Written by Rohan Brown, Edited by Sasha Macmillen
Lando Norris took a thrilling victory at Albert park, successfully converting his pole position to a place on the top step of the podium. The Briton was followed by title rival Max Verstappen and Mercedes driver George Russell.
The race start was aborted after Isack Hadjar had a collision with the barrier (delaying the beginning of the race by 15 minutes). The Racing Bulls driver would later have a heartwarming encounter with Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony in the paddock.
Hadjar was not the only driver to retire in the opening exchanges of the race, as Williams’s Carlos Sainz and home driver Jack Doohan also crashed out in the chaotic start to the Grand Prix, all within the space of roughly half a lap.
Weather in Melbourne was an ever-present creator of chaos in this race, turning the Albert Park track into an ice rink in places, however by lap 27 it had stopped and the track began to dry up. There was some drizzle a couple laps later, but by the end of lap 31 the entire grid had switched to slicks, most choosing the hards but Verstappen elected to use the medium tyres.
After this, McLaren seemed to have cleared up their team orders - earlier on in the race they had ordered Oscar Piastri to hold position behind Norris in second position. But by lap 33 the local hero was informed he was free to race with his (now) five-time Grand Prix winner teammate Norris.
A lap later, Spaniard Fernando Alonso had a collision with the wall, causing yet another safety car to be deployed in the race, serving up another curveball for many drivers.
By lap 44, rain had reappeared in Albert park. Which caused many drivers to dive into the pits, one of them being Gabriel Bortoleto, who was handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe.
Rookie Bortoleto then had an incident with the barriers, as did Liam Lawson by lap 49, meaning three of 2025’s rookie drivers did not finish the race.
The race concluded on lap 57, with Norris claiming his fifth victory by 0.895 seconds. He commented that:
“It was an amazing, top race, especially with Max behind me.”.
Verstappen on the other hand remarked that “It was a difficult race, but it was fun” in his podium interview.
The Chinese Grand Prix begins in just over four days' time, with lights out at 07:00 GMT/UTC next Sunday, the 23rd of March.
