McLaren’s Lando Norris survived a tense 2025 Australian Grand Prix to take victory in damp conditions.
Norris survived three safety car periods and a wild off-track moment on lap 44 to claim victory in the 2025 season-opener and consolidate his early pre-season title favourite status, as he became the first McLaren driver to lead the drivers’ championship since Lewis Hamilton after 2012 Canadian GP.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen benefitted from a mistake by Oscar Piastri during a rain shower to snatch second ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, as the Brit rounded out the podium.
Alex Albon finished a strong fourth for Williams ahead of Mercedes rookie, Andrea Kimi Antonelli who drove from 16th on the grid to fifth at the checkered flag, albeit due to a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release which was rescinded upon appeal with the Italian promoted to fourth ahead of Albon.
Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg and Charles Leclerc rounded out the top eight as Piastri recovered to finish ninth ahead of Hamilton.
Heavy rain throughout the day left the track damp at the start which unfortunately caught out rookie, Isack Hadjar as the Frenchman spun his Racing Bulls car out at Turn 2 on the formation lap and delayed the start by 15 minutes.
At lights out, Norris got a clean if steady getaway to head Piastri who struggled for traction and found himself overtaken by Verstappen on the exit of Turn 2 for second, whilst Leclerc recovered two positions to fifth.
Further back, Jack Doohan’s first home race ended after five corners as he lost the rear end in a similar fashion to Hadjar which brought the safety car straight out.
Last year’s race winner, Carlos Sainz also fell victim to the tricky conditions as he spun out at the final corner of the opening lap on his Williams race debut.
Haas and Red Bull started Oliver Bearman and Liam Lawson respectively from the pit-lane and the pair pitted at the end of lap four for fresh intermediates, as did Bearman’s teammate – Esteban Ocon.
Racing resumed at the end of lap seven as Norris survived Verstappen’s immediate attack for the lead across the following three laps.
Verstappen’s early attack soon cost him as his intermediate tyres soon gave way to degradation and forced a rare mistake from the four-time champion on lap 17, as he ran deep into Turn 11 to hand second back to Piastri.
McLaren subsequently instructed Piastri to “hold position” as the Aussie hunted down Norris with view to becoming the first Australian to win his home race in F1, although he soon complied with the team orders after an error at Turn 6 on Lap 32.
That moment proved ominous as just one lap later, that very corner claimed a scalp as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso spun out, which triggered another safety car period and allowed nearly everyone to pit for slicks as Norris and Piastri opted for the hard tyre whilst Verstappen gambled on the medium tyre compound.
Haas however opted to keep Esteban Ocon and Bearman on intermediate tyres but at the end of lap 40, both drivers switched to medium tyres.
Racing resumed at the end of lap 41 but fresh rain emerged two laps later as Leclerc spun and lost fifth to Tsunoda in the final sector, which was where the rain swept in from as Norris and Piastri found out a lap later with wild moments on the grass.
Norris however regained enough control to recover to the pits for intermediates whilst Piastri spun further afield at the penultimate corner, which dropped him a lap down and ended his hopes of a home victory.
Verstappen and both Ferrari boldly stayed out on their slick tyres in a move which backfired as Norris recovered to take the lead from Hamilton by the end of lap 47, as Verstappen pitted that very lap for intermediate tyres.
Sauber rookie, Gabriel Bortoleto however spun off at the penultimate corner of the previous lap whilst Lawson spun out in a similar manner to Hadjar on lap 47, which triggered another safety car period and forced Hamilton plus Leclerc to pit and drop out of a potential double podium finish.
Racing recommenced at the end of lap 51 with Norris enjoying a comfortable restart as Verstappen dealt with a scruffy rear-end, which gave Russell hope of snatching second place.
Verstappen eventually settled down and mounted a late charge for victory but Norris produced a resilient defence for his fifth F1 victory, which also earned him the ‘driver of the day’ accolade for his performance.
Speaking to the press post-race, Norris felt that McLaren had learned from their mistakes after various strategic errors cost them a stronger shot at the 2024 drivers’ title, but he has urged caution given that this was only the first race of the new season.
“It’s still only round one but dealing with the pressure with Max and Oscar [Piastri] behind me, I was pushing the whole way through. I could relax inside but I couldn’t relax by how much I was pushing so it was a tough one.
“To not make too many mistakes and to not have a mistake that cost me anything I guess I can take a little bit of credit for that. A tough and challenging race but a big thanks to McLaren because they’ve given me an amazing car.”
Piastri recovered to finish ninth in-between the Ferrari pair of Leclerc and Hamilton who had both passed Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who had made an error at the first corner on lap 54 and slid out of the top ten.
F1 now doesn’t have time to rest on its laurels as the sport heads straight to Shanghai, China, for the first sprint weekend of the season from 21-23 March.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 57 | 1h 42m 06.304 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 57 | + 0.895 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | 57 | + 8.481 |
| 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 57 | + 10.135 |
| 5 | Alex Albon | Williams | 57 | + 12.773 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 57 | + 17.413 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 57 | + 18.423 |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 57 | + 19.826 |
| 9 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 57 | + 20.448 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 57 | + 22.473 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 57 | + 26.502 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | 57 | + 29.884 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 57 | + 33.161 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 57 | + 40.351 |
| RET | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | 46 | Spin |
| RET | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | 45 | Spin |
| RET | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 32 | Spin |
| RET | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 0 | Spin |
| RET | Jack Doohan | Alpine | 0 | Spin |
| DNS | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 0 | Spin |
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