Summary

  • Lando Norris takes Australian GP pole

  • Oscar Piastri completes all-McLaren front row

  • Verstappen third, Russell fourth, Tsunoda fifth, Albon sixth

  • Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton seventh and eighth

  • Antonelli and Lawson eliminated in Q1

  • Select audio icon above for Radio 5 Live commentary (UK only)

  • Get involved: #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Lorraine McKenna

  1. Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto, Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar and Jack Doohan are all safely through to Q2 out of the six rookies, with Australian Doohan the quickest of the bunch for Alpine.

    Liam Lawson was on the team radio to Red Bull to say he had "no tyres" at the end of the lap.

  2. Weather latest in Melbourne

    Ian Fergusson
    BBC weather forecaster

    A challenge for the teams is deciding on car set-ups for tomorrow's race. Qualifying is running in temperatures well above the seasonal norm (31C), but the race will be much cooler (18C), blustery & potentially damp (a 60% risk of rain, suggest FIA forecasters).

    Heavier rain is forecast before the race, but this should have eased to become lighter and intermittent before lights-out at 3pm local time.

  3. Out in Q1

    16. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

    17. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

    18. Liam Lawson (Red Bull)

    19. Esteban Ocon (Haas)

    20. Oliver Bearman (Haas)

    Liam LawsonGetty Images

  4. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    It was a close call and it wasn't the cleanest lap from Lewis Hamilton, but that will do for now.

  5. Antonelli out in Q1

    Lewis Hamilton is dropping down the order as other drivers improve. Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly both improve to leave the Ferrari driver sweating, but he crosses the line and goes to P6 on the timesheets.

    Gabriel Bortoleto, the F2 chapion, saves himself at the last moment, kicking out Kimi Antonelli.

  6. Harry Benjamin
    BBC F1 Commentator in Melbourne

    Haas are trying to find anything they can to try and get Oliver Bearman out but it's proving that it will be rather difficult.

    They have a lot of time to find and there is a lot of head scratching it seems.

  7. The Red Bull garage have their heads in their hands. The team are watching Liam Lawson finally putting the car through its paces but the lap is scrappy and the 23-year-old runs across the grass. He's looking at a Q1 knockout in Melbourne.

  8. The replays of Kimi Antonelli's recent lap shows his Mercedes very low to the ground and kicking up sparks. The teenager is just above the drop zone in 14th place at the moment.

    Meanwhile, the man he replaced, Lewis Hamilton, is sat in eighth place and nearly half a second away from the top time in this opening qualifying session.

  9. Fernando Alonso flags to his pit wall there's gravel knocking around the track, which might have come from Liam Lawson's recent trip through the rough stuff.

    Kimi Antonelli in his medium tyres crosses the line and only goes up to 14th on the timesheets. The Italian running wide which disrupted his lap.

  10. Danger zone

    16. Nico Hulkenberg

    17. Liam Lawson

    18. Esteban Ocon

    19. Kimi Antonelli

    20. Ollie Bearman

  11. Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent in Melbourne

    The surprise package for me in these opening laps is Fernando Alonso.

  12. Fernando Alonso is fifth fastest. There's still life in the 43-year-old Aston Martin driver.

  13. The two Mercedes are taking on the challenge of Q1 on the medium compounds - a different strategy to the rest of the grid. George Russell is the first of the pair to go for a push lap and shoots to fourth on the timesheets, 0.292 seconds off Lando's Norris best time.

  14. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    You can never count Max Verstappen out. It has not been the smoothest start to the weekend for Red Bull, we see that over and over again but when it matters, they are still able to deliver.

  15. Verstappen up to P2

    Max Verstappen has found a set-up change he likes after a little tinkering during yesterday's second practice session. The four-time world champion splits the two McLarens and is only 0.015 seconds away from Lando Norris' best marker.

  16. Norris goes top

    The full potential of Lando Norris is something we didn't see in final practice, so what can the McLaren do in this Q1 session? He can pull over half a second on Charles Leclerc's time, that's what he can do. Norris is the man to beat with a 1:16.003, closely followed by team-mate Oscar Piastri.

  17. As Ollie Bearman arrives to the Haas garage for some mechanical surgery, the rest of the field are putting down lap times. Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin is a 1:16.546 on the softs, but that's beaten by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

  18. Marc Priestley
    Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

    Ferrari have got a car that has taken giant steps forward, eking its way back towards the front of Formula 1, and Lewis Hamilton might have joined at exactly the right time.

  19. Surely there can't be issues for Ollie Bearman already? The teenager radios in to the pit wall to say he has a problem with the gearbox, and now he's heading back to the pits.

    "No, it's broken," the Briton adds.

  20. The Haas drivers are at the front of that queue, with both Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman taking on the soft tyres first.