Lando Norris won the 2025 F1 season-opening Australian GP after acing tricky wet-dry conditions and several Safety Car restarts. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen put pressure on the McLaren driver in the closing laps, but had to settle for second place, ending his record 1,029-day streak of leading the drivers’ championship (since Spain 2022).
Mercedes’ George Russell completed the podium. His rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was promoted to P4 after his five-second time penalty (for an unsafe release) was overturned.
- Norris wins Australian GP, 0.895 sec ahead of Verstappen
- Russell completes podium
- Ferrari’s Leclerc P8, Hamilton P10
Norris wins Australian GP; Piastri spins off track
Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri held on to the top two positions in the early stages of the race. After switching to slick tyres, the pair had pulled over 15 secs clear of Verstappen.
However, shortly after, both McLaren drivers were caught out by another spell of rain. Norris immediately recovered and pitted for intermediate tyres. But Piastri spun and ended up stuck in the grass. While he was able to re-join the track, the incident dropped him to the back of the field.
Out at front, Verstappen briefly held the lead, but eventually had to stop for inters as the rain intensified. After the final Safety Car period (caused by crashes for Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson), Verstappen was on a charge and started hunting down Norris. The Red Bull driver even managed to get within DRS range, but Norris held on to win the opening race of the season by a margin of just 0.895 sec.
“[It was] a tough race, especially with Max behind me. I was pushing, the last two laps were a little bit stressful, but an amazing way to start the year,” said Norris. “It’s a tough one because we went off, made some big mistakes and went through the gravel and did a lot of damage. It was just tricky conditions, but these are the ones that are enjoyable, fun and unpredictable, but this time we got it right and we ended up on top. I’m very happy.”
Amidst all the drama on track, Russell pulled off a clean drive to secure the final spot on the podium.
Antonelli P4 on F1 debut
Mercedes rookie Antonelli impressed on his F1 debut, going from P16 to P4. In fact, he and Oliver Bearman (who makes his full-time F1 debut this year) were the only rookies to reach the chequered flag. Antonelli was initially dropped to P5 after being handed a five-second time penalty for what stewards at the time deemed was an unsafe release into the path of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg.
However, after Mercedes petitioned for a Right to Review, further footage was examined and stewards decided to overturn Antonelli’s penalty, promoting him to P4.
Alex Albon finished fifth for Williams, scoring his best result since losing his Red Bull seat in 2020. He was followed by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Sauber’s Hulkenberg and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Piastri recovered from his earlier spin to finish P9.
Hamilton: Australian GP “not the start we wanted”
Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top 10 on his Ferrari debut. The seven-time world champion briefly led the race after running longer on slicks during the last spell of rain. However, Ferrari failed to capitalise on the chaos of the race and walk away from the Australian GP with fewer points scored than Sauber (6 points for Sauber versus 5 for Ferrari).
“Not the start we wanted, but there’s lots to take away and work on from this one,” said Hamilton. “The rain always mixes things up, and strategy comes down to timing and a bit of luck. We took a gamble and made up places, but then boxing too late for Inters cost us, dropping us to the back of the top 10 with too much ground to recover. I struggled with the balance, but it was an important race for learning more about the car in different weather conditions, as well as gaining more experience working with a new team. McLaren and Red Bull had serious pace, so there’s work to do, but we’ll dig deep.”
Next up on the F1 calendar is the Chinese GP on March 21-23.
2025 Australian GP results
| 2025 Australian GP results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Driver | Team |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes |
| 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes |
| 5 | Alex Albon | Williams |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 9 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Haas |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas |
| NC | Liam Lawson | Red Bull Racing |
| NC | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber |
| NC | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin |
| NC | Carlos Sainz | Williams |
| NC | Jack Doohan | Alpine |
| NC | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls |
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