A wet and massive track, cold and hostile weather greeted the field 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 its formation lap when Racing Bulls rookie Isaac Hadjar lost control of his car on a slow corner and crashed into the wall... After such a start, we could have expected pure chaos for this season-opening race. And that's what happened.
After the start, Max Verstappen immediately gained a position, while Lando Norris held on to his lead, but we couldn't see much continuity, as further back, Jack Doohan heavily damaged the Alpine . The safety car was deployed, but no sooner had this been signaled than another car hit it against the wall: Carlos Sainz retired the Williams...
A 30-minute period of relentless boredom followed, during which rescue operations took place, and this time was more than enough for the aforementioned conditions to change. Meanwhile, after eight laps behind the safety car, the race finally restarted, but nothing significant happened, except perhaps the drying of the ideal line. Norris began to pull away from Verstappen , who was constantly threatened by Piastri . The Australian soon managed to trap his opponent, but it must be said that this was more due to the Dutchman's mistake. There were many mistakes and very few exchanges of position, as well as few moments reminiscent of the race. At the front, the situation remained unchanged, Norris led, followed by Piastri , while Verstappen trailed behind them with a considerable delay. The rest of the field was not even visible in a shot, which speaks volumes about the balance of power. We were almost ready to abandon the race when Fernando Alonso decided to crash his Aston Martin into the wall, causing the field to bunch up. Many switched to hard tires, others to medium tires, which fundamentally disrupted the carefully planned strategy up to that point.
After long circulations and clean-up operations, a new start could take place, where the two McLarens easily retained the first two places ahead of Verstappen , but... But then the rain came and with it the madness: Piastri slipped and went under, Norris sought refuge behind intermediate tires, Verstappen took the lead . But the Dutchman did not dominate the situation for long, the pit lane was the end of the story. Meanwhile, L ewis Hamilton took the lead (!!), Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto also hit the wall.
Ultimately, Lando Norris handled the restart perfectly, dominating virtually the entire race and easily winning the Australian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and George Russell. We mustn't forget Alexander Albon 's incredible fourth place and Andrea Kimi Antonelli's fifth place, as well as the fact that a depressingly dull race eventually became a great one , with some real battles in the closing laps!
Photo: AP
