Norris beats Verstappen to victory in dramatic Australian GP opener amid late-race chaos

Lando Norris converted pole position into a hard-fought win during the 2025 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which featured mixed weather conditions, multiple crashes, Safety Cars and a late-race downpour that caused huge drama.

Norris controlled the early stages of Sunday’s encounter from McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on a sodden track, before improving conditions enabled a switch to slick tyres over the second half.

However, shortly after the field had ditched their intermediates, another patch of heavier rain soaked the circuit once more, dramatically sending both McLarens onto the grass and bringing most drivers immediately back into the pits for suitable rubber.

While Norris managed to gather his car and head into the pit lane, Piastri spun off at the penultimate corner and lost a heap of time trying to recover the situation – a chain of events that released reigning World Champion Verstappen into the lead.

However, with Verstappen still on slicks and conditions continuing to deteriorate, it was inevitable that his own pit stop would be required and, when that duly happened, Norris reclaimed a lead he had managed so well earlier in the race.

After a final Safety Car period, caused by crashes for Kick Sauber debutant Gabriel Bortoleto and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, Norris came under attack from Verstappen in the tricky, slippery conditions – the latter managing to get within DRS range.

Norris had just enough in hand to take the chequered flag over his 2024 rival, with George Russell exploiting the drama to complete the podium for Mercedes, ahead of rookie team mate Kimi Antonelli and high-flying Williams driver Alex Albon.

Antonelli had been penalised for an unsafe release from the pits and dropped to fifth behind Albon, but was reinstated to P4 post-race, while Aston Martin’s wet-weather specialist Lance Stroll took sixth over the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the recovering Piastri.

Lewis Hamilton briefly led the race when he also stayed out a little longer on slicks during the late rainfall, but had to settle for 10th and the final points-paying position after he pitted, denying the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the Racing Bulls machine of Yuki Tsunoda.

Haas drivers Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman both tried to stick it out on intermediates ahead of the decisive final shower, only to go back to slicks and then have to complete further stops, leaving them 13th and 14th respectively at the finish.

Lawson and Bortoleto joined a sizeable list of retirements with their respective Turn 2 and Turn 13 shunts, adding to a heavy mid-race crash for the other Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and early accidents for Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Alpine rookie Jack Doohan.

One driver who did not even make the start was Racing Bulls newcomer Isack Hadjar, who crashed exiting Turn 1 on the formation lap – triggering an aborted start – and was left inconsolable at the side of the track.

AS IT HAPPENED

After the first Qualifying session of the year, which ultimately saw the McLarens of Norris and Piastri come out on top, attention soon turned to Sunday’s 58-lap race and the potential for a rain-soaked encounter.

As forecast, the hot and sunny conditions experienced over the first two days of action were replaced by persistent showers, cooler temperatures and gusts of wind overnight, making for a very wet paddock and track surface.

Two changes to the grid in the build-up to the race involved Bearman and Lawson going from the rear of the field to the pit lane due to respective suspension set-up and rear wing specification changes under parc ferme conditions.

When the track opened for reconnaissance laps and drivers made their way from the pit lane to the starting grid, the challenge ahead of them was made clear given the amount of standing water covering the circuit and the spray being kicked up.

In the end, it was decided that the encounter would get under way as normal, rather than behind the Safety Car on mandated full wet tyres, with the rain starting to ease as the 1500 local time start approached.

However, as the drivers left the grid (with everyone on intermediates bar the wet-shod Stroll), disaster struck for one of the rookies when Hadjar lost control of his Racing Bulls machine at the exit of Turn 1 – sending him rearwards into the barriers.

An aborted start message followed while marshals cleared Hadjar’s stricken car and the emotional Frenchman began to process what had just happened – and the remaining drivers lined up on the grid again to prepare for a second formation lap at 1515 local.

When that second start time arrived, all the drivers now had intermediates on – thanks to Stroll making the switch – and made it back to their grid spots, where they waited for the five red lights to switch on, go out and kick off the 2025 campaign.

