What happened in the Australian Grand Prix: rain claims big F1 names as Lando fends off Max

The first race of a hotly-anticipated season didn’t need any extra drama but got it in spades, as rain showers added to the challenge of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, won by Lando Norris who was chased right to the flag by Max Verstappen.

Even the likes of Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc were caught out by the slippery conditions, which offered another unforgiving test for F1’s rookies.

Norris had a scare too, running off track as the rain began falling again towards the end of the race. Both he and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri who had been running first and second for much of the race, ran off ahead of the penultimate corner as they hit a slippery patch. While Norris recovered, Piastri slid back off onto the grass and took more than a minute to recover, dropping almost to the very back.

McLaren had a pace advantage at the Melbourne season-opener, but a series of crashes through the race led to three safety car periods that kept the field close together.

The first casualty of the wet conditions was Isack Hadjar. Racing Bulls’ new recruit didn’t even get to start the race after losing his car on a wet track and hitting the barrier on the formation lap. The start was delayed by 15 minutes while his car was recovered.

When racing did get underway, rain had stopped falling but the track remained wet and the McLarens struggled to get the power down from the front row of the grid. Verstappen, from third on the grid took advantage, closing in on second-placed Piastri and surging around the outside of Turn 2 when he ran too deep in the first corner.

Leclerc passed Alex Albon in the run-up to the first corner and then bravely braked late into Turn 3, to pull alongside Yuki Tsunoda and power around the outside to take fifth, having started seventh on the grid. Ahead, George Russell was fourth.

Behind them, Nico Hülkenberg gained five places, moving from 17th on the grid to 12th. Fernando Alonso moved into the points, rising to 10th from 12th on the grid.

That was where the action paused, after Jack Doohan spun and hit the barrier after putting the power down at Turn 6, bringing out the first safety car of the race. It was no help to Carlos Sainz who also spun his Williams and crashed at the reduced safety car pace, complaining of a sudden surge of torque.

Lap eight brought the resumption of racing — largely in name only. Without DRS, Albert Park lived up to its reputation of being difficult to pass at. Piastri was unable to make it past Verstappen despite looking quicker. Further back, Kimi Antonelli and Liam Lawson were unable to make progress from their lowly starting positions of 16th and 18th.

Lewis Hamilton was struggling too in eighth, unable to pass Albon, which prompted the first of several testy exchanges between him and his new race engineer Riccardo Adami who are clearly in the very early stages of their partnership. Hamilton spoke in a tone that was markedly less familiar than he’d been with his long-time Mercedes engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington, as he repeatedly asked for less coaching at several points during the race

“You can use K1 when you’re close,” Hamilton was told and replied: “Leave me to it please”

“K1 available,” Adami repeated. “Yes I know, leave me to it please,” said Hamilton.

The action picked up after lap 12 when DRS was enabled. Having followed Hülkenberg closely for several laps, Antonelli got past on lap 15 only to put his wheel on the grass and spin onto one of the few sections of asphalt run-off, which put him back behind Hülkenberg, but still in the race. He re-passed the Sauber soon afterwards.

Then, on lap 18, Piastri closed in on Verstappen, who locked up at Turn 11 and ran too deep, giving Piastri a straightforward pass to reclaim second place.

By lap 30, the McLarens were 15sec ahead of Verstappen, with Piastri looking threatening behind Norris, in search of his first home race.