Lando Wins In Melbourne!
McLaren Team 2025 Australian Grand Prix
Well, how about that for a season opener?! It had the lot, from the rain to the crashes, to a last-lap shootout, all the way to the chequered flag. It was absolutely worth the 3:45am alarm, as I’m sure it was worth it for a lot of you Brits watching along, too. Eventually, McLaren driver Lando Norris took home the win and got his season off to a flyer as he finally looked to push for a World Championship. Here are my thoughts on the events of the first race of the season.
Lando nicks it despite the rain!
Lando Norris picked up his 5th victory of his Formula One career in an impressive drive in wet conditions. He now leads the Driver’s Championship after race 1, breaking the 1,029-day/63-race continuous streak of leading the Championship held by Max Verstappen. The Dutchman and current World Champion finished second after a shootout in the final few laps, with Max in DRS hunting down the McLaren. However, it was Norris who came out on top. Mercedes driver George Russell completed the podium places.
For me Norris was excellent on Sunday, he showed a rare calmness when dealing with Verstappen that we didn’t see last year. He had no interest in what Max was doing and was in tandem with his team.
Lando Norris 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
Rookie’s Mistakes!
This weekend saw the arrival of 6 rookies to the gird. Liam Lawson for Red Bull, Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes, Jack Doohan for Alpine, Oliver Bearman for Haas, Gabriel Bortoleto for Kick Sauber and Isack Hadjar for VCARB.
It was a tough weekend for the majority of our newbies. Hadjar’s race was over before it begun as he lost the rear-end and ploughed into the barriers, he was visibly distraught and it was a hard watch for us viewers seeing the rookie inconsolable and having to be comforted by Anthony Hamilton, Lewis Hamilton’s father.
The treacherous conditions also saw the demise of Liam Lawson, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto, despite the Sauber driver showing promising signs during the weekend.
Only Antonelli and Bearman completed the race, The Haas driver Bearman finishing dead last after suffering several issues over the weekend, and Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes dragged his car to P4 on a tremendous debut for the Italian, it was briefly taken away from him and he was dropped to P5 for an unsafe release in the pits. This was later reviewed and the P4 was reinstated for Antonelli.
Anthony Hamilton & Isack Hadjar 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
A promising start for the Mercedes youngster!
Same Old Ferrari?
Bickering on the team radio, unclear instructions and a shambolic pit strategy are just some of the things which stopped Ferrari from competing with McLaren during the Grand Prix.
It was a sketchy start to the new era at Scuderia Ferrari in Melbourne. Lewis Hamilton qualified for his first Grand Prix in red overalls in P8, and his teammate Charles Leclerc ended up in P7. During the race, we had one of the moments/memes of the season already after an amusing exchange between Charles Leclerc and his engineer, complaining about water leakage.
Leclerc - “Is there a leakage? My seat is full of water.”
Engineer - “Must be the water.”
Leclerc - “Let’s add that to the words of wisdom.”
It was a funny moment hearing Leclerc sarcastically respond to his engineer’s vague comment, despite the Monogasque perhaps feeling frustrated at that moment. After the mishap between the three in front of (Norris, Piastri and Verstappen) they fell down the order, giving the Ferrari boys a provisional 1-2. Ferrari decided to leave both drivers out to survive on their slick tyres, only for the struggle to worsen and a pit stop was desperately needed as all other drivers switched for intermediates. This move compromised both Hamilton and Leclerc’s races, and they ended up finishing with Hamilton in P10 just squeezing into the points, and Charles Leclerc ending his race in P8.
Not the greatest weekend for the Scuderia.
Charles Leclerc 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
Overview
It was a great start to the season. We got to see how each car would perform on a dry day in qualifying, and then the driver’s abilities were tested, making for some great entertainment and a few exciting surprises. Let’s give a shoutout to Nico Hulkenberg, who has already bettered the points tally for Kick Sauber after placing P7 and earning six points for his team last season they only managed 4 all season. Lance Stroll and Alex Albon also impressed with the Aston Martin driver finishing P6 and Albon placing his Williams in P5 showing what James Vowles has in store for us this season.
Let’s look forward to China this weekend, and let’s hope for another great race!
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