The new Formula 1 season officially started with a bumpy race in Melborune, marked by long Safety Car stints and crazy moments when it was pouring. The winner of the Australian Grand Prix was Lando Norris, who kicked away som demons by driving with confidence even in moments of uncertainty. Verstappen and Russell, who made the most of every opportunity, closed the podium.
The rest of the top 10 is atypical, and both the weather conditions and the characteristics of the track make it difficult to understand how the grid is distributed: in fourth place we find Alexander Albon, followed by a fantastic Andrea Kimi Antonelli, then Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg. At the edge of the podium zone are Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton: the Ferrari duo paid the price of a strategic error, while the Australian struggled in the rain. Then Gasly and Tsunoda, author of a beautiful race, ruined however in the last kilometres, Ocon and Bearman close the classification.
The summary of the race
The start of the Grand Prix was immediately delayed due to an incident involving Isack Hadjar, who hit the wall on the formation lap. 15 minutes later came the first green light of the year, which witnessed some fine overtaking by Leclerc, who moved up from seventh to fourth, as well as the first ‘chase’ of Verstappen, who was immediately in Norris' slipstream. The first lap, however, did not end easily either, as both Jack Doohan and Carlos Sainz had crashes due to the prohibitive conditions.
After two laps, the Safety Car re-entered and the situation remained stable until lap 18, when Max Verstappen made a small mistake, leaving the door open for the McLaren number 81; Piastri also went after his team-mate, but the ‘papaya rules’ dictated that he should not overtake.
The change of scenery
Then, on lap 34, the scenario changed again following Fernando Alonso's accident: the Safety Car came out again, and everyone (except Haas) used the window to switch to slicks. However, during those laps the radio communications between the drivers and engineers came on, with the latter warning of impending rain class 2 or 3. Everyone was caught in the grip of the weather: no one wanted to risk putting on the intermediates in a light drizzle that might not even arrive.
In the end, however, the water came from lap 44, demanding bravery and balance from everyone. The two McLarens immediately lost control at the last corner, leaving the door open to Verstappen: Norris managed to get into the pit lane to fit the wet compounds, while Piastri remained muddy for quite some time. Behind them, some immediately took the opportunity to enter and make a pit stop, while others, including the Flying Dutchman and the Ferrari drivers, stayed out on dry tyres; the conditions, however, were too prohibitive, so much so that Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto ended up in the wall (although the latter due to a technical error, as his suspension arm had broken). Everyone thus returned to mount the inter, although they had lost a lot of time by then.
In the final laps, 48 to 51, the Safety Car came out again, to clear the debris from Lawson and Bortoleto. The positions read Lando Norris ahead of Verstappen, Russell, Albon, Antonelli, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Leclerc and Hamilton. On the restart it was all or nothing at stake, especially when Max Verstappen smelled victory; but despite the DRS, the McLaren still had more speed than his Red Bull, and nothing could be done against Lando Norris. A few metres back, Andrea Kimi Antonelli made a beautiful overtaking move on Alexander Albon, but was then given a five second penalty for an unsafe release (then reverted). Oscar Piastri also made a comeback in the last few minutes to catch Lewis Hamilton.
All the news, photos, weather, session times and times from the Australian GP 2025
