Formula 1 in 2025: How to watch the Australian Grand Prix on TV and what to know

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Here is a guide that tells you everything you need to know about Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix — the year’s first Formula 1 race.

— In the U.S., ESPN.

— Other countries are listed here.

The 5.2-kilometer (3.2-mile) Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit is laid out around a lake in Melbourne's inner suburbs and uses roads which are open to the public for the remainder of the year. It's a relatively fast track but overtaking is often difficult. This will be the first time since 2019 that Australia hosts the season-opening race. The 2020 Australian GP was cancelled two hours before the scheduled season-opening racing weekend because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the lowlights of Max Verstappen’s 2024 world championship season was at Melbourne Park, where he went out in the fourth lap of the race with a fiery mechanical failure.

Get caught up:

— Lando Norris takes pole for Sunday's race.

— Lewis Hamilton ready to race for Ferrari for the first time in F1’s season-opening Australian GP

— Red carpet, fashion and music: F1 launches its 2025 season Hollywood style

— Any hope Red Bull's Christian Horner had of leaving last year's sordid season behind him has been dashed

— Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli says Lewis Hamilton told him to enjoy himself in F1

— Oscar Piastri has signed a “multi-year” contract extension with McLaren

— George Russell says he won’t change approach to Max Verstappen after F1 feud in 2024

— Lando Norris says he’ll drive with ‘elbows out’ to compete with Max Verstappen this F1 season

— Meet Formula 1's biggest rookie class in year

— Lewis Hamilton wants to win another F1 title at 40. It hasn’t been done since the 1960s

5 — Verstappen is targeting a fifth world title in a row. Only three other drivers — including Lewis Hamilton — have won five titles. Of those, only Michael Schumacher won five consecutively.

8 — Hamilton is aiming to win a record-breaking eighth title after joining his new team, Ferrari.

24 - The Australian Grand Prix kicks off a 24-race schedule, matching the record set last year for the longest F1 season.

Lewis Hamilton qualified eighth-fastest in his Ferrari debut as McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed pole position. Norris went into the third session of final qualifying on the back foot after his first lap was deleted for track limit infringements at turn four, where he had all four wheels off the track. Norris’ teammate and Melbourne-born Oscar Piastri was second, enabling McLaren to lock out the front row for the second straight race, following 2024’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the defending world champion, claimed third, shrugging off pre-season pace concerns for the team about its RB21 car.

"It isn’t quite where we wanted to be but overall I’m satisfied with the progress we have made over the past two days ... but given this is a weekend of firsts for me, I didn’t underestimate how steep the learning curve would be” — Hamilton on qualifying eighth.

"Not a bad way to start the year, thanks everyone” — Norris on his team radio shortly after the qualifying session ended.

“Pretty happy. It’s obviously great to start the year on the front row — only one position back from what I would’ve liked." — Piastri.

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Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain prepares for qualifying at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Tracey Nearmy/Pool Photo via AP)

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia reacts following his second place finish in qualifying at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

McLaren driver Lando Norris, centre of Britain poses after taking pole position with second placed teammate Oscar Piastri, left, of Australia and third placed Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Barbour)

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia waits in his car during the second practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Heath McKinley )

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car during the second practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco steers his car during the second practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Barbour)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the second practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands in action during a Formula One pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia makes a pit stop during a Formula One pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, is seen on a giant screen during a team presentation event, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, smiles during a team presentation event, in Milan, Italy , Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

U.S. forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The announcement was made Friday by the U.S. military. The Trump administration has been targeting sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

The pre-dawn action was carried out by U.S. Marines and Navy, taking part in the monthslong buildup of forces in the Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the vessel called the Olina.

Navy officials couldn’t immediately provide details about whether the Coast Guard was part of the force that took control of the vessel as has been the case in the previous seizures. A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard said there was no immediate comment on the seizure.

