Lando Norris has taken the early lead in the driver’s championship after a commanding wet weather drive at the Australian Grand Prix.
There was drama before the opening race of the 2025 season got underway, with the rainfall creating difficult conditions on the streets of Melbourne.
Rookie Isack Hadjar failed to start his first ever F1 race after spinning and damaging his car on the formation lap.
At the start, Lando Norris did well to fend off a challenge from both Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen heading into turn 1. Verstappen, who started third, would at least take second away from Piastri on the corner’s exit.
There was more drama on lap one, and another rookie out, after Jack Doohan spun and crashed at the exit of turn 5, bringing out a safety car.
Another driver would retire during this safety car period, as Carlos Sainz would end his Williams debut on lap 2, putting his car into the barriers at the final corner.
There was a bit of a lull in the action once racing resumed, with cars struggling to overtake in these difficult conditions. Hamilton was getting particularly familiar with the rear wing of Alex Albon’s Williams.
18 year old Andrea Kimi Antonelli appeared to be the only one making moves up the grid as he looked to make up for a poor qualifying yesterday, though he would have a spin on lap 16.
He would not be the only one making mistakes though. The top three were very close together, though that would soon be a close top two after Verstappen went deep at turn 11 and handed second place back to Piastri, before beginning to substantially lose touch to the McLarens ahead.
Piastri looked particularly quick for a few laps, though with conditions changing all the time, McLaren ordered Piastri to not race Norris for the time being, and he too would soon lose ground to the Brit.
Another crash on lap 34, and this time it was the most experienced driver on the grid, as Fernando Alonso loses control around turn 7/8 and hitting the wall, bringing out a lengthy safety car period.
Many drivers chose to go onto dry tyres during this safety car, though they wouldn’t be used for long. Rain was scheduled to return a couple of laps into green flag running, and once it did, chaos ensued.
Both Norris and Piastri went wide at turn 12, and while Norris was able to keep the car on track, Piastri slid off through turn 13 and almost beached himself. He was able to continue, but would be at the back of the pack.
Norris came in immediately, though Verstappen gambled for an extra lap, hoping that the inters would not yet be faster throughout most of the track. As conditions worsen, he loses more time to Norris as he has to crawl back round to the pits, and is once again behind Norris.
Ferrari opted to keep both their drivers out even longer than Verstappen, and it looked like it could have been a masterstroke decision after Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto crashed out to cause yet another safety car, bringing the total number of full season rookies on track down to just two.
However, when they did put under the safety car, they would emerge ninth and tenth, with Hamilton leading Leclerc.
The safety car came in on lap 51 to begin a six lap sprint to the end. Leclerc got back past Hamilton, having been the lead Ferrari for most of the race, and both would overtake Pierre Gasly within a couple of laps.
Throughout the chaos that the rain brought, Albon and Antonelli had found themselves fighting each other for fourth place. Antonelli was the faster of the two, and would overtake Albon, but was handed a five second penalty for an unsafe release.
This would give Albon fourth at the end of the race, Williams’ best result since George Russell’s second place at the washed out 2021 Belgian Grand Prix.
The fight for the lead was also rather intense in the last two laps, as it seemed Verstappen was gaining on Norris, putting the Brit under a bit of pressure.
The Brit was reassured by his team that he had the pace in his car to fend off the challenge, and he was ultimately able to deal with the challenge and take the checkered flag to win the opening race of 2025.
Norris now breaks Verstappen’s streak on top of the World Driver’s Championship standings, where he has sat since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren also have an early one point lead in the Constructor’s Championship ahead of Mercedes after Piastri recovered to ninth place.
The second round of the championship takes place in just one week, as F1 heads to Shanghai for a sprint weekend at the Chinese Grand Prix.
