Formula 1

Oscar Piastri will start his third Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix from the front row after a brilliant display during the first official FIA Formula 1 championship qualifying session of the year.

The Melbourne-born driver proved to be one of the quickest throughout the penultimate day of the weekend, topping the timesheets in Practice 3 before going second fastest in Qualifying.

An electrifying final run in Q3 saw Piastri charge to provisional pole position before teammate Lando Norris pipped him by less than a tenth. With reigning champion Max Verstappen unable to improve much on his final run, the session ended with a McLaren front-row lockout.

In his first home Grand Prix, Jack Doohan produced a gallant effort, making it to Q2 before eventually qualifying in P14. Although slightly off teammate Pierre Gasly, Doohan was the second-fastest rookie in Qualifying.

Doohan, Piastri, and the rest of the FIA Formula 1 Championship field officially kick off the season with the Australian Grand Prix at 3pm AEDT.

Formula 2

Joshua Duerksen put on a dominant display in the first Formula 2 outing of the season, taking victory in an entertaining Sprint Race ahead of pole-sitter Leonardo Fornaroli and Luke Browning.

The AIX Racing driver started from P2 but managed to seize the lead early with a perfect getaway over Fornaroli before managing two Safety Car interventions and remaining in control on both occasions.

The early laps saw plenty of movement, with Dino Beganovic slipping down the order before a Virtual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 3 when Victor Martins crashed out at Turn 6.

Another Safety Car was called on Lap 7 when Max Esterson spun into the gravel, but once again, Duerksen executed a flawless restart to maintain his lead, withstanding pressure from Fornaroli and Browning.

The championship returns with its Feature Race on Sunday at 11:30am AEDT.

Formula 3

With just one race on the category’s schedule for Saturday, it was Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos who claimed the first victory of the 2025 season, while James Wharton was unfortunately forced to retire early.

The rookie overcame multiple interruptions throughout the race to cross the line under the Safety Car ahead of Martinius Stenshorne and debutant Roman Bilinski.

While the Safety Car dominated much of the race, Ramos held firm whenever racing was green and never looked likely to give up the lead, even after a race restart. The Spaniard controlled the field and got away perfectly.

As for Wharton, he was involved in the first major incident as the Victorian made contact with yesterday’s pole-sitter Rafael Câmara and Laurens van Hoepen. Wharton was forced to retire, while both international drivers ended up in the gravel at Turn 12.

The championship will kick off Sunday morning’s action with its Feature Race at 9am AEDT.

Supercars

Reigning Supercars Champion Will Brown has notched up his first victory of the 2025 season after edging out Red Bull teammate Broc Feeney in the third race of the MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint.

In what was undoubtedly the most chaotic race of the weekend for the category so far, Brown and Feeney avoided the drama unfolding behind them. Brown managed to snatch the win from his teammate, who had made history by qualifying in top spot for both Race 6 and Race 7 earlier in the day.

Rounding out the podium was Matt Stone Racing’s Nick Percat, who found himself in a thrilling battle with both Shell V-Power Racing Team entries of Will Davison and Brodie Kostecki—eventually hanging on for third and securing his second podium of the weekend.

The race saw some hairy moments early on, with James Golding falling victim to the first major crash before Cooper Murray’s early finish.

Despite not winning the race, Feeney remains in the box seat to win this year’s Larry Perkins Trophy after yesterday’s leader, Cameron Hill, finished 10th. Meanwhile, current championship leader Brown has a challenge ahead, as he will start tomorrow’s race from P18.

Supercars’ final race of the round takes place at 10:20am AEDT.

Porsche Carrera Cup Australia

Porsche Carrera Cup Australia wrapped up its visit to Albert Park in style on Saturday night as Carrera Cup champion Alessandro Ghiretti took out the final race of the weekend.

The French debutant was a cut above the rest during the twilight race, charging up the order to secure the victory, while Jackson Walls did enough to claim the overall win, finishing third in the finale.

Splitting Ghiretti and Walls in the 16-lap race was Dylan O’Keeffe, and as a result, the Victorian finished as runner-up for the weekend.

In Pro-Am, Rodney Jane secured his second consecutive round win of the year after a consistent weekend behind the wheel. Jane finished fourth in the final race but had done enough on Thursday and Friday to secure the points needed.

Taking top honors in Saturday night’s race was Adrian Flack, who beat Sam Shahin by one second, with Matthew Belford finishing in third place overall.

The popular one-make category now has an extended break between rounds, with its next appearance scheduled for Darwin in June.