune of a track record 1:26.983, a mere one hundredth ahead of Norris. It was not only a nice moment for Verstappen after a challenging first two rounds of the season but also for Red Bull engine supplier Honda at their home circuit. However, new Red Bull Number Two Yuki Tsunoda did not fare much better on the day than most of Verstappen’s other wingman of recent vintage. The young Japanese driver, opting for a much more downforce heavy setup, ended up a desultory P15 despite the enthusiastic urgings of his countrymen in the stands. Liam Lawson, the driver Tsunoda replaced at the big team just three races into the season, out-qualified him in P14 driving his own former Racing Bull. That was probably not what Tsunoda or Red Bull had envisaged when they made the switch and this race weekend began.

Behind the elite top three, Charles Leclerc bettered by some margin his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, P4 to P8.  Mercedes’ George Russell had a fairly ragged final effort in Q3 and could not improve his P5 position when the scoring was over, while rookie Silver Arrows teammate Kimi Antonelli made impressive leaps throughout the three difficult sessions to wind up a surprisingly strong P6. Fellow rookie Isack Hadjar was able to overcome a persistently painful too-tight lap belt situation to pull himself all the way up to an quite solid  P7, while Williams’ Alexander Albon and Haas’s Oliver Bearman, yet another rookie, filled out the rest of the top ten in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Japanese Grand Prix:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:27.943

1:27.502

1:26.983

17

2

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:27.845

1:27.146

1:26.995

15

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:27.687

1:27.507

1:27.027

18

4

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:27.920

1:27.555

1:27.299

21

5

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:27.843

1:27.400

1:27.318

17

6

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:27.968

1:27.639

1:27.555

18

7

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:28.278

1:27.775

1:27.569

18

8

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:27.942

1:27.610

1:27.610

23

9

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:28.218

1:27.783

1:27.615

20

10

87

Oliver Bearman

Haas Ferrari

1:28.228

1:27.711

1:27.867

21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.,com.

Tomorrow’s race airs overnight here in the States beginning at 1 AM Eastern Sunday morning on ESPN. With Verstappen in his preferred spot — up front and in clean air — we’ll have to see if McLaren’s long run pace can pull the Red Bull back into their clutches of if the four-time Champ is only beginning to show that he’s a serious contender to earn his fifth on the trot despite all predictions to the contrary. Hope to see you then to find out how it all plays out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

Piastri earns first F1 pole with blistering lap in Shanghai; Russell splits McLarens at the death with stunning P2 effort, relegating Norris to P3, Verstappen to P4

McLaren’s second of two young phenoms, Oscar Piastri, got the better of his ostensible team number one, Lando Norris, during Saturday qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit, earning the young Aussie his first career Formula 1 pole position. In what is shaping up to be an intrateam battle for the ages, Piastri earned the top starting spot ahead of a competitive Norris and regained some momentum for his own championship aspirations a week after Norris’s spectacular win in a rain-soaked Melbourne, where Piastri could do no better than P9. Adding insult to injury for Lando, he was pipped for P2 at very death of Q3, when Mercedes’ George Russell put in a stonking lap to nab second on the grid. Russell’s excellent effort also dropped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to P4, extending the Dutch Master’s pole-less streak in Grand Prix to 15 races dating back Austria last year.

After an exhilarating and redemptive win in the Sprint race earlier on Saturday, Ferrari’s new signing,  seven-time champ Lewis Hamilton, was brought back down to earth a bit and could only record the fifth fastest time in Quali. Still, he was faster than teammate Charles Leclerc and the Monegasque could only muster a fast lap good enough for P6. The two young Racing Bulls showed excellent pace, with rookie Isack Hadjar putting the heartbreak of his formation lap crashout in Australia behind hime with an outstanding effort good enough for P7 on the grid and his senior teammate Yuki Tsunoda taking P8. They sandwiched the second Merc of Kimi Antonelli in P8, while Alex Albon rounded out the top ten starters in P10 for Williams. Worth noting, the second Red Bull of Liam Lawson had a torrid time once again in his second race weekend with the big team and was plum last in Q1. He’s fated to start from the rear in P20 tomorrow if no one else has any woes prior. The curse of Max Verstappen’s wingman seems to be fully upon the Kiwi and one has to wonder how long Dr. Helmut Marko and the Red Bull braintrust will stick with the rookie, especially with Tsunoda looking very racy and more than ready in the junior team.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Chinese GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:31.591

