McLaren’s Lando Norris kicked off the 2025 Formula One season atop of the Australian Grand Prix podium this past weekend. Australia marked the fifth Grand Prix win for the British driver and is a testament to early predictions of McLaren’s dominance this season. Max Verstappen of Red Bull took second place, 0.895 seconds behind Norris, with George Russell of Mercedes closing out the podium in third, 7.586 seconds later.
The weekend delivered on its promise to be a rainy and exciting affair, with a slippery track causing problems for multiple drivers through practice, qualifying and the race. Haas’s Oliver Bearman spun out twice during free practice and ran into an issue with his gearbox that took him out of qualifying but eventually ended up P14, the last of the drivers who finished the race.
Fellow rookie Isack Hadjar was the first to spin out during the race itself; his incident during the formation lap delayed the start and provoked an emotional reaction from the Racing Bulls driver. During the restart, Verstappen was able to squeeze past hometown hero Oscar Piastri, who qualified P2 right behind McLaren teammate Norris. Just one lap after the restart, Australian rookie Jack Doohan of Alpine came to a disappointing end as his tire lost grip on the painted white lines and sent him into the track’s barriers. Carlos Sainz was the next driver to fall under the misfortune of the wet and slippery track. An unexpected and unplanned power surge that occurred under Doohan’s safety car during the second lap caused Sainz’s Williams to spin out and end his race.
The next 20 laps after Doohan and Sainz’s back-to-back DNFs were relatively uneventful, with Piastri pulling off an easy overtake on Verstappen when he lost stability after dipping into the gravel. The McLarens pulled away easily from the rest of the pack, with Verstappen 14 seconds behind Piastri and less than a second between the teammates. The safety car made its third appearance on Lap 37 after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso spun out at Turn 7, effectively ending his race. A majority of the remaining drivers took the safety car window as an opportunity to make a pit stop for fresh tires. Despite whisperings of rain in the coming laps, none of the teams decided to use wet tires until around Lap 44.
Piastri, who had been comfortable in P2 for the majority of the race, lost his position after sliding onto the grass at the penultimate corner of the track on Lap 45. While Piastri was eventually able to get his car back onto the track and avoid a DNF at his home race, the Australian barely finished the race in the points, coming in at P9 after a last-lap overtake of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. The rain would end up taking out another two drivers on Lap 47, with Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson losing control of their cars and making contact with the barriers.
Even without the extra buffer of Piastri, Norris was able to hold off a gaining Verstappen to clinch the win, taking both the Fastest Lap (1:22.167) and Driver of the Day titles as well.
Among the chaos, a few drivers had notable performances this weekend. Kimi Antonelli impressed in his debut race, finishing in P4 after recovering from an early spin that put him in P16. Mercedes had an overall successful outing, with Russell and Antonelli scoring enough points to put Mercedes second in the Constructor’s standings after McLaren. Alex Albon of Williams finished in P5, a promising start for a team that has been struggling for the past few seasons to finish in the points. Lance Stroll was able to score some points for Aston Martin at P6 after Alonso’s day ended early, and Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber finished at a surprising P7 to score more points than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Hamilton combined.
The first race of the season certainly did not disappoint when it came to exciting events and unexpected results, with the weather playing a big role in the outcome of the race. The teams look to next weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix to gain a more stable footing for the rest of the season, with the Sprint on Saturday, March 22, providing an additional opportunity for drivers to pick up a few extra points early on. The Chinese Grand Prix kicks off with the first and only practice session on Friday, March 21, at 11:30 a.m. local time and caps off with the Grand Prix on Sunday, March 23, at 3 p.m. local time.
