Formula One‘s 2025 season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, is already ringing alarms of an exciting race spectacle with a high chance of rain that could influence the race outcome by a significant margin.
The upcoming weekend marks the first race of the year and preparations are well underway at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit.
Race day falls on Sunday, 16 March, but with varying weather forecasts across all three days, teams may be forced to adjust their race strategies throughout the weekend.
Australian Grand Prix Weather Forecast
The weather forecast for the race in Melbourne is given below:
Free Practice – Friday, 14 March: Weather.com suggests warm day temperatures peaking at 25 degrees Celsius while nights are predicted to be cooler at 15 degrees. However, with both Free Practice sessions happening in the afternoon (FP1 at 12:30-13:30 local time and FP2 at 16:00-17:00 local time), drivers will also face high humidity levels, expected to peak at 72 percent.
Qualifying – Saturday, 15 March: F1 drivers will head out for Free Practice 3 from 12:30 to 13:30 local time, followed by the qualifying session, which will last for an hour from 16:00 to 17:00 local time. However, the day is forecasted to be hotter than Friday, with temperatures expected to peak at 32 degrees Celsius, while the minimum is predicted to be a warm 22 degrees. Humidity will hover around the 50 percent mark throughout the day.
Grand Prix – Sunday, 16 March: Race day is expected to witness a remarkable drop in maximum temperature compared to Saturday. The highest temperature forecasted is 24 degrees Celsius with 73 percent humidity. However, with an 86 percent chance of rain during the day, F1 teams will be keeping their wet tires handy. The race is scheduled to start at 15:00 local time.
The Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain suggested that Ferrari and McLaren could be the favorites for the Australian Grand Prix. While Red Bull can’t be ruled out from showcasing a strong performance at Melbourne, Max Verstappen recently admitted that the 2025 car, the RB21, needs more work and thus, ruled out a potential race win at the season opener. Newsweek Sports reported:
“[There is work to do].
“I think McLaren is the favourite if you look at the lap times, and for us not everything went completely smoothly.
“On the other hand, I think we do have some ideas on how to improve the car, I’ve also spent a lot of time in the simulator, for example, yesterday with the team.
“I don’t think we can compete for victory in Melbourne, but hopefully we will be able to make improvements within a few races.”
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