McLaren’s Lando Norris survived Safety Cars, changing weather and near-misses to win a dramatic Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Norris resisted late pressure from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to win the 2025 season-opener as Mercedes’ George Russell kept his nose clean to complete the podium.
F1 2025 Australian Grand Prix – Race Results
On Saturday’s qualifying session, McLaren looked in ominous form as Norris and Piastri set a front row lockout at the Albert Park circuit.
But heavy rainfall in Melbourne on Sunday, which saw the Formula 2 Feature race cancelled, was set to throw the cat amongst the pigeons in the GP.
The rain started to ease off ahead of lights out with the McLaren duo set to lead Verstappen and Russell at lights out.
At the opposite end of the grid, changes to the rear wing and beam wing on Liam Lawson’s Red Bull and changed suspension on Oliver Bearman’s Haas, resulted in both starting from pit lane.
Every single driver opted to start on the Intermediate Pirelli tyre.
Five rookies were set to start the race, but Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar, the best rookie performer in qualifying with a standing of 11th, put too much power into Turn 2, span, and rear-ended the wall on the formation lap—ending his GP before it had even begun.
In response, Race Control conducted an Aborted Start procedure as a distraught Hadjar watched on from the sidelines.
Lap 1 chaos in Melbourne
A 15 minute delay occurred until lights out as Norris and Piastri gingerly led Verstappen away through the first few corners.
The Aussie home hero lost second to the Dutchman into Turn 3 as the Red Bull driver looked to emulate his Brazilian heroics from 2024.
Norris, meanwhile, streaked ahead but gasps from the crowd met the stranded Jack Doohan, in a wrecked Alpine on exit from Turn 7.
One lap in, two rookies down and the first Safety Car of this year’s Australian GP, but an F1 veteran also dropped out of the race…
Williams’ Carlos Sainz dropped his FW47 behind the Safety Car at the final corner, blaming a “massive torque surge” over team radio.
Amid the Lap 1 chaos, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg gained five places, rising to 12th.
Ferrari’s Leclerc was another strong starter, rising from seventh to fifth.
As the field came through the pit-lane behind the Safety Car once again on Lap 5, Bearman, Lawson and Esteban Ocon all stopped for a new set of Intermediates.
Norris leads F1 Australian GP restart
The call came on Lap 7 from Race Control that the Safety Car was due to end as race leader Norris relayed dry patches in Sector 3 and full-Inter conditions elsewhere.
As Norris led the field to green, Verstappen was close to his rear wing but the race leaders ran in formation through the first few corners, Piastri behind Verstappen, Russell in fourth, Leclerc in fifth and Yuki Tsunoda in sixth.
Norris and Verstappen flirted with each other for the next few laps, the gap between them swinging between six tenths to just over a second.
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton relishing profoundly new F1 Australian GP experience with Ferrari
The track conditions were steadily improving also, as Race Control granted DRS usage on Lap 12, just as drivers swerved into the wet line on the start/finish straight to cool their Inters.
Luckily for Norris, his lead had grown to 1.4s, keeping him safe from Verstappen, who didn’t have the same luxury over Piastri.
But although the track was drying, Norris’ Race Engineer Will Joseph warned on Lap 14 that rain could be on the way.
Further back, some movement was made on Lap 15 as Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli pounced on Hulkenberg to take 12th at Turn 11.
But the Italian undid his good work as he dipped a wheel onto the grass coming out of Turn 3, spinning, but saving his car from any damage to rejoin in 13th place.
Such was his pace, Antonelli recovered to 12th after a handful of laps.
A rare Verstappen error
On Lap 17, there was a rare error from the wet weather maestro Verstappen, who surrendered second place to Piastri as he went deep into Turn 11 and locked up, splashing through a puddle and dropping to third place as a result.
Complaining of a lack of grip, Verstappen gave up four seconds to Piastri almost immediately, pleading if there’s more rain he’ll have to pit, but Gianpiero Lambiasse asked the Dutchman to hold on, promising conditions would dry up.
Norris and Joseph were far more comfortable, happy to stick with their current tyre choice and await a change in the weather.
