Lando Norris received the season-opening Australian Grand Prix from the pole place. And it was hardly a boring path to victory.
Norris one way or the other regained the lead within the final 15 laps of the race as a rain bathe hit the observe. The race began underneath moist situations with the whole thing of the sector on the intermediate tire. A crash by Fernando Alonso allowed groups to alter to dry tires underneath warning. And that’s when issues acquired wacky.
Not lengthy after the race resumed following Alonso’s crash, rain hit once more. Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri each went off the observe — and Piastri acquired the worst of it. As Piastri acquired caught within the grass, Norris hit the pits for a set of intermediate tires.
Max Verstappen went from third to first as he stayed out on dry tires, however he was quickly pressured to pit once more for intermediates. That cycled Lewis Hamilton to the lead in his first race for Ferrari.
As Hamilton tip-toed across the moist observe on dry tires, Norris picked his manner again via the sector and acquired previous Hamilton earlier than Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto crashed in separate incidents. That pressured one other yellow flag as Norris saved the lead and Hamilton and his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc wanted to pit for inters and had their technique try ruined.
The 57-lap race resumed with six laps to go after the twin crashes, and Norris held off Verstappen for the win.
Norris had the race in hand earlier than Alonso’s crash as Piastri was a cushty second. The 2 McLaren automobiles had comfortably dropped Verstappen in third and appeared nicely on their method to a dominating efficiency to again up McLaren’s 2024 constructor’s title.
As a substitute, Piastri completed ninth after he was lastly capable of get himself unstuck from the grass after spinning out and heading to pit lane for intermediate tires.
The situations had been extremely unkind to F1’s rookies as 4 drivers with lower than a season’s price of expertise crashed out. RB’s Isack Hadjar crashed on the formation lap when his automotive snapped free within the moist situations and didn’t even get to begin the race. Alpine’s Jack Doohan crashed on the primary lap after which Carlos Sainz crashed underneath that warning just some moments later in his first race for Williams after being changed at Ferrari by Hamilton.
Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli completed the race in fourth however was provisionally labeled fifth after a five-second penalty for an unsafe launch on his closing pit cease. Nevertheless, additional proof emerged after the race that overturned the penalty and saved Antonelli in fourth forward of Alex Albon.
1. Lando Norris, McLaren
2. Max Verstappen, Purple Bull
3. George Russell, Mercedes
4. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
5. Alex Albon, Williams
6. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
8. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
9. Oscar Piastri, McLaren
10. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
11. Pierre Gasly, Alpine
12. Yuki Tsunoda, RB
13. Esteban Ocon, Haas
14. Ollie Bearman, Haas
Not labeled: Liam Lawson (Purple Bull), Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Carlos Sainz (Williams), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Isack Hadjar (RB)
