A massive rain-soaked track, cold and unforgiving weather greeted the starting grid in Melbourne , where the question of the day was whether McLaren and Lando Norris could turn their brilliant one-lap time into victory.
As the field started at the Australian Grand Prix, Isaac Hadja r , a rookie for the Racing Bulls team , lost control of his car in a slow corner and crashed into the wall... After such an opening, we could have expected real chaos in the opening race of the season. It came.
After the start, Max Verstappen immediately improved his position, while Lando Norris maintained the lead, but we didn't see much continuity, as Jack Doohan seriously crashed the Alpine at the back . The safety car was coming, but as soon as they announced this fact, we saw another car in the wall: Carlos Sainz got into trouble...
What followed was 30 minutes of relentless boredom, during which the rescue was carried out, and this time was enough for the aforementioned circumstances to change. After eight laps spent behind the safety car, the race finally started again, but nothing significant happened, unless we take into account the drying up of the ideal track. Norris was increasingly moving away from Verstappen , who was constantly approaching Piastrmi . The Australian soon overtook his rival, but the truth is that it was more due to the failure of the Dutch driver. Many mistakes and very few position changes, and moments that resembled the race. At the front, the situation remained unchanged, Norris leading, Piastrmi behind him , Verstappen moving behind them with a huge gap. The rest of the starting field did not even fit into the frame, which says a lot about the balance of power. We had almost given up the race when Fernando Alonso had an idea, crashed into the Aston Martin and got the boys going again. Many switched to hard tyres, some to medium, which fundamentally changed the previously well-established strategy.
After long laps and clean-up, another start came, where both McLarens easily held the first two places ahead of Verstappen , but... But the rain came and with it madness: Piastri got into trouble and mixed it up, Norris ran on intermediate tires, Verstappen in the meantime took the lead . But even the Dutchman did not rule for long, the pit lane was over. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton took the lead (!!), Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto hit the wall.
Finally, Lando Norris managed the next restart , who actually dominated the entire race and easily won the Australian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and George Russell. We must not forget the incredible fourth place of Alexander Albon and the Williams team, the fifth place of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and also that a boring race finally became a great race , in the end there was a real fight!
Photo: AP