Polesitter Norris got away well to keep his lead into Turn 1, fending off team mate Piastri and Red Bull rival Verstappen, who subsequently managed to clear the home favourite in the dash to Turn 2.

Drama ensued moments later, though, as Doohan dropped his Alpine exiting Turn 5, hit the barriers and brought out the Safety Car, under which Sainz crashed through the final corner – reporting a “massive power surge” over the radio.

Drivers were taken through the pit lane as marshals got to work again, with Norris heading the top 10 train from Verstappen, Piastri, Russell, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Albon, Hamilton, Gasly and Alonso. At the back, Ocon, Lawson and Bearman opted to take on fresh sets of intermediates.

A radio message from Leclerc noted that the track was “drying up quickly”, while leader Norris – who also spoke of “dry patches” appearing – was informed by the McLaren pit wall that there would be no “significant” rain for the next 30 minutes.

At the end of Lap 7, Bernd Maylander’s Aston Martin took to the pits and released the field into green flag conditions – Norris comfortably maintaining the lead over Verstappen and Piastri, as drivers behind squabbled for track position.

Messages from the stewards then came in to state that both Alonso and Tsunoda had been noted for potential Safety Car infringements, with those becoming full on investigations shortly afterwards – threatening their points-paying positions.

Up front, Norris moved a second clear of Verstappen despite replays showing him sliding his way through Turn 1, with similar margins developing between the cars behind as the now 57-lap race began to settle down.

On Lap 12, with a drier line emerging around the circuit, drivers were seen taking to wetter patches to keep their intermediate tyres in check. Race Control then decided that it was time for the Drag Reduction System (DRS) to be activated.

At this point, Hamilton asked his race engineer to “let me know where I’m slow” as “I’m struggling with driveability”. Follow-up messages from Riccardo Adami a few minutes later were shut down by the seven-time World Champion, who asked him to “leave me to it please”.

In the midfield, Antonelli’s recovery from his Q1 exit took a turn for the worse when he went for a spin exiting Turn 3, allowing the Kick Sauber of Hulkenberg through and dropping the Italian youngster back to 13th position.

Cameras cut back to the front-running battle when Verstappen ran wide exiting Turn 10 and went too deep into Turn 11, making it easy for Piastri to reclaim P2 and prompting a huge cheer from the packed grandstands.

Verstappen reported that his intermediates were “dead” after that rare mistake, adding “if there’s any rain we might need to pit for new tyres”. Just a couple of laps on from Piastri’s pass, the Dutchman found himself five seconds adrift.

Further messages from the stewards confirmed that Hamilton and Albon were also under investigation for Safety Car infringements, but both got swiftly cleared of any wrongdoing, along with the aforementioned Alonso and Tsunoda.

By Lap 25, amid another period of drizzle, Norris’ lead over Piastri stood at just under two seconds, with the latter pumping in a series of fastest lap times in clean air, while Verstappen was already around 10 seconds back.

At Ferrari, an amusing radio exchange between Leclerc and his engineer was aired. “Is there a leakage? My seat is full of water,” queried the Monegasque. “Must be the water,” came the response. “Let’s add that to the words of wisdom,” Leclerc chimed.

As the laps ticked by, Piastri continued to light up the timesheets and in turn started to put some pressure on his race-leading team mate, giving the McLaren pit wall something to think about when he got within DRS range of Norris.

“Hold position,” the Australian was told, as he and Norris filed through traffic. “We’re free to race now. You know the rules,” was the next message, by which point Piastri had made a mistake at Turn 6 and fallen some three seconds away.

An even bigger twist came on Lap 34 when Alonso crashed heavily exiting that Turn 6 spot, triggering another Safety Car period and a flurry of pit lane activity as almost the entire field pitted to swap their intermediate tyres for slick rubber.

Norris and Piastri remained 1-2 on hard tyres, from Verstappen on mediums, Russell (hards), Leclerc (hards), Tsunoda (mediums), Albon (mediums), Hamilton (hards), Gasly (hards) and Antonelli (hards).

