Australian Grand Prix – Formula One: Live leaderboard and lap-by-lap updates as F1 opening race start time is postponed as rookie driver crashes during the practice lap as torrential rain causes havoc

We’ve got someone off the track in the practice lap!

Isack Hadjar’s just come off the track in turn two!

We have now had an aborted start here because of the incident.

The rookie driver appeared to have also broken his rear wing.

Looks like Doohan is OK! He made contact with another car before spinning off into the barrier with his rear-wing totally broken.

The race finally gets under way! Some excellent driving from Max Verstappen getting up to second ahead of Oscar Piastri! He trails Lando Norris in first!

That was an incredible start and I don’t know how the drivers can see due to the spray on the track!

Thankfully the young driver was OK after his crash but he was distraught having crashed out in the formation lap on his first Formula One start.

We’re back out on the grid now and there’s another formation lap taking place. Looks like the rain has died down a little bit.

I spoke to Anthony Hamilton on the grid. He is now consoling Hadjar. Amazing scenes. Why is nobody from his team with him?

Back to what Hamilton Snr said: ‘We are enjoying it at Ferrari whatever happens. The results are less important.’

Poor Isack Hadjar. In tears. A seriously slow crash. All those months of preparation and then he can’t even start the race. Pass the Andrex.

T-minus three minutes until lights out!

All eyes will be on this man in his Ferrari debut!

Plenty of Aussie sporting royalty on the grid this morning with Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja and Tim Cahill all spotted during Martin Brundle’s grid walk.

The Sky Sports broadcaster did not though stop for an interview with some taking to social media to joke that he snubbed them!

William’s driver Alex Albon has given his verdict on the conditions here in Melbourne.

‘It’s a little sketchy out there so let’s see,’ he said.

‘I’m always surprised with how little grip we have with these tyres. And that’s no exception.

‘It feels very slippy, being a street track you feel it and there’s paint lines everywhere. And even going down the straights it’s sliding around everywhere.’

Here’s what the conditions look like currently…

Lando Norris has clapped back at Netflix for ‘fabricating nonsense’ during their hit series Drive to Survive.

The McLaren driver slammed TV producers for hyping up his rivalry with World Champion Max Verstappen.

‘They need to show the truth about people more,’ he said.

‘I want facts; I don’t want made up scripts and fabricated nonsense, which there is. I mean the portrayal of Max, and how we were against each other so much. They don’t need to create things. There’s drama, anyway. They can just show the facts of the drama.’

Confirmation just in that Liam Lawson will start from the pit lane this afternoon.

Looks like we’re still on time to get going here with the drivers coming out to pose for a picture on the grid.

Martin Brundle, meanwhile, is having a hard time tracking down many celebrities on his grid walk. I think many of the A-listers are taking shelter from the rain!

We’re just waiting to see whether we’ll get a standing start or a safety car start here due to the torrential rain.

Plenty of cars were taking the chance to practice a standing start in their practice laps around the track.

Meanwhile, Martin Brundle is doing his grid walk, and he’s just caught up with Lewis Hamilton’s dad, who has some interesting comments about the Ferrari driver’s debut…

‘It sort of feels like the first day in Formula One for us,’ Anthony Hamilton said.

‘It’s that sort of same butterflies and anticipation that you don’t know what’s going to happen or what to expect.

‘But the most important thing is he’s super happy and we’re super happy.’

Re-cap on how Hamilton got on earlier this weekend below!

Zak Brown believes we could have a rolling safety car start here.

The McLaren boss though believes that visibility should clear up later on in the race, while revealing Lando Norris’ tyre selection.

‘Lando’s just gone out on some intermediates,’ Brown told Sky Sports.

‘They know what to do here, I imagine this will be a rolling safety car start with how bad the visibility is,’

I’m just watching Sky Sports’ pre-race coverage and the broadcasters are fighting to stay standing up! Martin Brundle

We’re bracing for what’s set to be a very wet and wild race, with rain expected to fall on Albert Park for the next four hours.

It comes after the F2 feature race ahead of this year’s Australian Grand Prix was cancelled due to the torrential conditions.

The race was scheduled to start at 11.30, but with large puddles forming on the track, the race was delayed.

A ‘track clear’ message came at 11.54 and a formation lap took place.

But with the field gathering behind the safety car race bosses were forced to call off the race due to the torrential weather.

‘I feel sorry for the fans who wanted to see us race and also for our teams and drivers who came all the way to Melbourne, but safety takes precedence,’ Formula Two CEO Bruno Michel said.

‘We tried everything we could to make it happen, but ultimately, the track conditions were too dangerous, which the drivers confirmed over the radio, so the right call was to cancel. We focus now on Bahrain, which will take place on 11-13 of April.’

Meanwhile, Ted Kravitz in the pit lane has given us his thoughts on the conditions, stating: ‘This could not be more difficult conditions for the first race of the year.’

‘It’s possible for a safety car start,’ he added.

The visibility out there looks awful with cars spraying water up behind them from the track.

If this rain keeps falling it could mean we’ll have a stop-start race.

Lando Norris has beaten Max Verstappen to start on pole this morning, while his team-mate Oscar Piastri takes second place.

Piastri could today become the first Australian to win on home soil in Melbourne since Alan Jones back in 1980!

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, got off to a disappointing start on his Ferrari debut, placing eighth having made the startling admission that he didn’t know where the ‘wet button’ was in his new Ferrari!

Hamilton said: ‘I have never driven the car in the wet. I don’t even know where the wet switch is. I don’t know which buttons I have got to switch so that is going to be new. We are using Brembo brakes, which I have not used since I was much younger.’

Feeling a bit lost with all the new faces? Disoriented by the fact Max Verstappen might not actually win? Or maybe you haven’t tuned in since the days of Adrian Sutil and Rubens Barrichello and need a major overhaul of your F1 knowledge. ‘Who’s Max Verstappen?’

Wherever you stand, we hope this guide is useful with getting to grips with the new campaign. I, for one, can’t wait.

It’s back and we’re very excited for what’s set to be one of the most competitive Formula One seasons on record!

It’s also the first time since 2019 that the race has been held in Melbourne and the main talking point this morning has been the weather!

The rain has been pouring down on the track this morning meaning we’re set to have some very slippery conditions out there today.

And over the next four hours it looks like the rain isn’t going to hold off, with moderate winds also expected.

Meanwhile, the drivers have got their coats on and have stopped on the starting grid to pose for a quick snap!

Here’s how we line up today.

McLaren are the only team on the grid who have achieved a sense of strong consistency, lining up on the front row.

Lewis Hamilton admitted he doesn’t even know where the wet switch is in his Ferrari after chuntering to eighth, so he’ll be hoping for a dry session. Unfortunately for him, rain is forecasted for this one, so he best get learning quickly! He sitsjust behind Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Not a great start to the season for Haas, who prop up the grid with their new-look line-up of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman.

Lights out and away we go! Well, sort of. In a few hours, at least.

It’s good to back, isn’t it? The three months of effort since the Abu Dhabi GP in early December have been leading up to this.

Lando Norris claimed the victory on that day as McLaren lifted the Constructors’ Championship, and it is Mr Norris who is tipped for glory this season – though Max Verstappen will have a lot to say about that as he hunts for a fifth consecutive drivers’ title.

Norris and his team-mate Oscar Piastri lock out the front row going into today. Stay with us for all the build-up, action, and reaction. Things could get tasty, fast. Like, 200mph fast.