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Fans could be in for an exciting Australian Grand Prix this Sunday, after Piastri qualified less than 0.1 seconds behind team-mate Lando Norris on pole position.
Oscar Piastri is set to start his home Australian Grand Prix from second place, after narrowly missing out on the first pole position of his Formula One career to McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.
Less than a tenth of a second separated Piastri and Norris at the top of the Formula One timesheets – but a larger three-tenth gap to the third-placed Red Bull of Max Verstappen – in a tight field that could make for an engaging race on Sunday.
The British driver's best time of 1:15.096 becomes the quickest lap ever recorded around Albert Park, close to a second faster than last year's pole-position time of 1:15.915 set by Verstappen.
Piastri topped the third and final practice session earlier on Saturday, which was already one of the quickest laps ever recorded around Albert Park, only milliseconds behind Verstappen's 2024 pole position time.
It is the Melbourne-born 23-year-old's best Australian Grand Prix qualifying position – up from sixth in 2024 and 16th in 2023 – and the joint-best of any weekend in his F1 career.
"It's obviously great to start the year on the front row," Piastri said in a post-race interview on the official F1 broadcast.
"Probably one position further back than I would've liked, but it's a great start for the year."
Lewis Hamilton qualified eighth in his first Grand Prix weekend for Ferrari, one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Qualifying a surprise fifth was Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull Racing's sister team, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls (RB), behind George Russell’s Mercedes-AMG but just ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon in sixth.
Verstappen is poised to line up for tomorrow's race in third, after a less-than-smooth weekend for his Red Bull Racing team.
The Dutchman finished far ahead of new team-mate Liam Lawson – the Kiwi who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at the RB sister team last year – who qualified 18th after running wide at the penultimate corner on his final attempt at a flying lap.
He also missed most of the third practice session due to mechanical issues, and in Friday's first and second practice sessions finished 16th and 17th respectively, compared to Verstappen's fifth and seventh.
Also set to start close to the back of the grid is Mercedes-AMG rookie Kimi Antonelli, who qualified 16th – knocked out in the first portion of qualifying – amid damage to his car that's said to have held his last flying laps back.
The other Australian on the grid – Gold Coast-born Jack Doohan, racing for Alpine – qualified 14th for Sunday's race, after he was knocked out in the second of the three sessions.
He was beaten by his teammate Pierre Gasly, who is due to start the Grand Prix in ninth.
Carlos Sainz's Williams rounded out the Top 10 in qualifying.
The 2025 Formula One Australian Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 3:00pm local time tomorrow, Sunday March 16, with rain predicted.
2025 Formula One Australian Grand Prix qualifying results
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
