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Lando Norris kept his cool in a rain-hit and incident-packed season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday to edge out world champion Max Verstappen.
The pole-sitting Briton took the chequered flag by less than a second from the Dutchman, with Mercedes’ George Russell finishing third in a chaotic race in Melbourne that saw three drivers crash before the end of the first lap.
With the safety car repeatedly forced into action after a slew of accidents on the wet Albert Park circuit, Norris held on to clock a fifth Grand Prix win. Norris came into the season as the favourite for the 2025 drivers’ title and cemented his status as the man to beat.
McLaren’s Lando Norris with the Australian GP winner’s trophy in Melbourne yesterday. Pics/Getty Images
“It was amazing, a top race, especially with Max behind me. The last two laps were a little bit stressful, not going to lie. Tricky conditions, but these are the ones that are enjoyable and we ended up on top, so I’m happy,” Norris said.
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Verstappen, who is aiming to become only the second driver to win five straight world titles after Michael Schumacher, was in the hunt early, but an uncharacteristic error on lap 18 dented his chances until another safety car put him back in the frame.
“It was a difficult race, but at the end it was fun,” said the Dutch star. “I was fighting for the win, but [in the end] I’m just happy to bring it home and score good points. This is a good start for us,” Verstappen added.
In the unpredictable conditions, with rain on-and-off, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli finished fourth on his debut while Williams’ Alex Albon came fifth. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was sixth ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc came eighth, with Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri and Hamilton rounding out the top 10.
Ferrari was hard to drive: Hamilton on 10th-place finish
Lewis Hamilton said on Sunday that he found his new Ferrari “really, really hard to drive” in the wet as the seven-time world champion endured a difficult start to his career with the Prancing Horse.
Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton, 40, is hoping for a new lease of life after his bombshell switch from Mercedes, but it has been a steep learning curve since he joined the Italian team in January. It culminated in a disappointing 10th in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, where he was well off the pace of McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes and behind teammate Charles Leclerc in a rain-hit race.
“It [the race] was very tricky and went a lot worse than I thought it would go. The car was really, really hard to drive today. For me, I’m just grateful I kept it out of the wall because that’s where it wanted to go most of the time,” said Hamilton.
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