Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne 2025
STARTING GRID:
NORRIS 2) PIASTRI 3) VERSTAPPEN 4) RUSSELL 5) TSUNODA 6) ALBON 7) LECLERC 8) HAMILTON 9) GASLY 10) SAINZ 11) HADJAR 12) ALONSO 13) STROLL 14) DOOHAN 15) BORTOLETO 16) ANTONELLI 17) HULKENBERG 18) LAWSON 19) OCON 20) BEARMAN
FORMATION LAP: The tricky wet conditions catch out Isaac Hadjar on the formation lap. He tries to get heat into the tires coming out of the second corner but ends up losing the back end of the car. Unfortunately, he spins into the barriers and damages the front wing and cannot start the race. The race has an aborted start as the car needs to be moved from the track.
This would have not been the way that he wanted his F1 career to start. Even though his helmet and suit are still on you can see how visibly upset he was when returning to the paddock. He was comforted by Anthony Hamilton, Father of Lewis Hamilton in the pit lane on his way back to his team's garage. This seemed to help in a great gesture from Anthony Hamilton.
LAP 1: Five lights on, off they go! A good start by Max Verstappen is covered off immediately by Lando Norris. Verstappen manages to out brake Piastri to get up to second place. With all drivers seeming to get through the early stages quite well until Jack Doohan spins out into the wall. Another rookie is out of the race due to the tricky conditions at Albert Park.
LAP 2: The grid is still under Safety Car instructions when Carlos Sainz is seen in the wall. The same outcome as both other drivers as Sainz loses the rear end and goes into the barriers. Although it seems to be a mechanical issue rather than driver error. Not the start Sainz would want just 2 laps into his Williams career.
LAP 8: The race restarts behind the leader Lando Norris, who gets a good start with a lead of just under 1 second by the end of the lap. With all drivers trying to make use of the conditions until the rain comes. The top 3 close together with Piastri probably thinking he needs to get past Verstappen sooner than later to chase his team mate.
LAP 15: The first glimpse into the relationship between the Ferrari engineers and Lewis Hamilton as he is told when he can use K1 to possibly overtake. He is stern and sounds focused in his response of “leave me to it please”. Meanwhile, Kimi Antonelli, the man who replaced Hamilton at Mercedes at just 18 years old, makes a great move on Nico Hulkenberg to move up to 12th. He out brakes the Sauber driver and makes the move stick with relative ease.
LAP 17: Oscar Piastri looks close to Max Verstappen on this lap as he tries to get past the reigning World Champion. As they come out of turn 10 Verstappen seems to take more curb than he would have wanted. Piastri is hot on the heels of Verstappen going into turn 11 but Verstappen goes wide, leaving the door wide open for the home driver to ease his way through into second place. McLaren now have a possible 1-2 to start their defence of the Constructors World Championship off in the perfect way.
LAP 30: Piastri is within DRS range to Norris as he looks to try and take the lead in his home Grand Prix. With the McLaren pit wall telling the Aussie to maintain position he argues back as most would when racing for the lead in their home country. Martin Brundle with a good point of this being “a season long problem for McLaren”. With previous history between the drivers of ignoring orders or not being happy with orders and the infamous “papaya rules” of last season.
LAP 34: As the cameras follow the McLaren drivers there is a small screen that appears on the left hand side showing a spinning Fernando Alonso. The main feed is quickly shifted to Alonso who is in the wall with bits of debris across the track. The conditions have another driver retiring with the back end of the Aston Martin a mess with an immediate safety call out made.
The safety car also means a scrabble for all teams to make the decision of whether to pit their cars or not. The majority of drivers come in to pit for dry tires of either medium or hard compound tires.
LAP 41: Another restart is led by Lando Norris, who gets an even better start than before. Both McLaren’s are on hard tires with Verstappen behind on mediums which could be a problem for Piastri with the medium tires getting up to temperature quicker.