Stroll (hards), Hulkenberg and Bortoleto (both on mediums) sat just outside the points places, while Haas duo Ocon and Bearman were the only drivers to remain on intermediates in 14th and 15th, ahead of medium-shod Lawson.

As marshals worked to clear Alonso’s heavily damaged Aston Martin, a radio update for Norris and Piastri suggested that “one lap of rain” at “Class 2 or 3” could be on the way in the closing stages of the race, adding some more jeopardy to the situation.

“We know why we’re doing this,” Ocon then commented, but with the side note that he and team mate Bearman would likely be sitting ducks “in a couple of laps” if no more rain arrived and the track continued to dry up.

Shortly afterwards, Haas boxed both Ocon and Bearman to change their intermediates for medium tyres, with a clear dry line now visible for the best part of the lap. Bortoleto, meanwhile, was given a five-second penalty for an unsafe release involving Lawson.

At the end of Lap 41, the Safety Car headed back into the pits to release Norris, who once again managed the restart perfectly to keep his lead over Piastri, Verstappen, Russell and Leclerc, as Tsunoda, Albon, Hamilton, Gasly and Antonelli remained in the points.

Another weather update, this time in Leclerc’s direction, indicated that “Class 3” rain could impact the final few laps. “Wow, that’s a lot,” he said in response, as the tension and nerves increased up and down the pit lane.

“It will be heavy enough for inters,” Russell was then told amid drops of rain, just as cameras picked up both Norris and Piastri running off the track and over the grass at Turn 12 – the Australian agonisingly ending up rearwards in the Turn 13 run-off.

Norris reacted by pitting for intermediates, along with several more cars behind, but Verstappen, Tsunoda, Hamilton, Gasly, Leclerc, Lawson, Ocon and Bearman initially stayed out. “We need to make a decision,” Verstappen urged Red Bull over the radio.

Two laps after Norris’ stop, Verstappen decided that enough was enough and made the move back to intermediates, giving Ferrari a provisional 1-2 as Hamilton and Leclerc (who survived a spin of his own at Turn 11) battled to keep their slick-shod cars pointing in the right direction.

As the rain continued to intensify, however, the only tyres to be on were the green-marked inters, underlined by accidents for Bortoleto at Turn 13 and Lawson at Turn 2 – meaning Maylander and the Safety Car were called into action again.

With the Ferraris dropping to the tail-end of the top 10 positions, and the fight for honours being between Norris and Verstappen once more, Hamilton got on the radio to express his frustration and argue that they “missed a big opportunity”.

At the end of Lap 51, Norris mastered another Safety Car restart to hold position from Verstappen, Russell, Albon, Antonelli, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Hamilton and Leclerc, who quickly put a move on his new team mate around the outside of Turn 1.

Leclerc’s comeback charge continued with a pass on the sliding Gasly out of Turn 2 on Lap 54, before the Frenchman lost further ground to Hamilton at Turn 3 – attention then returning to the front of the field as Verstappen closed up to the back of Norris.

Verstappen gave it his all in the dying moments, getting within DRS range on the penultimate lap, but it was not enough to deny Norris a fifth career victory. Behind, Russell gave Mercedes a podium to celebrate in third, with team mate Antonelli backing him up.

Antonelli fell to fifth after the finish, behind Albon, due to a five-second penalty for an unsafe release, but that decision was later overturned – a bonus following what was a fine debut from the rookie, who started towards the rear of the field after his Q1 exit.

Albon secured a brilliant top-five result for Williams, while Stroll, Hulkenberg, Leclerc, Piastri and Hamilton rounded out the points places – the home hero making it back into the top 10 and boldly clearing Hamilton right at the end but no doubt feeling gutted.

Gasly and Tsunoda just missed out on a reward in respective P11 and P12 places, with Ocon and Bearman completing the order after the retirements for Lawson, Bortoleto, Alonso, Sainz and Doohan, and the did not start for Hadjar.

Key quote

“It was amazing,” said Norris afterwards. “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. 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.”

What’s next

F1 will travel straight to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix from March 21-23. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action from the Shanghai International Circuit.