Norris braves the rain in chaotic season opener
Image: @McLarenF1 on Twitter/X
Lando Norris took a ‘simply lovely’ win in 2025’s season opener in Melbourne on Sunday, defeating likely championship rival Max Verstappen to the flag. A rain-soaked Albert Park saw a number of spins, crashes, and mistakes – the perfect formula for chaos. From rookie tears to flooded seats, here’s all the highlights from the Australian Grand Prix weekend.
Picking up where they left off
Image: @McLarenF1 on Twitter/x
There’s no statement bigger than beating your rival in the rain despite a trip to the gravel trap. Lando Norris continued where he left off in 2024 with a sensation performance, giving the Brit his fifth career victory.
Norris’ pace was electric over the course of the weekend. He took pole by just 0.084 seconds, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri and crucially nearly four-tenths ahead of Max Verstappen. Norris braved the changing greasy conditions in Melbourne, defending from Verstappen’s Lap 1 offensive.
It’s clear that the McLarens have a large pace advantage over teams like Red Bull and Ferrari, who were nowhere near the McLarens for most of the race. A burst of ‘class 3 rain’ (heavy rain) meant that the entire grid had to switch from slicks to intermediate tyres just fifteen laps from the chequered flag.
As the rain battered the Albert Park circuit, both McLaren cars, leading 1st and 2nd, lost control at the same time, with Norris slipping down to P8, and Piastri spinning down to P13. The comeback from both papaya cars was incredible. Norris retook his lead following a round of pitstops onto the wet-weather tyres and Piastri claimed an impressive P9, buoyed by his home crowd.
Whilst this incident denied the Woking team its 50th 1-2 finish, there’s no prize in guessing which team is the current favourite for the constructors’ championship this year.
Welcome to the prancing horse
Image: @ScuderiaFerrari on Twitter/X
Ferrari’s first race of the season was an absolute disaster. The winter break saw Ferrari build a heightened expectation on the pace of the car and the ability of both its drivers, who have a combined total of 110 wins and 130 pole positions.
Unfortunately, the pace of the scarlet red cars seemed to be third best, and they were most possibly level in pace with Mercedes. The ‘aura farming’ Ferrari has spent on their drivers may have not been translated into the speed of the SF-25, as the drivers scored a sliver of luck following the carnage around lap 45. Ferrari’s drivers were on to score a double podium.
However, staying out on greasy conditions with slick tyres was ultimately not a good idea as the rest of the grid pitted a lap earlier. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc scored a pitiful P10 and P8 respectively, leaving them with just five points in the constructors’ championship in P7, behind Sauber and Williams. Yes, that’s correct.
Lewis Hamilton, now settling into his new digs at Maranello, was most certainly expecting more pace from the car but hopes the team’s condition will improve.
Hamilton after qualifying in seventh
“I definitely didn't know that we'd be eight tenths off today but there is a lot to dissect for sure.”
Ferrari’s usual antics were at play again. Bad strategy, comedic radio messages. What would a race weekend be without some Ferrari madness? One thing’s for sure, Ferrari will hit the ground running for the next race.
The day of debuts
Image: @MercedesAMGF1 on Twitter/X
All but two teams had a different driver lineup for this season so the grid was packed full of new faces, colours, and pairings.
It was a horrible day for VCARB’s Isack Hadjar as the French teenager lit up the rear of his car, sending him into the crash barrier, and ending his race on the formation lap. With a delayed start, the action got underway 15 minutes later. Suddenly, Jack Doohan lost control of his Alpine on Lap 1, retiring from the race in front of his home crowd. Carlos Sainz also spun and crashed as a result of the slippery conditions, ending his debut for Williams.
There was never a dull moment for the rookies, as they all spun and lost control of their cars at some point in the race. The ‘rookie spin’ as Sky Sport F1’s David Croft put it, was due to an influx of torque, which may have surprised the rookie drivers.
Liam Lawson also had a terrible debut for the Red Bull team, as he crashed during the heavy period of rain towards the end of the race, as did Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
Wow - seems like we lost more than a quarter of the grid to spins or crashes. Whilst the chaotic weather may have claimed a few victims, it was an astonishing debut for Kimi Antonelli as the 18-year-old fought back from his P16 starting position, overtaking a few cars in the process.
The Italian became the second-youngest points scorer in F1 history after overtaking Alexander Albon for P4, proving his worth as the sport’s ‘next Verstappen’.
Nico Hulkenberg’s debut for the Sauber team was worth more than a round of applause as the German took an impressive P7 for the team. With this result, he scored more points than the team did over the entire season last year, hopefully signalling the Swiss outfit can produce more results like this.
Whatever the result, we’re sure we’re in for a cracking season in 2025. Be sure to catch all the latest news and features here on Race Reaction.
Final race classification
1 - Lando NORRIS
2 - Max VERSTAPPEN
3 - George RUSSELL
4 - Andrea Kimi ANTONELLI
5 - Alexander ALBON
6 - Lance STROLL
7 - Nico HULKENBERG
8 - Charles LECLERC
9 - Oscar PIASTRI
10 - Lewis HAMILTON
11 - Pierre GASLY
12 - Yuki TSUNODA
13 - Esteban OCON
14 - Oliver BEARMAN
DNF - Liam LAWSON
DNF - Gabriel BORTOLETO
DNF - Fernando ALONSO
DNF - Carlos SAINZ
DNF - Jack DOOHAN
DNF - Isack HADJAR
