The event was held at Albert Park across the weekend of 14 to 16 March 2025, its 28th time hosting the race and the 39th running of the Australian Grand Prix as a world championship round. The 2025 season brought a significant wave of driver movements. Lewis Hamilton made his debut as a Ferrari driver after twelve seasons with Mercedes. Kimi Antonelli joined Mercedes, Oliver Bearman moved to Haas, Jack Doohan arrived at Alpine, Gabriel Bortoleto signed with Sauber, and Isack Hadjar joined Racing Bulls — all making their first starts as full-time Formula One drivers. Esteban Ocon joined Haas, Nico Hulkenberg signed with Sauber, and Carlos Sainz Jr. moved to Williams.
Three free practice sessions preceded the race. In the first session on 14 March, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fastest early on before red flags interrupted proceedings — first when Jack Doohan ran wide at turn 6 and deposited gravel on the track, then again when Oliver Bearman lost control exiting the turn 9-10 chicane and hit the wall. The session concluded with Norris, Carlos Sainz Jr., Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, and Verstappen in the top five. Bearman did not participate in the second session while his car was repaired; Leclerc led that session, followed by Piastri, Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, and Hamilton. In the third session on 15 March, Bearman spun at turn 11 and beached in the gravel, bringing out another red flag. Liam Lawson also retired early with a power unit issue. Piastri ended third practice fastest, ahead of Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc, and Antonelli.
Qualifying took place on 15 March at 16:00 local time. In Q1, Norris set the fastest lap with a 1:16.003, just over one-hundredth of a second ahead of Verstappen. Lawson triggered a yellow flag after oversteering into the gravel and also ran onto the grass, ultimately qualifying eighteenth. Antonelli dropped through the order after encountering the gravel. Antonelli, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Ocon, and Bearman were eliminated in Q1, filling grid positions 16 through 20.
In Q2, Verstappen went quickest initially before Piastri and Norris went faster. Hamilton brought out yellow flags after spinning, harming those on the edge of elimination. Norris held the fastest time at 1:15.415. Hadjar, Alonso, Stroll, Doohan, and Bortoleto were eliminated, filling grid positions 11 through 15.
Q3 produced a dramatic finish. Leclerc looked to have taken provisional pole before Verstappen went 0.08 seconds quicker with a 1:15.671. Piastri then beat Verstappen by four-tenths, before Norris set the fastest time of the session to take pole. Lawson was required to start from the pit lane as his car had been modified under parc ferme conditions, as was Bearman, who had failed to set a qualifying time.
The race was scheduled to start at 15:00 local time on 16 March but was delayed by 15 minutes after Isack Hadjar crashed his Racing Bulls on the formation lap, triggering an aborted start procedure. The race distance was shortened by one lap to 57 laps as a result.
Norris led from pole under changing intermediate conditions. He briefly lost the lead to Verstappen when both Norris and Piastri lost control in the wet, with Norris pitting shortly after. Piastri was briefly beached before freeing his car, dropping to thirteenth and eventually recovering to ninth after a late pass on Hamilton. Norris regained the lead and controlled the remainder of the race, winning ahead of Verstappen and Russell.
Antonelli recovered twelve places from his sixteenth-place qualifying position to finish fourth, a result that made him the second-youngest Formula One driver to score a championship point. Alexander Albon finished fifth for Williams, the team's best result since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. Lance Stroll was sixth and Hulkenberg seventh. Ferrari had a difficult season opener with Leclerc eighth and Hamilton tenth. The Haas pair of Bearman and Ocon rounded out the classified finishers.
Six retirements were recorded, all due to on-track accidents: Hadjar on the formation lap, Doohan, Sainz, Alonso, Bortoleto, and Lawson. Three safety car periods were deployed.
Norris's victory ended Verstappen's continuous lead of the Drivers' Championship, which had been unbroken since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix. McLaren took the Constructors' Championship lead alongside Mercedes, both on 27 points, with Red Bull trailing on 18. It was the first time Norris had led the Drivers' standings at any point in his Formula One career.