Another driver who was comfortable was Antonelli, dispatching Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll to take 11th on Lap 24.
Most comfortable all, however, was the McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri with the latter closing to within 1.4s of his team-mate by Lap 27 of 57 as Verstappen had fallen by the wayside to the tune of 13.8s.
Piastri was happy to keep applying pressure, drawing into DRS range on Lap 29 in front of his adoring home fans as the McLarens started to navigate lapped traffic.
The word from the McLaren pit wall was to hold position, a word Piastri had little cause to adhere to in Melbourne.
“I’m faster, I’m quicker,” Piastri told his engineer, but McLaren wanted to safely navigate the transition to dry while lapping traffic.
As Zak Brown told broadcasters it was “time to go racing,” Norris had opened a two second gap to Piastri, who had dropped a wheel onto the gravel at Turn 6.
Alonso crash triggers pit-lane frenzy
The race was neutralised though as Fernando Alonso span and hit the wall coming out of Turn 7, triggering a Lap 34 Safety Car.
Frenzied pit lane action followed, with Tsunoda pitting for mediums, as did Albon, with Lewis Hamilton through Lance Stroll pitting for Hards.
Race leader Norris was also called in as McLaren double stacked for Hard Pirelli rubber, Verstappen meanwhile, took Mediums.
Russell and Leclerc followed McLaren’s lead with regards to rubber selection.
In fact, all save for the Haas duo swapped out their Intermediates for dry rubber.
Piastri was warned that a lap of intense rain was looming between Lap 45 and Lap 50, as Alonso’s stricken car awaited a recovery vehicle.
The forecast was a cause for concern for Norris, who deliberated strategies with his engineer, uncertain what to do if rain would fall as the clouds darkened.
With the forecast changing by the minute, Norris continued his questioning, wondering if it was worth changing back to Inters if the rain was due to fall.
Haas, meanwhile, elected at long last to pit for Medium tyres with both drivers at the end of Lap 40, with the Safety Car set to end on Lap 41.
Norris committed at Turn 12, flying back up to speed to gap Piastri by the time Lap 42 began.
The top four enjoyed a steady restart, but Leclerc fell behind Tsunoda and into the middle of a four-car train including Albon and Hamilton.
Late rain causes huge F1 Australian GP drama
Huge drama came at the end of Lap 44 as rain started to fall in the final sector with the two McLarens running wide at Turn 12 before Piastri spun off at the penultimate corner.
Verstappen inherited the lead as Norris, Russell, Albon and several others pitted for intermediates.
Hamilton also took advantage, safely navigating the treacherous conditions to move up to second with Pierre Gasly climbing to third in his Alpine.
Verstappen pitted from the lead on Lap 46 for Inters, Gasly and Tsunoda as Gabriel Bortoleto and Lawson found the barriers.
The Safety Car was deployed just after Norris inherited the lead over Hamilton, with Leclerc now in third, both Ferrari men on dry tyres.
The Scuderia opted to pit on Lap 48, dropping Hamilton and Leclerc to ninth and 10th respectively.
The race got back underway on Lap 52 and Norris led the field from Verstappen, Russell, Albon and Antonelli.
On Lap 54, Race Control allowed for DRS once more, paving the way for moves up and down the field.
The gaps at the front, however, were too big to be affected.
That was until Verstappen threw caution to the wind to close within DRS range of Norris for the final two laps.
But Norris held on to take a dramatic victory ahead of Verstappen as Russell completed the podium.
Albon took a magical fourth for Williams to compensate for Sainz’s retirement with Antonelli completing the top five.
Stroll and Hulkenberg picked up sizable points for Aston Martin and Sauber in sixth and seventh as Leclerc held onto eighth.
Piastri recovered to ninth to add his name to the long list of home heartbreaks in Australia as Hamilton completed the top-10.
Gasly, Tsunoda, Ocon and Bearman completed the classified runners.
READ MORE – Lando Norris: McLaren MCL39 made it difficult to dominate F1 Australian GP qualifying
