FIA announce penalty verdict for McLaren star after qualifying incident at Australian GP

A McLaren star’s Australian Grand Prix weekend has gone from bad to worse after they were issued a penalty ahead of Formula 1’s first race of the season.

McLaren attacked qualifying with a blistering pace in the first session of the 2025 season, where Lando Norris claimed his first pole position of the year.

Norris had his first lap time deleted during Q3, and a mistake on Oscar Piastri’s opening lap meant he failed to string together a competitive enough time to beat Max Verstappen, despite their early advantage around Albert Park.

On their final attempt however, Piastri went quickest, but was beaten to pole at his home race by his team-mate who edged ahead of him and set the fastest time by +0.08