Lando Norris secured a thrilling win in the first race of this season. Formula One The season in Australia falls on Sundays.
The British racer managed to overcome the difficult weather and the challenge posed by the four-time defending champion Max Verstappen, securing first place on the podium and beginning his campaign with the full 25-point haul.
Norris began the race from pole position following McLaren's dominance on Saturday. qualifying — his teammate Oscar Piastri completed the front row by starting in second place.
However, despite McLaren’s strong showing during qualifying, Norris remained cautious about the challenge posed by Verstappen starting from third place on the grid – and his concerns were justified.
Despite the race being significantly affected by safety car interventions and later by heavy rainfall, Verstappen consistently kept Norris within his sights without giving him much room for error, pursuing him relentlessly until the very last lap.
Once the race ended with the chequered flag being displayed, Verstappen trailed Norris by merely 0.895 seconds. Norris confessed that he found himself glancing at his rearview mirrors considerably more often than he preferred.
It was incredible," the 25-year-old stated during the post-race interview. "It was a challenging race, particularly with Max right behind me; I had to push hard. Especially those final two laps were somewhat nerve-wracking, let’s be honest, but an awesome way to kick off the season.
Norris acknowledged that the race wasn't flawless, yet he managed to secure victory with his team despite the challenging circumstances.
"We made many errors last year, so I suppose we gained knowledge from those missteps," he commented.
Mercedes' George Russell secured the final spot on the podium in third place. His young rookie teammate, Kimi Antonelli, performed remarkably well, finishing just behind him in fourth position. Initially, Antonelli received a time penalty but it was subsequently rescinded.
further along in the competition, Lewis Hamilton had a less than stellar day with a lackluster first appearance for Ferrari, ultimately ending up in tenth place.
The individual, who is 40 years old, will join Ferrari before the start of the 2025 season following a fruitful 12-year tenure at Mercedes.
Nevertheless, he will be aiming for significant enhancements if he hopes to secure additional driver world championships, with his current total standing at seven, and potentially securing Ferrari’s first title since 2007.
"It turned out much worse than I anticipated," a candid Hamilton said. told Sky Sports following what he referred to as a "highly challenging" initial race of the season.
The car was extremely difficult to handle today. Personally, I'm just thankful that I managed to keep it from crashing into the walls as that's mostly where it seemed inclined to go.
Hamilton and Ferrari are looking forward to making swift adjustments before the upcoming race next week.
After a brief break, the F1 season moves to China for its second round of competition scheduled on March 23rd at 2 PM Eastern Time.
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