Australian Grand Prix: Melbourne weather sees race cancelled in official FIA announcement

Australian Grand Prix

Australian Grand Prix: Melbourne weather sees race cancelled in official FIA announcement

The FIA have cancelled a race at the Australian GP weekend

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Sunday 16 March 2025 03:40 Updated: 07:21

FIA Race Control have officially announced that a race at the Australian Grand Prix weekend has been cancelled after a treacherous downpour of rain in Melbourne.

F1 returned for the 2025 season in Australia this weekend as fans got a glimpse of their favourite drivers in competitive action for the first time since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last December.

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A fair bit has changed since then with the likes of Lewis Hamilton now lining up in the red of Ferrari; Carlos Sainz making way to join Williams and Kimi Antonelli being promoted at Mercedes to fill the seven-time world champion's vacant seat.

Although there are some new faces, things seem to be taking a familiar approach to 2024 in the battle at the front.

McLaren were fastest in qualifying as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secured a front row lockout for lights out in Melbourne - with Max Verstappen and Red Bull alongside the Mercedes of George Russell in third and fourth respectively.

Carlos Sainz (L) was replaced by Lewis Hamilton (R) at Ferrari

George Russell (L) and Max Verstappen (R) qualified in 4th and 3rd respectively in Australia

Qualifying times and race strategies, however, may soon be thrown out the window given the weather conditions that arrived in Melbourne on Sunday morning.

An onslaught of wet weather greeted fans in the Victoria state capital and proved so intense that FIA Race Control had to take decisive action.

Melbourne weather sees FIA race cancellation

A staple part of any grand prix weekend sees the likes of the F2 and F3 series take to the track in a variety of support races ahead of lights out in F1.

This was no exception in Melbourne and F2 drivers had to battle torrential rain on track as they looked to get their feature race underway.

However, after multiple red flags in heavy rain, FIA Race Control had no choice but to announce that the race was cancelled as the wet weather posed too great a threat to the safety of the drivers to allow them to race in the current conditions.

With delaying the race not being a viable option due to time restrictions on the upcoming F1 race, there sadly was no alternative to finish the race despite the best efforts of those involved.

The Formula 2 Feature Race in Melbourne has been cancelled due to inclement weather#F2 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/DZRj9FSN0K
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) March 16, 2025