The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of a broader effort by Trump’s administration to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

The latest:

Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, says a documentary film about first lady Melania Trump will make its premiere later this month, posting a trailer on X.

As the Trumps prepared to return to the White House last year, Amazon Prime Video announced a year ago that it had obtained exclusive licensing rights for a streaming and theatrical release directed by Brett Ratner.

Melania Trump also released a self-titled memoir in late 2024.

Some artists have canceled scheduled Kennedy Center performances after a newly installed board voted to add President Donald Trump’s to the facility, prompting Grenell to accuse the performers of making their decisions because of politics.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum says that she has asked her foreign affairs secretary to reach out directly to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Trump regarding comments by the American leader that the U.S. cold begin ground attacks against drug cartels.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News aired Thursday night, Trump said, “We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water and we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very sad to watch.”

As she has on previous occasions, Sheinbaum downplayed the remarks, saying “it is part of his way of communicating.” She said she asked her Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente to strengthen coordination with the U.S.

Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s offer to send U.S. troops after Mexican drug cartels. She emphasizes that there will be no violation of Mexico’s sovereignty, but the two governments will continue to collaborate closely.

Analysts do not see a U.S. incursion in Mexico as a real possibility, in part because Sheinbaum’s administration has been doing nearly everything Trump has asked and Mexico is a critical trade partner.

Trump says he wants to secure $100 billion to remake Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, a lofty goal going into a 2:30 meeting on Friday with executives from leading oil companies. His plan rides on oil producers being comfortable in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

The president has said that the U.S. will control distribution worldwide of Venezuela’s oil and will share some of the proceeds with the country’s population from accounts that it controls.

“At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

Trump is banking on the idea that he can tap more of Venezuela’s petroleum reserves to keep oil prices and gasoline costs low.

At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.

Trump is expected to meet with oil executives at the White House on Friday.

He hopes to secure $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s oil industry. The goal rides on the executives’ comfort with investing in a country facing instability and inflation.

Since a U.S. military raid captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has said there’s a new opportunity to use the country’s oil to keep gasoline prices low.

The full list of executives invited to the meeting has not been disclosed, but Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are expected to attend.

Attorneys general in five Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration after it said it would freeze money for several public benefit programs.

The Trump administration has cited concerns about fraud in the programs designed to help low-income families and their children. California, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois and New York states filed the lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit asks the courts to order the administration to release the funds. The attorneys general have called the funding freeze an unconstitutional abuse of power.

Iran’s judiciary chief has vowed decisive punishment for protesters, signaling a coming crackdown against demonstrations.

Iranian state television reported the comments from Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei on Friday. They came after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized Trump’s support for the protesters, calling Trump’s hands “stained with the blood of Iranians.”

The government has shut down the internet and is blocking international calls. State media has labeled the demonstrators as “terrorists.”

The protests began over Iran’s struggling economy and have become a significant challenge to the government. Violence has killed at least 50 people, and more than 2,270 have been detained.

Trump questions why a president’s party often loses in midterm elections and suggests voters “want, maybe a check or something”

Trump suggested voters want to check a president’s power and that’s why they often deliver wins for an opposing party in midterm elections, which he’s facing this year.

“There’s something down, deep psychologically with the voters that they want, maybe a check or something. I don’t know what it is, exactly,” he said.

He said that one would expect that after winning an election and having “a great, successful presidency, it would be an automatic win, but it’s never been a win.”

Hiring likely remained subdued last month as many companies have sought to avoid expanding their workforces, though the job gains may be enough to bring down the unemployment rate.

December’s jobs report, to be released Friday, is likely to show that employers added a modest 55,000 jobs, economists forecast. That figure would be below November’s 64,000 but an improvement after the economy lost jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to slip to 4.5%, according to data provider FactSet, from a four-year high of 4.6% in November.

The figures will be closely watched on Wall Street and in Washington because they will be the first clean readings on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.

FILE - President Donald Trump dances as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)