Massive wet track, cold and unfriendly weather greeted the peloton in Melbourne , where the question of the day was whether McLaren and Lando Norris could turn their excellent one-lap pace into victory.
The Australian Grand Prix field had barely started on the warm-up lap when Isaac Hadja , the newcomer from Racing Bulls , lost his car in a slow corner and crashed into the wall... After such an introduction, we could expect a chaotic season-opening race. And so it was.
After the start, Max Verstappen immediately gained a position, while Lando Norris kept the first position, but we couldn't see much continuity, because further back Jack Doohan seriously damaged the Alpine. The safety car came out, but they had barely announced it when we could see another car hit the wall: Carlos Sainz abandoned the Williams...
There followed 30 minutes of relentless boredom, during which rescues were made, and this time was more than enough to change the conditions mentioned above. In the meantime, after eight laps spent behind the safety car, the race resumed, but nothing significant happened, except for the drying of the ideal on the trajectory. Norris began to break away from Verstappen , who was getting closer and closer to Piastri . The Australian managed to catch his opponent, but it is worth noting that this happened more because of the errors of the Dutchman. There were many mistakes and very few changes of position, and moments reminiscent of racing. At the front, the situation remained unchanged, Norris was leading, Piastri was following him, Verstappen had a considerable delay behind them. The rest of the peloton could not be included in a frame, which says a lot about the balance of forces. When we were almost at a loss for the race, Fernando Alonso decided to hit the wall with the Aston Martin, bringing the teams back into the game. Many switched to hard tyres, others to mediums, and thus essentially overturning the well-established strategy until then.
After a long struggle and clearing of the debris, a new start came, where the two McLarens easily kept the first two places in front of Verstappen , but... Then came the precipitation and with it the madness: Piastri went off the track and buried himself, Norris was looking for intermediate tires, Verstappen in the meantime took the lead . But the Dutchman did not control the situation for too long, the pit was the end. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton reached the first place (!!), Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto reached the wall.
In the end, Lando Norris handled the new restart perfectly, dominating practically the entire race and winning the Australian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and George Russell. We must not forget Alexander Albon and the incredible fourth position of the Williams, Andrea Kimi Antonelli in fifth, as well as the fact that a boring race turned into an excellent race , and the last laps were truly a battle!
Photo: AP
