The event was held at Albert Park Circuit for the 28th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 14–16 March. The Grand Prix was the first round of the 2025 Formula One World Championship and the 39th running of the Australian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. This was also the first Australian Grand Prix to be held as the season opener since 2019.
The drivers and teams were the same as published in the season entry list, with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. Oliver Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan, Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson, and Isack Hadjar made their debuts as full-time drivers with Haas, Mercedes, Alpine, Sauber, Red Bull Racing, and Racing Bulls, respectively. The Grand Prix also marked Lewis Hamilton's first as a Ferrari driver, after spending twelve seasons with Mercedes. Esteban Ocon, Nico Hülkenberg, and Carlos Sainz Jr. joined Haas, Sauber, and Williams, respectively.
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds, designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.
Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 14 March 2025. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was first early on in the session. Jack Doohan of Alpine caused an early red flag. Oliver Bearman of Haas lost control of his car and hit the left hand side wall, bringing out a second red flag. By the end of the opening practice session, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz Jr., Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, and Max Verstappen made up the top five.
The second free practice session was held on the same day. Oliver Bearman did not participate. Nico Hülkenberg of Sauber ran into a gravel trap. By the end of the session, Charles Leclerc held onto first, with Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda and Lewis Hamilton making up second to fifth.
The third free practice session was held on 15 March 2025. Oliver Bearman spun the car at turn 11. Red Bull Racing's Liam Lawson was forced to retire due to a power unit system problem. The session ended with Piastri fastest, ahead of Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli.
Qualifying was held on 15 March 2025, and determined the starting grid order for the race.
The first session (Q1) ran for 18 minutes. Lando Norris of McLaren went fastest. Liam Lawson triggered a yellow flag after oversteering his RB21 into the gravel. Kimi Antonelli also had issues in the gravel. By the end of Q1, Antonelli, Nico Hülkenberg, Liam Lawson, Esteban Ocon, and Oliver Bearman were knocked out.
The second session (Q2) lasted 15 minutes. Max Verstappen set the initial pace before Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the fastest times. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso had a run in with the kerb. Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber made an impressive save. Lewis Hamilton brought out the yellow flags, spinning out. Norris held onto the quickest lap. After Q2, Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Jack Doohan, and Gabriel Bortoleto were knocked out.
The final 12 minute session (Q3) determined pole position to tenth. Charles Leclerc initially looked to have secured provisional pole before Max Verstappen and George Russell bettered his effort. Lando Norris had his time deleted due to exceeding track limits. Oscar Piastri found himself in the lead, and beat Verstappen before Norris set a time 0.084 seconds faster to take pole position.
The race was held on 16 March 2025, and was delayed to 15:15 due to Isack Hadjar's crash on the formation lap. The race was set to be run for 58 laps, but was shortened by one lap due to the aborted start procedure.
The race was held under changing, intermediate conditions. Isack Hadjar crashed his Racing Bulls during the formation lap. Lando Norris in the McLaren led a majority of the race. He briefly lost the lead to Max Verstappen when Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri lost control in intermediate conditions. Piastri was beached for a short time before he freed himself, dropping to thirteenth and later recovering to ninth after a late pass on Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen, in the Red Bull, was trailing Norris as the race reached its closing stages. Norris kept Verstappen behind to win the Grand Prix, bringing McLaren its first win in Australia since Jenson Button did so for the team in 2012. In doing so, Norris led the Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career, and broke Verstappen's reign in the lead of the championship, which he had held since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes recovered twelve places from his sixteenth-place start to finish in fourth, and his points finish made him the second-youngest Formula One driver to have scored a point.
Six retirements were observed, all for accidents on track: Hadjar, Jack Doohan for Alpine, Carlos Sainz Jr. for Williams, Fernando Alonso for Aston Martin, Gabriel Bortoleto for Sauber, and Verstappen's teammate Liam Lawson. Sainz's teammate, Alexander Albon, scored a highest finish of fifth for Williams. Alonso's teammate Lance Stroll finished in sixth, and Sauber's Nico Hülkenberg seventh, placing them above Ferrari, who had Charles Leclerc finishing in eighth and Hamilton tenth. The Haas duo of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon rounded off the bottom two on-track finishers.
Norris' victory made him the championship leader for the first time in his career, ending Verstappen's streak of leading the Formula One World Drivers' Championship continuously since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix. McLaren took the Constructors Championship lead with 27 points, with Mercedes in second, also on 27 and Red Bull trailing both of them by nine points in third.
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