Formula One: Australian Grand Prix
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Howdy one and all, my name is Joey Lynch and it's great to have your company for The Guardian's live coverage of the first race of the 2025 Formula 1 season. And we're coming to you from a grey, wet, and windy Melbourne.
The aphorism in motorsport, not just F1, is that rain is the great equaliser and if that bears true then today's race might be staged on one of the most level playing fields we've seen for quite a while. In contrast to the scorching temperatures of yesterday, the temperatures are in the mid teens in the Australian sporting capital (low 60s in freedom units) and could drop even further in the afternoon. In addition, rain has already buffeted Melbourne across the morning and the forecast is projecting further, spotty showers over the course of the race.
Already today, race organisers, doing what they can to ensure the main event is put in the best position to go ahead, have been forced to cancel today's V8 Supercars race after just two laps and the scheduled Formula 2 race before it could complete its formation lap.
What does that mean? In theory, it means the technological advantages enjoyed by the grids heavyweights – while still there – will be lessened by the conditions. That means that the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri atop the grid, who have possessed a clear edge in pace throughout this weekend, won't glean the same kind of boon they otherwise might have in dry conditions.
For the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in seventh and eighth, conversely, whose cars haven't shown the same kind of speed as their rivals thus far but are expected to show better pace once the race gets underway, the conditions could serve to give them a leg up in their attempts to move through the pack in front of them.
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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Norris on 'doing it my way' and finding it hard to say he is 'the best'
"I want to do it my way," Lando Norris says. It's a comment that encapsulates where he is, just over a third of the way through a Formula 1 season that could end with him as world McLaren driver is talking at the team's factory, before this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, and he's contemplating a number of the in-house title battle with team-mate Oscar Piastri; the way to approach racing with Red Bull's Max Verstappen, still in the championship picture himself, despite his apparent moment of madness at the last race in Spain; and Norris' own struggles to make the most of a McLaren car that is the class of the field but with which the 25-year-old Briton has admitted to struggling a little this right now, he's exploring his and his team's approach to having two extremely closely matched drivers in the fastest car in the field, allowing them to race each other and trying to stop their egos tearing the team apart, as has tended to happen in F1 in the are asking Norris and Piastri to put the team first while chasing the individual dream they have both held since they were little boys. And so far it has worked."I think it's because I'm a great team-mate," Norris says. He's smiling, as he so often does. He's a smiley guy. But he means it."That's not saying anything in the wrong way," he adds. "Even though your team-mate's always your biggest competitor, and the guy you want to beat and need to beat more than anyone, I've always wanted to have a good time, and have laughs and make jokes, and enjoy my life."That's what I'm here to do at the end of the day, enjoy my life. And we want to do that together."We are different people, different characters, but both guys who know deep down we want to beat each other. But we also want to enjoy our journey." Usually in F1, expecting team-mates to remain on friendly, or even cordial, terms while competing for the biggest prize in their sport never drivers by their nature are selfish. Sooner or later, the pursuit of the individual goal takes over, and the relationship ends up going sour. Usually as a result of some on-track incident; sometimes just through the intensity of the Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, Hamilton and Nico are tying to pull off something more or less unique in modern F1 history. They say they expect their drivers to come together at some point, but they also believe they can manage that, thanks to their transparent approach with them from the sounds like an impossible dream. But there's something about the personalities of Norris and Piastri that makes you think that maybe, just maybe, it might are so different in some ways. Norris wears his heart on his sleeve; Piastri is as cool and reserved as they come. Yet, as a pair, they seem to get why this is important."I'm employed by the team, and I have to drive and race for them," Norris says. "As a number one, it is a constructor. That's what we have to win in the end of the season. But then there's the individual championship."Everyone's seen plenty of championships as team-mates turn sour and go in the wrong direction. And that normally leads to many things, like a domino effect of things starting to fail. And that's what we don't want."We know we still want to race. We're free to race against each other as individuals, but we also know our sole purpose is to race for McLaren, the team, the name we race under. And that's something we're both very proud of doing."McLaren believe that operating this way, rather than having one driver who is both usually faster than the other and also has priority in the