Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton racing a Ferrari for the first time. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen arriving without a lot of mileage in his Red Bull. Lando Norris helping McLaren set a benchmark with his pace in testing.<\/p>\n
Formula 1 is expecting a hyper-competitive milestone 75th anniversary season in 2025, and it starts this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix. There\u2019s no shortage of unknowns in terms of the pecking order, and the weather.<\/p>\n
Most of the headlines ahead of Sunday\u2019s Australian GP have revolved around Hamilton\u2019s move to Ferrari from Mercedes.<\/p>\n
The normally relaxed pre-event news conference at Albert Park was overflowing with journalists and photographers on Thursday to hear from a rejuvenated Hamilton about how much he\u2019s enjoying the prancing horse-ride.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old British driver is going into his 19th season in F1 but has had a different outlook since his first day in January at the Scuderia\u2019s Maranello HQ, where he’s teammates with Charles Leclerc.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really approach this role with pressure,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cI think over the years, the pressure I put on myself has always been 10 times higher than any other pressure that could be put upon me. I haven\u2019t joined this team and been made to feel any pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have an expectation for myself \u2014 I know what I can bring. I know what I can deliver. And I know what it\u2019s going to take.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLaren’s pace<\/p>\n
Norris has been trying to downplay his long-run pace that impressed the paddock during pre-season testing in Bahrain last month and made McLaren an early-season favorite.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there\u2019s a lot of expectation,\u201d Norris said. \u201cIt was just my one race run I did that kind of just made everyone believe this quite heavily. It was a good race run, but it was also in the most perfect conditions.”<\/p>\n
He tried to temper expectations by saying McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri ‘s run the following day \u201cwas a lot slower.\u201d \u201cNot because he drove worse,\u201d Norris explained, \u201cbut simply because the conditions on the final day were considerably slower.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no denying, though, that McLaren is confident going into the opening race of the season, even if they\u2019re not quite sure of their ultimate pace.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one really knows what to expect,\u201d said Piastri, who is aiming to become the first Aussie to win the Australian F1 Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
\u201cTesting went pretty well, but you don\u2019t know where everybody stands. I think we\u2019re pretty happy with how our test went, but Melbourne is a completely different track to Bahrain. Weather is going to be different to Bahrain and different every hour, by the look of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
First practice Norris topped the session, confirming McLaren\u2019s testing pace, 0.149 seconds ahead of Williams’ new recruit Carlos Sainz, who won the race for Ferrari last year.<\/p>\n
Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari but it was a slow session for his new teammate Hamilton, who was 12th. Piastri was fourth and Verstappen closed out the top-five.<\/p>\n
There was no shortage of red flags, with Alpine\u2019s Jack Doohan\u2019s off-track journey at Turn 6 stopping the session 20 minutes in with gravel on the track. Haas rookie Oliver Bearman brought out the red flags 20 minutes later, after hitting the barriers at the exit of Turn 10.<\/p>\n
Bearman lost control of the car on a chicane, ran onto the gravel trap and hit the wall, causing considerable damage to his car. He emerged from the crash okay.<\/p>\n
George Russell, who ended practice seventh, went into the Turn 4 wall with a minute to go. He damaged the front wing, but was able to return his Mercedes W16 car to the pits.<\/p>\n
Weather update<\/p>\n
Piastri, born and bred in Melbourne, is correct. The southern Australian city is set to deliver this weekend on the famous \u201cfour seasons in one day\u201d expression that often describes Melbourne’s ever-changeable weather.<\/p>\n
The Albert Park circuit should be comfortable for F1\u2019s opening practice sessions on Friday, with a partly cloudy day expected and a top of 27 degrees Celsius (80 Fahrenheit). Temperatures are expected to rise to 37C (98F) on Saturday for qualifying and then drop again for the race on Sunday, when there’s also rain on the forecast.<\/p>\n
A wet race would certainly mix things up, with teams needing to guess on setup following two days of dry running.<\/p>\n
Verstappen, though, whose Red Bull team did the least mileage in pre-season testing, says he\u2019s prepared for any conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like it to be dry because it\u2019s just nicer, (and) also for the fans,\u201d Verstappen said. \u201cBut if it\u2019s wet, it\u2019s wet. It\u2019s fine as well.”<\/p>\n
Piastri won\u2019t be the only Aussie on the Melbourne grid. Jack Doohan, the son of five-time motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan, is starting his first full season with Alpine \u2013 which appears to have taken a significant step forward over its 2024 pace.<\/p>\n
Although speculation through pre-season has been whether Doohan will keep that seat, with his French team bringing in former Williams driver Franco Colapinto as a reserve.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a contract for at least this year, if not more,\u201d said Doohan, who is one of six rookies this season, the most on the F1 grid since 2001. \u201cAnd the uncertainties? You don\u2019t bother worrying about them. I think I have to perform each and every time I\u2019m in the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defending champion Sainz returns<\/p>\n
Ferrari secured a 1-2 finish in Melbourne last year led by Sainz, just two weeks after an appendectomy that sidelined him in Saudi Arabia. But the 30-year-old Sainz will likely be fighting for points and not podiums this time around now that he\u2019s at Williams.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely going to do my best to score (points) as soon as possible,\u201d Sainz said.<\/p>\n
Ferrari is the most successful team in Australia with 14 GP wins, dating back to Adelaide in 1987. Hamilton is one of five drivers on the current F1 grid to have won in Melbourne, with his victories in 2008 and 2015.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s season opener will be the 39th World Championship Australian Grand Prix, and the 28th in Melbourne. It starts at 3 p.m. local time (0400 GMT).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton racing a Ferrari for the first time. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen arriving without a lot of mileage in his Red Bull. Lando Norris helping McLaren set a benchmark with his pace in testing. Formula 1 is expecting a hyper-competitive milestone 75th anniversary season in 2025, and it starts this …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44646,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44644\/revisions\/44646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}