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Lewis Hamilton ahead of his first race with Ferrari said: "I woke up early and I looked across the city - it's such a pretty city Melbourne. I've got a great view of the train station and the river.

"I was messaging my brother and my family; this is very surreal for us and we're incredibly grateful for this opportunity.

"Even in the garage yesterday, my dad was like 'wow this is really Ferrari', we just have to keep reminding ourselves, not that you don't get reminded because it's red everywhere, but it's phenomenal to be here and have this experience which I'm really grateful for.

"I'm just building with the team constantly. Today is a new experience again, everything is a first time for me at the moment.

"I've never driven the car in the rain so understanding the settings, communication with the team, the strategy that they run is different, so we're learning on the fly, but hopefully it will be a good day."

Christian Evans: Hamilton on inters WOW either going to be a disaster or a stroke of genius!

Esteban Ocon has had a slight off during his warm-up laps in the Haas. The Frenchman locks up on the slippery circuit and has to take to the safety of an escape road.

Lando Norris is now heading out on the green intermediates to test the conditions on the green tyres.

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From topping the timesheets on Friday, to qualifying below a Racing Bull and a Williams on Saturday. It's been frustrating weekend so far over at Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton bid farewell to Mercedes after 12 years and six titles at the end of the 2024 season, but it takes time to adapt to a new set-up.

The 40-year-old said he didn't expect Ferrari to be as far off as they were, however, he was still pleased to be close to team-mate Leclerc - 0.218 seconds was the difference between the two.

For Leclerc in P7, who was polesitter and a race winner in Melbourne in 2022, it's the car's lack of pace and unstable rear that were the downfall in qualifying.

Hamilton, starting P8, is another wet-weather master, although the majority of those supreme displays were done in familiar machinery.

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An Australian winner at Albert Park in Melbourne is something the fans have never experienced; not even a podium celebration for second or third for a home driver. So can Oscar Piastri put that right today from P2 on the grid?

The 23-year-old started the week off on the positive note by signing a new contract which keeps him at McLaren for the long term.

Piastri's maiden pole position may have eluded him on Saturday, but he's already got two race wins in the bank from the 2024 season. One of them, his first, was the team orders fiasco in Hungary. You can refresh yourself with that incident here.

In the post qualifying news conference, Norris said 'papaya rules' have been discussed and everyone is on the same page.

Lewis Hamilton is on a set of green intermediate tyres while the rest of the field head out on the full blue wets.

The wind is causing major issues for Sky Sports' presenters on the grid. Those golfing umbrellas are holding on for dear life. So a wet track and gusty conditions for lights out...

Harry Benjamin, Jennie Gow, Alice Powell, Marc Priestley and Rosanna Tennant give us their predictions for the 2025 Formula 1 season, including who they think will come out on top and how Lewis Hamilton will perform at Ferrari.

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Polesitter Lando Norris spoke to Sky Sports before the race: "It's a bit grim, we'll see. It's meant to stop raining a little bit later, maybe not completely, but at least it's not going to be heavy rain.

"We're expecting a wet race, one that could start to dry up. It could rain more and drizzle through the race."

On the car, he added: "I think maybe not everything has been sorted as much as we would have liked; there's still some things we are cautious about, let's say.

"I'm still confident, I still know what I have to do, the steps forward I need to make. I'm excited to see what we can go and do."

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It was smiles in the end for McLaren but the beginning of Q3 left the team sweating after both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made mistakes on their first laps. Norris' time was deleted for exceeding track limits, leaving him bottom of the pile heading into the final runs.

The roars from the crowd signalled Piastri put his car on provisional pole first, before Briton Norris swept through and snatched it away to claim his 10th career pole.

If he is to secure a maiden drivers' championship this year, then keeping that precious P1 spot off the line will be a must.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Melbourne

Oliver Bearman, who qualified last, will start the Australian Grand Prix from the pit lane after Haas changed his suspension set-up, breaking parc ferme regulations.

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It's been hammering it down in Melbourne while we here in the UK have been sleeping, and the Formula 2 feature race has already been cancelled because of the wet weather.

But the official F1 forecast says conditions will start to improve and there will be a moderate chance of scattered showers during the grand prix.

It will also be breezy with SW west and gusts up to 60km/h.

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Hello, folks. It's finally race day. And what an Australian Grand Prix we potentially have in store.

McLaren are one and two, arch enemies Max Verstappen and George Russell are sharing a row and Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon have raised the stakes for the midfield in 2025.

And it's wet - with six rookies on the grid.

Lights out in Melbourne is at 04:00 GMT.

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Full commentary is available on BBC radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds and at the top of this page using the 'listen live' tab. You can also ask BBC Sounds to play the Australian Grand Prix via most smart speakers.

Harry Benjamin, Rosanna Tennant, former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley and F1 correspondent Andrew Benson will be with us from 03:30.

Have a listen to the Chequered Flag podcast qualifying review as we go along here.

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Constructors' champions McLaren have picked up where they left off in 2024 as the team to beat after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the front row for the Australian Grand Prix.

Briton Norris secured pole position ahead of his team-mate by 0.084 seconds; the pair comfortably quicker than challenger Max Verstappen and Red Bull in third.

But the big question is: How hard will the two McLaren drivers battle each other in order to come out on top over 58 laps?