team, raises their collective level says there are "pros and cons" to having the guy in the same car as you being your main rival."The thing that makes it good is also the the thing that makes it bad," he says. "Which is that you can see everything the other one is doing. You can learn from each other very easily."But the positive is, as a team, that brings us to performing at a very, very high level, and that's only a benefit for the team." Not the 'perfect or dream start' but Norris 'still happy' Last year, Norris was the leading McLaren driver. Once the team were competitive, a few races into the season, it was him who took the title fight to Verstappen, was quicker much more often than not in qualifying, and won twice as many races as year, the Australian has turned the tables. Six wins to Norris' two; four poles to two; 7-4 ahead across all qualifying sessions; 10 points ahead in the says it has "maybe not been the perfect or dream start", but he says he's "still happy" with his performances so far. "It's been the start that is needed in order to fight for a championship," he upturn in form is one of the stories of the season. But ask Norris whether it has surprised him, and he says: "I wouldn't say so. If I was on the outside, 100% I would agree. I'm not surprised, because I know the kind of driver he is. I know what he's capable of doing. I know the talent he has. And I guess I see it more than anyone else."I'm the guy looking at what he does with his feet and with his hands, and how he drives the car. And I'm able to give probably a more accurate answer than anyone else on the outside."Norris and McLaren have been open about how a certain characteristic of their car has affected him. Team principal Andrea Stella explains this by saying: "The feeling coming from the front axle is relatively numb."Norris explains why this is a particular problem for him. "I can only say how I drive, and what I rely on, and it's very much feeling through the steering wheel. That's my primary source of feelings of how I can drive a car quickly."When I'm competing against the best in the world, you need everything to be giving you those cues, the best feelings, in order to be most accurate. If you're missing that little thing, then it's tough to be the best."I've had to work on exploring other ways to get the lap time out of myself, whether that's more my feeling through my body or feet, to trying to work with the team on ways to kinda bring that feeling back through the steering wheel. That's all part of the job." The challenge of racing Verstappen Norris is talking a matter of days after he likened Verstappen's controversial collision with Mercedes' George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix to something out of the Mario Kart comment was made in the green room before the podium while chatting to Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. He did not want to expand on it to the media, and he still does not now, joking: "I don't remember saying it."But he will talk about the challenge of racing Verstappen. The two are friends off track, but Spain was not the first time Norris had expressed public criticism of the way Verstappen goes is asked how the on-track stuff does not blur into their off-track relationship."I don't think he's done anything untoward towards me," Norris says. "He's raced against me very, very toughly, as he has the right to do. He's made my life very, very tough at times. And he has the right to do that."I've said it many times, I have a lot of respect for Max. The driver he is, the person he is, what he stands for all of the time. And what he's achieved, his four world championships. That's four more than me, and he's had a lot more race wins than me."I admire those stats, those performances. But at the same time, everyone does what they believe is best. Everyone does what they believe is right. And they race for themselves."Some may be more aggressive than others. But everyone has flaws. I have them. Maybe he has them."I race in the aggressive way I believe is correct, and he does the same. The stewards are the ones who decide what is right and wrong."I ask how he races with someone whose philosophy of racing, as Verstappen expressed in a BBC Sport interview in November, is: "When I race with someone, he will not be able to overtake me around the outside."Norris says: "When you're racing for wins, championships, against the best in the world, you can never expect things to be easy. You learn in go-karting that you can't at all easily overtake around the outside. That is like a rule number one."But it can be done, and it will be done. But the number one goal for us is always to finish. Sometimes, when you try too hard, things can go wrong. You might end up not finishing the race, even though you might be in the right. So sometimes you've got to take the safer approach."Over his time in F1, Norris has been open about his struggles with self-belief. Verstappen transparently believes he's the best. Does Norris believe that of himself?"It's a tricky question," he says. "I do believe I'm the best driver. Maybe not on every given day, and every single day."I do believe that I can drive quicker and perform better than everyone else on the grid. But to perform at that level consistently is a very, very difficult thing, no matter what the conditions are, what car you're in, who you're against."That can be a more defining question. Maybe sometimes I find it hard to admit and just say. But I wouldn't be racing in Formula 1, I wouldn't be fighting for a world championship, if I didn't believe deep down that I could be the best in the world."
