Lando Norris simply held off Max Verstappen to make the right begin to his 2025 F1 world championship problem by impressively successful a chaotic season-opening Australian GP that includes on-off rain and quite a few crashes.
Norris, the pre-season title favorite, had led the vast majority of the 58 laps from team-mate Oscar Piastri at a sodden and blustery Albert Park as McLaren’s qualifying dominance transferred into the rain-hit race, however his win appeared in jeopardy because the return of moist climate within the closing 15 laps triggered a contemporary spherical of chaos.
Because the rain began to fall, each McLarens briefly slid off the observe within the last sector, however whereas Norris efficiently rounded the subsequent flip and will instantly head for the pits for intermediate tyres, house favorite Piastri spun off into the grass and dropped to the again of the sector. He finally completed ninth.
Verstappen, who had misplaced contact with the McLarens to the tune of 16 seconds in the course of the race having initially overtaken Piastri on the primary lap earlier than a subsequent error, briefly inherited the lead but additionally needed to quickly pit for intermediates because the rain solely intensified.
After a 3rd in-race Security Automotive, he completed on Norris’ tail within the slippery closing laps however couldn’t discover a well past the Briton, who claimed the early factors benefit within the season and ended Verstappen’s 63-race sequence on the head of the Drivers’ Championship.
“That’s one of the great all-time drives from Lando Norris there,” stated Sky Sports activities F1’s Martin Brundle.
“In the most challenging conditions, with the restarts and so much pressure.”
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Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar was left in tears after crashing throughout the formation lap earlier than the race began on the Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell took third for Mercedes to earn a podium place that had not regarded probably for almost all of the race.
New rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli recovered nicely from his disappointing Q1 exit to complete a advantageous fourth on the highway within the second Silver Arrow though a five-second time penalty for an unsafe launch by Mercedes from his late pit cease earned him a five-second time penalty and dropped him to fifth behind Alex Albon, who capped a advantageous opening to the season within the much-improved Williams in what turned fourth.
However Lewis Hamilton completed tenth – the ultimate points-paying place – after a tough first outing for Ferrari.
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Pay attention to the radio messages from Lewis Hamilton’s first race with Ferrari all through the Australian Grand Prix.
Working in his qualifying place of eighth for a lot of the race, Hamilton briefly discovered himself within the lead when each Ferraris initially stayed out on slicks whereas these forward pitted because the heavens opened late on.
He was second behind the intermediate-shod Norris when the Security Automotive got here out however, regardless of the race having by then been neutralised after spins for Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson, Ferrari realised that they had made a mistake because the circumstances had been simply too moist and belatedly referred to as their vehicles in, relegating them down the order with the sector having closed up.
Charles Leclerc took eighth with Hamilton relegated to tenth on the ultimate lap by the recovering Piastri.
Whereas Fernando Alonso crashed out to trigger the race’s second of three Security Vehicles, Lance Stroll saved it on the highway to take a powerful sixth for Aston Martin – the Canadian’s first factors since final July and matching his Melbourne end from 2024 – with Nico Hulkenberg taking an surprising seventh on his debut for Sauber, their finest outcome since 2022.
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Jack Doohan and Carlos Sainz lose management on the opening lap and stick it within the wall in the beginning of the Australian GP.
Setting the tone for the season opener, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar – on the formation lap – Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Williams’ Carlos Sainz, final 12 months’s race winner, all crashed out of the occasion earlier than the sector had even accomplished the season’s opening lap.
Extra to comply with…
The F1 circus heads straight to Shanghai this week for the primary Dash weekend of the season on the Chinese language GP, with protection beginning on Friday stay on Sky Sports activities F1. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