1:31.200

1:30.641

20

2

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:31.295

1:31.307

1:30.723

22

3

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.983

1:30.787

1:30.793

17

4

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:31.424

1:31.142

1:30.817

15

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:31.690

1:31.501

1:30.927

21

6

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:31.579

1:31.450

1:31.021

21

7

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:31.162

1:31.253

1:31.079

20

8

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:31.676

1:31.590

1:31.103

22

9

22

Yuki Tsunoda

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:31.238

1:31.260

1:31.638

19

10

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:31.503

1:31.595

1:31.706

20

Complete qualifying results available via  Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race from Shanghai International Circuit airs live beginning at 3 AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. So set your DVR or brew some coffee to find out if Piastri can convert pole into victory or if someone else in the mega-talented top six can beat him to the checkered flag!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

McLaren and Norris begin championship hunt with impressive win at tricky, rain-affected Aussie GP; Red Bull’s Verstappen stays calm amidst carnage to salvage P2, Russell earns final podium position with solid effort; Piastri and Ferrari lose out

Round 1 of the 2025 season kicked off in chaotic fashion on Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix from the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, where persistent rain caused havoc throughout the field. In a true drive to survive, McLaren’s Lando Norris kept his cool throughout the race long carnage, including a late mistake by teammate Oscar Piastri amidst a renewed downpour, converting pole position into his first win of the year in what the young Briton hopes will be his first World Championship-winning campaign. With his car obviously slightly inferior to the McLarens coming out of the offseason, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made the best of a bad hand and put himself in position to pounce on P2 when Piastri slid off the track and into some very wet grass late in the going. The unlucky Aussie elicited cries of dismay from his countrymen in the stands but was at least able to salvage P9 after determinedly — and very slowly! — backing onto the tarmac when he looked to be stranded and en route to an embarrassing DNF. And Mercedes, who have been flying somewhat under the radar amidst all the McLaren-Red Bull-Ferrari hype leading into this opening round, made the right strategy calls when it counted most to boost their drivers, veteran George Russell and rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, to P3 and P4 respectively. Both Silver Arrows pilots were impressive in the wet, with Russell bettering his P4 starting position to reach the podium after many other cars around him crashed out — there were a whopping six DNFs by the time the checkers flew — and Antonelli using a bit of luck, skill and good strategy to overcome  a clearly out of position P16 start after the young Italian damaged his car by clouting one too many curbs in Saturday qualifying. 

Williams Alexander Albon was another standout driver on the day, surviving and thriving to take an impressive fifth place. Others scoring improbably good points by dint of keeping their cars on the black stuff and staying steady during the frequently  very greasy conditions were Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Kick Sauber’s wise old hand Nico Hulkenberg, who placed P6 and P7 respectively. But there was not much to cheer for Ferrari after they gambled and lost by keeping Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton out on slick tires a lap too long and then bringing the duo in for the much needed Inters after the other contenders had already made the much needed switch. The Prancing Horses went from a potential 1-2 finish to Leclerc holding on for P8 and the game but forlorn Piastri relegating Hamilton to P10 on the last lap of this eventful 57-lap contest.

What does such a rain-affected contest really tell us about who’s got the pace overall in 2025? Not much except that McLaren and Verstappen looked quick in any and all conditions. And Mercedes could be further along in their development than initially suspected, especially with new Red Bull number two Liam Lawson having a horror show weekend the ended with him crashing out and scoring zero points in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Antonelli acquitted himself admirably on his debut drive for Mercedes in highly challenging circumstances. As for Ferrari, they’ll be looking forward to the quick turnaround in China next weekend to be able to hopefully show their true pace under more predictable conditions. Hamilton, in particular, seemed to struggle to fully get to grips on the technical side with his new mount after so many years with Mercedes, and his relationship with his new race engineer, Riccardo Adami, is clearly still a work in progress after working hand in glove with Pete Bonnington over the course of the prior dozen years.

Top 10 finishers of the Australian GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

57

1:42:06.304

25

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

57

+0.895s

18

3

63

George Russell

Mercedes

57

+8.481s

15

4

12

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

57

+10.135s

12

5

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

57

+12.773s

10

6

18

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

57

+17.413s

8

7

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Kick Sauber Ferrari

57

+18.423s

6

8

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

57

+19.826s

4

9

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

57

+20.448s

2

10

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

57

+22.473s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time, as F1 hits the ground running for the Round 2 Chinese Grand Prix from the Shanghai International Circuit. It’ll also be the first Sprint weekend of the season, with all the extra angst that entails for the teams, especially with such a short turnaround. Norris will be looking to make it two in a row, Verstappen will be looking to take him down a peg, and Piastri will be seeking redemption, as will so many other drivers who had disappointing or even disastrous days in Australia. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!