Lando Norris and Max Verstappen expressed concerns about their respective car’s performance after Friday’s running at the Australian Grand Prix.

Norris topped the first practice of 2025 and was third, behind Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, in the more representative second practice session.

McLaren pipped Ferrari to last year’s Constructors’ Championship and the two teams appear to lead the pecking order going into Saturday’s Qualifying at 5am, live on Sky Sports F1.

Norris and Piastri were both within two tenths of Leclerc’s benchmark time in second practice, but the British driver was not entirely satisfied.

“It’s been a good start to the weekend, we’ve got a good baseline but certainly not happy, like not confident with the car in terms of finding the best balance and being consistent enough, especially on low fuel,” he said.

“High fuel, I felt good. Just low fuel was still similar to Bahrain, too many inconsistencies, too many problems, so a bit of a struggle.”

McLaren’s strong long-run pace was also evident during pre-season testing in Bahrain, where Norris raised eyebrows with an excellent race simulation.

Norris’ team-mate Piastri enters his third F1 season and will be looking to make history by becoming the first Australian to win their home Grand Prix since it became a World Championship event.

“The underlying pace of the car seems strong but Ferrari look quick, Mercedes at points as well. Things are looking good but we don’t just want the podium, we want to aim for the top step,” said Piastri.

“Still a few things to iron out to make the car feel a bit nicer but the underlying pace was strong.

“I’m happy with the day’s work. I think conditions will be different the next two days, so how much today means I don’t know – but it feels good.”

Verstappen: Red Bull performance could be a bit hard to fix

Red Bull are on the back foot as Verstappen was 0.624s behind Leclerc in seventh place and visibly struggled with understeer.

Since the middle of last year, Red Bull have been overhauled by their rivals and seemingly have not improved enough over the winter.

Verstappen, who has won the last four drivers’ titles, says Red Bull are “definitely lacking a bit to fight at the front”.

“The balance wasn’t even completely out, like no massive or major problems, but somehow the grip was not coming alive and just struggling on all four tyres, really, in a sector one and the last sector,” he said.

“That means of course that we are not really up there at the moment.”

Asked whether the issues will be easy to resolve, Verstappen said: “The problem is that it’s not really like I have major balance problems, so I think it will be a bit hard to fix.

“But it’s also nothing that I didn’t expect when I arrived here, so I’m not positively or negatively surprised with the pace that we are showing.”

Liam Lawson struggled even more on his full Red Bull practice debut as he finished 16th and 17th in the two Friday practice sessions.

“I’m comfortable but just too slow. We have a lot of work to do overnight,” he said.

“Day One on a new track we expected to have some work to do but probably not this much. We will work on it overnight and try to improve tomorrow.”

The New Zealander has the difficult challenge of being Verstappen’s team-mate, after the Dutchman comfortably beat Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez over the last six seasons at Red Bull.

Lawson, who has only started 11 Grands Prix, could be fighting to get out of Q1 if practice is anything to go by.

“I think if we knew that we’d know how to fix it as well,” said Lawson on whether Red Bull can solve their issues.

“In general just grip, when we need to use it on that short run, but then in general our long-run pace was slow as well. We’ll obviously work on it.”

Russell: An up and down day for Mercedes

George Russell led the Mercedes charge on Friday but was only 10th in second practice, with rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli in 16th.

At one point, Russell went quickest on the hard tyres early in the session but Mercedes struggled on the softs.

“It was a really up-and-down day because every time we had the medium or the hard tyre on, we were right in the top two of the timesheets and every lap felt good. Then we put the soft on and we didn’t go much quicker,” he said.

“So clearly there is a bit of pace in the car and it’s just getting the most out of the tyres, so we need to understand why that is. Let’s see what we can achieve overnight.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Australian GP schedule

Saturday March 15

• 12.10am: F3 Sprint*
• 1.10am: Australian GP Practice Three (session begins at 1.30am)*
• 3.10am: F2 Sprint*
• 4.15am: Australian GP Qualifying build-up*
• 5am: AUSTRALIAN GP QUALIFYING*
• 7am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
• 7.30am: Australian GP Qualifying Replay* (9am on Sky Showcase)
• 9.55pm: F3 Feature Race*

Sunday March 16

• 12.25am: F2 Feature Race*
• 2.30am: Australian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
• 4am: THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX*
• 6am: Australian GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
• 7am: Ted’s Notebook*
• 7.55am: Australian GP race replay
• 10am: Australian GP highlights (also on Sky Showcase)
• 7pm: Villeneuve Pironi – Racing’s Untold Tragedy

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

Watch all 24 race weekends from the 2025 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Australian GP this weekend. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime