Norris just holds off Verstappen to win chaotic rain-hit Australian GP

Lando Norris just held off Max Verstappen to make the perfect start to his 2025 F1 world championship challenge by impressively winning a chaotic season-opening Australian GP featuring on-off rain and numerous crashes.

Norris, the pre-season title favourite, had led the majority of the 58 laps from team-mate Oscar Piastri at a sodden and blustery Albert Park as McLaren’s qualifying dominance transferred into the rain-hit race, but his win appeared in jeopardy as the return of wet weather in the closing 15 laps triggered a fresh round of chaos.

As the rain started to fall, both McLarens briefly slid off the track in the final sector, but while Norris successfully rounded the next turn and could immediately head for the pits for intermediate tyres, home favourite Piastri spun off into the grass where he stayed for over a minute and dropped to the back of the field. He eventually finished ninth.

Verstappen, who had lost touch with the McLarens to the tune of 16 seconds in the middle of the race having initially overtaken Piastri on the first lap before a subsequent error, briefly inherited the lead but also had to soon pit for intermediates as the rain only intensified.

After a third in-race Safety Car, he finished on Norris’ tail in the slippery closing laps but could not find a way past the Briton, who claimed the early points advantage in the season and ended Verstappen’s 63-race sequence at the head of the Drivers’ Championship dating back to mid-2022.

“That’s one of the great all-time drives from Lando Norris there,” said Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle of the McLaren driver’s fifth career win.

“In the most challenging conditions, with the restarts and so much pressure.”

George Russell took third for Mercedes to earn a podium place that had not looked likely for the majority of the race.

New rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli recovered well from his disappointing Q1 exit to finish a fine fourth on the road in the second Silver Arrow although a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release by Mercedes from his late pit stop earned him a five-second time penalty and dropped him to fifth behind Alex Albon, who capped a fine opening to the season in the much-improved Williams in what became fourth.

But Lewis Hamilton finished 10th – the final points-paying position – after a difficult first outing for Ferrari.

Running in his qualifying position of eighth for most of the race mostly characterised by discussion with his new race engineer Riccardo Adami about the timing of radio messages to him, Hamilton briefly found himself in the lead when both Ferraris initially stayed out on slicks while those ahead pitted as the heavens opened late on.

He was second behind the intermediate-shod Norris when the Safety Car came out but, despite the race having by then been neutralised after spins for Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson, Ferrari realised they had made a mistake as the conditions were just too wet and belatedly called their cars in.

With the field now running nose to tail, the late timing of Ferraris stops relegated the drivers down to the foot of the top 10.

Charles Leclerc eventually took eighth after passing Hamilton – who had got ahead of his new team-mate for the first time this weekend on slicks just before the Safety Car – at the restart with the Briton then relegated to 10th on the final lap by the recovering Piastri.

While Fernando Alonso crashed out to cause the race’s second of three Safety Cars, Lance Stroll kept it on the road to take a strong sixth for Aston Martin – the Canadian’s first points since last July and matching his Melbourne finish from 2024 – with Nico Hulkenberg taking an unexpected seventh on his debut for Sauber, their best result since 2022.

Setting the tone for a wild season opener, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar – on the formation lap – Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Williams’ Carlos Sainz, last year’s race winner, all crashed out of the event before the field had even completed the season’s opening lap after Melbourne had been hit by the expected heavy rain in the hours before the Grand Prix.

More to follow…

The F1 circus heads straight to Shanghai this week for the first Sprint weekend of the season at the Chinese GP, with coverage starting on Friday live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime