McLaren Racing driver Lando Norris became the F1 championship leader for the first time on Sunday at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia.
After starting from pole position, Norris crossed the checkered flag first after 57 laps to win Round One of the 2025 season. His victory was nearly lost after he went off track with only 12 laps to go, but he regained the lead in two laps after a well-timed pit stop.
“It’s an incredible start to the year, and the team has given me an amazing car from the get-go,” Norris said after the race. “I felt comfortable and confident out there in the package the team have given us.”
Norris maintained the race lead after the starting lights went out, fighting pressure from his teammate, Melbourne native Oscar Piastri, and the reigning world champion, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started P3. Verstappen overtook Piastri on the first lap for second place, a position the Australian could not reclaim until Lap 18. Piastri chased Norris for the race lead until he received team orders via radio on Lap 30 to hold position and secure the team’s 1-2 finish.
“The update on the weather forecast led us to close the internal racing between our two drivers until we had clarity as to the weather prediction,” Team Principal Andrea Stella said.
Piastri was told he was free to race again on Lap 33, but a safety car deployment that same lap prevented any overtaking. At this time, the weather radar began to show that heavy rain was coming near the end of the race. Despite this, the cars pitted to switch to slick tires for the dry track.
Norris maintained the lead off Piastri and Verstappen as the safety car left the track, but the rain arrived earlier than expected and with a longer timeframe. The track quickly became wet, and on Lap 45, both McLarens went off track. Norris managed to recover and hurried into the pit box for a set of intermediate tires, while Piastri got stuck in a patch of grass.
“A disappointing result after a really positive weekend,” Piastri concluded. “I had the speed, and I felt in very good shape to fight for the win. Unfortunately, at the end, I just lost it in the sudden rain.”
The race timetable initially reported Piastri as out of the race, but under the watchful eyes of his home crowd, the McLaren driver managed to reverse out of the grass and rejoin the race at the back of the pack.
Even from that position, Piastri was not far from a top 10 point-scoring finish, given that the race had a total of six DNFs and only 14 cars left on the track. He crossed the flag in P9 after overtaking Scuderia Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, scoring two points.
Norris leads the championship over Verstappen with a total of 25 points. He also scored the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1.22.167 seconds, but as of this season, that no longer awards drivers an extra point.
Round two of the 2025 season will take place at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 23 at the Shanghai International Circuit.
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