2025 Australian Grand Prix

On raw performance and a straightforward race, this would have been a comfortable McLaren 1-2. Just as in qualifying. Lando Norris’s pole would likely have bought him the victory, but Oscar Piastri was on much the same pace, maybe even slightly better.

But of course it wasn’t a straightforward race and Norris had many moments of jeopardy to emerge from in taking the win. Some of them came from Piastri, some from the treacherous conditions of a race which started on inters but on a windy day with rain always threatening. Some of it came from Max Verstappen’s Red Bull who came close to ambushing the faster McLaren near the end.

“Such a stressful race,” said Norris, “where it’s so easy to make a mistake, so easy to ruin everything, you know, so quickly, it can all go wrong within any second of the race – you lock up, you hit the white line wrong, you have a big snap. It was just very difficult at times to not go into a wall or a tyre barrier somewhere. That’s a big enough challenge, but then when you’ve got the weather changing and the track conditions changing, knowing when to make the correct decision to change onto a slick tyre or stay out on the inter tyre, and then even more when I’ve got Max behind me and Oscar behind me, it’s stressful, but that’s what makes it rewarding and such a nice win.”