Lando Norris survived three restarts, an off that cost him the lead, and ever-changing intensity in the rain to beat Max Verstappen to the Australian Grand Prix victory with George Russell third.
Only 14 of the 20 drivers completed the Grand Prix such were the slips, slides and crashes.
After the Formula 2 race was cancelled as the rain chucked down at the Albert Park circuit, all eyes were on the sky in the countdown to Sunday’s season-opening F1 Australian Grand Prix.
Although the rain continued to fall, it lessened with the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix getting away on time as the drivers left the grid for the formation lap with two – Oliver Bearman and Liam Lawson – starting in the pit lane.
Isack Hadjar’s race was over even before it began as the Racing Bulls’ rookie spun and rear-ended the barrier, damaging the back of his VCARB02.
As Hadjar trudged back to the paddock in tears, Anthony Hamilton stopping to console him, the grid reformed with Race Control announcing the next formation lap would be at 15 minutes past the hour.
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The second formation went off without a hitch, and the 57-lap Australian Grand Prix got underway with Norris holding onto the lead ahead of Piastri as Verstappen tried to challenge the McLaren drivers. He got Piastri around the outside at Turn 2.
Crash! Jack Doohan lost the rear end on the run down to Turn 6, spun and hit the wall. His damaged Alpine came to a halt in the middle of the track.
The Safety Car was out for that only for Carlos Sainz to join the list of crashers as he lost it into the final corner, spun and hit the wall with the right side of his FW47. “Massive torque surge,” he said.
The Safety Car pulled into the pits at the end of Lap 7, Norris putting his foot down early to retain the lead ahead of Verstappen and Norris. George Russell was fourth ahead of Charles Leclerc, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Lewis Hamilton.
Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso, who was running P10, found themselves under investigation for leaving more than 10 car lengths to the car in front during the Safety Car.
DRS was enabled on Lap 12 with Verstappen clawing his way onto the back of Norris’ MCL39 and bringing Piastri with him. Chasing down Albon, Hamilton was adjusting to not only driving a Ferrari F1 car in the wet but also his new race engineer Riccardo Adami. “I know,” he said, “leave me to it please.”
Albon and Hamilton were also noted for Safety Car infringements, before it was confirmed that all four drivers had been cleared.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s Mercedes replacement, Kimi Antonelli, made his first F1 overtake as he passed Nico Hulkenberg for 12th. And then he went spinning, the Sauber driver back ahead.
A mistake from Verstappen as he locked up and ran deep into Turn 11 gifted Piastri second place behind Norris, McLaren 1-2 on Lap 17. The Red Bull driver wanted to pit but with a few drops of rain incoming, he was told to stay out. “My tyres are f**ked,” he said.
The drizzle arrived with Leclerc complaining that he had a “seat full of water”. His race engineer: “Must be the water.” Leclerc: “Let’s add that to the words of wisdom.”
Back at the front, Piastri was all over the rear of his team-mate’s MCL39, the two McLaren drivers clearing the backmarkers starting with the Haas pairing.
His race engineer Tom Stallard got on the radio: “We should hold position, transition to the dry and clear the backmarkers.” Piastri: “I’m faster but okay.” A small moment on the kerbs at Turn 6 from Piastri gave Norris a bit of breathing room. Piastri then received the “free to race” message.
Crash! Alonso’s run for the points ended on Lap 34 when he spun his Aston Martin and slammed into the wall with his AMR25 facing the wrong way.
That sparked a run of pit stops, the drivers either bolting on the medium Pirellis or the hard tyres. Of the top ten, Norris and Piastri went onto the hard tyres as did Russell, Hamilton, Gasly and Antonelli. Verstappen, Leclerc and Tsunoda bolted on mediums. Gabriel Bortoleto was hit with a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release as he got in Liam Lawson’s way in the pit lane.
At the very back, Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman put on new intermediates. Up and down the pit lane, it seemed none of the teams were too sure about the incoming rain and its intensity. The Haas team-mates came back in to swap inters for mediums.
The Safety Car pulled in at the end of Lap 41, Norris quick to get going ahead of Piastri and Verstappen, Russell running fourth ahead of Leclerc, Tsunoda, Albon, Hamilton, Gasly and Antonelli. And still the threat of ‘Class 3′, ie intense rain, on the horizon.
As the rain arrived, Norris went sliding off the track, Piastri followed him off. But while Norris made it back onto the black stuff, Piastri went sliding off onto the other side of the track and into the grass. Norris was back in P1 and Verstappen second, make that first as Norris pitted. Piastri worked his way out of the grass and he too pitted.
Verstappen stayed out and in the chaos, Hamilton moved up to second with Gasly third ahead of Tsunoda and Leclerc, who spun. Told to “stay out”, Red Bull then told Verstappen to “box, box” and he relinquished the lead to Hamilton before Norris on the inters passed him.
Crash! Lawson dropped it in the wet and finished his race with his Red Bull’s rear end in the barrier while Bortoleto also crashed into the barriers. Ferrari pitted behind the Safety Car, Hamilton and Leclerc down from second and third to ninth and tenth. Norris, Verstappen and Russell were up at the front ahead of Albon, Antonelli and Lance Stroll.
The race resumed at the end of Lap 51 for a six-lap shootout between two of F1 2025’s title contenders, Norris and Verstappen. For the third time, Norris made a great restart to lead ahead of Verstappen who had Russell all over the rear of his RB21.
Leclerc passed Hamilton for ninth, Piastri quickly up to 11th behind the Ferraris who overtook twitchy Gasly with Piastri also getting ahead of the Alpine driver. Antonelli took fourth off Albon but was given a five second penalty for an unsafe release.
Verstappen was right on Norris’ rear wing throughout the final two laps but wasn’t able to get it done, Norris taking the win by 0.9 seconds ahead of the reigning World Champion. Russell joined them on the podium.
Antonelli crossed the line in fourth but dropped to P5 behind Albon with Stroll, Hulkenberg, Leclerc, Piastri and Hamilton completing the points.
1 Lando Norris McLaren 2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.895 3 George Russell Mercedes +8.481 4 Alexander Albon Williams +12.773 5 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +15.135 6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +17.413 7 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +18.423 8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +19.826 9 Oscar Piastri McLaren +20.448 10 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +22.473 11 Pierre Gasly Alpine +26.502 12 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls +29.884 13 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +33.161
14 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +40.351
Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber – crash Liam Lawson Red Bull – crash Fernando Alonso Ferrari – crash Carlos Sainz Williams – crash Jack Doohan Alpine – crash
DNS – Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls – formation lap crash