South Wales Guardian
3 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
British number one Katie Boulter edges past Ajla Tomljanovic at Queen's
The 28-year-old, who secured a doubles victory alongside compatriot Emma Raducanu on Monday, was broken in her opening game, but found herself in a position to serve for the set after taking a 5-3 advantage. But Tomljanovic immediately broke back, eventually forcing an opening set tiebreak in which she was edged out by an emphatic winner from Boulter. There's no place like home 🏡@katiecboulter kicks off her grass season with a gritty win over Tomljanovic, 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-4!#HSBCChampionships — wta (@WTA) June 10, 2025 Tomljanovic held the first game of the second set before Boulter, who struggled with her first serves, bounced back from a pair of double faults to make it 1-1. The qualifier then seized control, winning five straight games to force a deciding set, and made it six games in a row when she claimed the first game of the third. Boulter began to swing the contest in her favour, breaking Tomljanovic's serve three times to make it 5-4 and, with the Australian serving to stay in it, digging deep to see herself through after nearly two-and-a-half hours. The WTA 500 event marks the first time in 52 years Queen's has hosted women's tennis. 'When I walked out it actually surpassed what I thought it would feel like when I kind of imagined it,' said Boulter, after sealing the win at the newly-christened Andy Murray Arena. 'That was really nice, and it was great to see that there were loads of people here today watching and supporting, and that actually just means a lot to me as a person and a player, and I know it does to a lot of the girls who are here and fighting and working their butts off.' Boulter has sat in the stands here before watching fiancee Alex de Minaur, who was in attendance, and confessed the vice versa initially felt 'weird.' 'I feel like I had a lot of emotions today,' she added. 'I think it's very easy to get caught up in just trying to get your first grass court match, also coming to such an historic venue as well, which holds a lot of purpose and a lot of familiar feelings when I've come here before. 'I'm mostly grateful to be here and to be playing this tournament, and hopefully I can just be here for a bit longer. ' Earlier, Heather Watson set up a second-round meeting with fourth seed and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina after upsetting world number 27 Yulia Putintseva, 107 places above her in the rankings, 6-4 6-3. Former British number one Watson won all four of her break points to see off her Kazakh opponent in an hour and 22 minutes.
South Wales Guardian
3 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Emma Raducanu makes short work of opening win at Queen's
The 22-year-old, who secured a first doubles victory with partner Katie Boulter on Monday, revealed before the tournament – the first time Queen's has hosted women's tennis in 52 years – that she was still managing ongoing back issues, playing down expectations for this WTA 500 event, boasting a £1million prize pot. But wild card Raducanu was in fine form on Tuesday afternoon on centre court – the day before inaugurated as the Andy Murray Arena – where she dispatched Bucsa in just one hour and four minutes, much to the delight of the home crowd who were behind the 2021 US Open champion the whole way. 'I must say I was quite locked in today,' Raducanu said on court. 'I'm very pleased with my performance. I was a little bit nervous for sure at the beginning, it's my first time playing on this court at Queen's in London, and the support is incredible. 'I'm still trying to find my groove on this surface, there are certain shots that I feel like I am a little bit late on, so I'm working on that. 'I knew today was going to be a very difficult match. I actually lost to Cristina earlier on in the year, so I was really trying to fight and make sure that didn't happen again. 'I was really trying to fight and get myself into the second round, because I just want to stay here playing at Queen's as many matches as I possibly can.' This was Raducanu's first appearance on the west London venue's marquee stage after making her Queen's debut on the smaller Court One on Monday with British number one Boulter. The latter also punched her ticket to the second round but in much grittier fashion, battling to a 7-6 (4) 1-6 6-4 victory over Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic. 'When I walked out it actually surpassed what I thought it would feel like when I kind of imagined it,' said Boulter, adding: 'I think it's very easy to get caught up in just trying to get your first grass court match, also coming to such an historic venue as well, which holds a lot of purpose and a lot of familiar feelings when I've come here before.' Earlier, Heather Watson set up a second-round meeting with fourth seed and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina after upsetting world number 27 Yulia Putintseva, 107 places above her in the rankings, 6-4 6-3. Former British number one Watson won all four of her break points to see off her Kazakh opponent in an hour and 22 minutes. All smiles at @QueensTennis for @HeatherWatson92 🤗#BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 | #HSBCChampionships — LTA (@the_LTA) June 10, 2025 Tuesday's results ensured four Britons qualified for the round of 16 after Sonay Kartal set up a meeting with American eighth seed Amanda Anisimova by beating Daria Kasatkina 6-1 3-6 6-3 on Monday. It was not to be for British wildcard Fran Jones, however, who was defeated in straight 6-2 6-4 sets by American McCartney Kessler, while the other all-British pair in the doubles draw, Kartel and Jodie Burrage, were knocked out in a nervy 7-6 (8) 7-6 (1) defeat to Lyudmyla Kichenok and Erin Routliffe.