LAP 42: The Ferrari pit wall tells Charles Leclerc to expect “class 3 rain” lasting a couple of laps. The Monegasque driver sounds concerned when hearing this as he responds with “class 3 is a lot”. Which could make the end of the race unpredictable and tricky with all drivers on dry tires at this stage.
LAP 44: Charles Leclerc looks to get past Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bull in a move very similar to Kimi Antonelli earlier in the race. However, he is unable to make a move and has to hold position for the time being.
The coverage then quickly goes to the exit of turn 12 as both McLaren’s are in the gravel and off track as they try to negotiate the changing conditions. Norris manages to stay in the lead just about but Oscar Piastri spins as he comes back onto the track and goes off at turn 13! Drama in the Australian GP as Pistri looks to be beached with Verstappen moving up to 2nd.
Lando darts into the pits to change tires as Verstappen carries on to take the lead. Heartbreak for Piastri as he tries to gingerly get back onto the track using reverse, which he eventually does. A roar from the Australian crowd as Piastri makes it back on the track but his race looks to be in pieces.
LAP 46: Max Verstappen has a lead of over 8.5 seconds to Lewis Hamilton as he tiptoes round the final sector in the medium tires. The rain continues to fall as Red Bull tells make to box. He almost loses the car in the pit lane entry but manages to regain control quickly to put himself back in place.
LAP 47: The race now has another new leader in Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc behind him before he gets overtaken by Norris. However, more drivers crash out of the race as Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto are both out of the race. Yet again not a good day for rookie drivers or drivers starting with a new team. Another safety car follows with both cars in dangerous positions for being removed from the circuit.
LAP 48: The gamble for Ferrari has not paid off with the safety meaning that they have to pit. This puts both drivers to the back of the pack which is definitely not what they will have had in mind at the start of this race. Another nightmare for the Ferrari strategy team.
LAP 52: Yet another good restart from Lando Norris as he creates a gap within the first few corners to Max Verstappen. Followed by George Russell, Alex Albon and Kimi Antonelli as it could be a very good day for Mercedes.
LAP 54: Pierre Gasly goes wide at turn 2, with the 2 Ferrari’s hot on his heels to make him pay for that mistake. Both Leclerc and Hamilton managed to pass the Frenchman by turn 3. The McLaren of Oscar Piastri is then on the back of Gasly as he loses another place, moving Piastri up to the points.
LAP 56: The gap between the front 2 is narrowed with Verstappen just over half a second behind Lando Norris. Will Joseph (Lando’s race engineer) is quick on the radio to try and calm any possible nerves Lando may have telling him “the pace is in the car, do not over push it”.
LAP 57 - FINAL LAP: The pressure is piled on again by Verstappen in the final lap. Lando drives remarkably well considering the pressure he was under and doesn’t even allow an opportunity for Verstappen to overtake. Lando Norris takes the chequered flag to win the Australian Grand Prix!
An eventful race to start the Formula 1 season. Only 2 debutants managed to finish the race, with 6 DNF’s. A well deserved win for Lando Norris, but heartbreak for Oscar Piastri who had to settle for 9th in his home race which he could well have won. Mercedes with the best showing of the top teams as Russell and Antonelli picked up a good points haul for the team.
A start to the season Ferrari would probably want to forget as their expectations would have been much higher than P8 and P10. Great showings also came from Alex Albon (5th), Lance Stroll (6th) and Nico Hulkenberg (7th) as they also picked up good points for their team. A close race at the end for the front 2 with Max Verstappen having to settle for P2 but an encouraging end to the race for the Red Bull.
RESULT:
NORRIS 2) VERSTAPPEN 3) RUSSELL 4) ANTONELLI 5) ALBON 6) STROLL 7) HULKENBERG 8) LECLERC 9) PIASTRI 10) HAMILTON 11) GASLY 12) TSUNODA 13) OCON 14) BEARMAN 15) LAWSON (DNF) 16) GABRIEL BORTOLETO (DNF) 17) ALONSO (DNF) 18) SAINZ (DNF) 19) DOOHAN (DNF) 20) HADJAR (DNF)
