F1 Season Opener Has All The Ingredients To Deliver Pure Chaos

Hey, I don't want to get everyone's hopes up in case Formula 1's season-opening Australian Grand Prix turns into a parade, but — to quote one Rocket J. Squirrel — "Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle" I think we might be in for a real treat when the lights go out on Saturday night or Sunday morning depending on where you're watching from.

Qualifying was absolutely nuts. True story: I had no plans to watch live because it started here on the East Coast at 1 am. However, my dog decided that 1 am sounded like a good time to wake me up so I could take him outside to rip a deuce.

He's getting some extra treats today because he woke me up for a wild ride.

Let's start with what might be the lone expected result, and that is the front row which will be all McLaren with Lando Norris on pole alongside hometown hero Oscar Piastri.

I knew it was coming. You knew it was coming. Your mom who asks if F1 is "the same as NASCAR?" even knew it was coming.

But aside from that, look at this grid.

Good lord; where do we start?

Let's start with Red Bull. Obviously, the reigning champ Max Verstappen will start on the clean side of the second row in P3, but that RB21 looked to be a handful. If you need further proof of that, look at where Liam Lawson is, way down in P18 ahead of only the Haas drivers.

That's a rough look that I can assure you Sergio Perez fans were loving.

Mercedes is in a similar situation with George Russell alongside Verstappen in P4, but his rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli is way down in P16. In fairness to Antonelli, his car suffered some damage that left its ride height so low that it was dragging on the ground, scrubbing away speed.

Ferrari looked a bit off the pace in this session, however, they still managed to plant both cars on the fourth row with Charles Leclerc in P7 and Lewis Hamilton in P8.

Racing Bulls' Yuki Tsunoda has a stellar qualifying session and will start the Grand Prix in P5. (Photo by Zak Mauger/LAT Images)

Williams and Racing Bulls Impressed

But it wasn't all doom and gloom. Williams continued to have a great weekend with Alex Albon slotting in P6 and Carlos Sainz in P10, the latter may be a bit disappointing, but having both cars in points-scoring position in the season-opener has got to have the team feeling great.

However, the biggest success in my book belongs to Racing Bulls. Rookie Isack Hadjar just missed out on Q3 and will start just outside the points in P11 while Yuki Tsunoda blew some minds by sticking his VCARB 02 onto the third row and will start P5.

We talked about it in my preseason predictions, but mark my words, this will be a big year for Yuki. He needs a new deal for 2026 and I think more than a couple of teams will be taking a look at him.

So, with this grid, a little mixed-up it messes with some team's strategy options, but the biggest factor in the Grand Prix could be weather.

They're calling for storms in Melbourne right around the time the race is scheduled to take place, and if the skies open up, expect to see some wild tire gambles; some of which will pay off, while others won't.

It's looking like we might start this season with a "banger" as the kids say.

The race is scheduled to begin at midnight ET on Sunday morning. However, the weather has led to some talk of an adjusted start time.