FIA announce penalty verdict for McLaren star after qualifying incident at Australian GP

A McLaren star’s Australian Grand Prix weekend has gone from bad to worse after they were issued a penalty ahead of Formula 1’s first race of the season.

McLaren attacked qualifying with a blistering pace in the first session of the 2025 season, where Lando Norris claimed his first pole position of the year.

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Norris had his first lap time deleted during Q3, and a mistake on Oscar Piastri's opening lap meant he failed to string together a competitive enough time to beat Max Verstappen, despite their early advantage around Albert Park.

On their final attempt however, Piastri went quickest, but was beaten to pole at his home race by his team-mate who edged ahead of him and set the fastest time by +0.084 secs.

McLaren star Badoer endures F3 nightmare in Australia

Elsewhere in Melbourne one McLaren star endured a nightmare weekend, with development driver Brando Badoer, son of former F1 driver Luca Badoer, crashing in qualifying and then receiving a penalty ahead of the Formula 3 sprint race.

Badoer spun in his PREMA at Turn 2 during qualifying, where the rear of his car collided with the barriers and red flagged the session.

READ MORE: Bearman causes ANOTHER red flag in Australian GP nightmare

However, the FIA issued a penalty to the young McLaren star for his qualifying mistake, stating that he was solely responsible for a red flag and therefore in breach of Article 33.5 of the FIA Formula 3 Sporting Regulations.

The rule states that “any driver whose car stops on the track during the qualifying practice session will not be permitted to take any further part in the session”, and the Italian rookie lost his lap time and thus his P19 spot on the grid.

As a result all the drivers who qualified below Badoer have moved up a place, for both the sprint race and Sunday’s feature race in Melbourne.

READ MORE: Daniel Ricciardo back in business as Australian GP hits Melbourne

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