Lando Norris claims victory in the season opener in Australia. With a 95% rain expected for the race things, didn’t look so interesting at the start. For a few laps, I nearly dozed off and was expecting the same old Red Bull and Mercedes domination days; this time, it was Mclaren.

However, everyone was up for a shock after a few crashes, and a downpour completely turned the race on its head. Let’s look into my race preview and also understand why you should not be a Ferrari fan.

Powerful Drive by Lando Norris To Claim Victory

Lando Norris led the Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix for a major part of the race and claimed a dominant victory. Even though he was challenged by his teammate, his arch nemesis, or the weather he held his ground and claimed victory. Mclaren had excellent speed throughout the weekend, and Norris claimed victory to cement their strong claim on both titles this year.

Source: Crash

Max Verstappen had a solid race and finished second but couldn’t keep pace with the Papaya team for the major part of the race. George Russell claimed the last spot on the podium and went about its work quietly. Alex Albon had an exceptional day where he finished 5^th on the road but finished 4^th in the classification after Kimi Antonelli served his penalty. Speaking of Kimi, he was the top rookie and had some exceptional overtakes and moments for his first race.

Lance Stroll picked up some important points for his team finishing 6^th on track. Nico Hulkenberg was a surprise driver in the points and he finished 7^th. These points will certainly help Kick Sauber throughout the season. Charles Leclerc finished a miserable 8^th and unlucky Oscar Piastri finished 9^th. The final points position was taken by Lewis Hamilton on his debut for Ferrari.

The other finishers for the race in order were Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, and Oliver Bearman. So, we lost 5 drivers during the race due to crashes in the harsh conditions.

Rookies Crumble Under Pressure

Most of the new breed of F1 racers had a woeful start to their careers in this hostile sport. Only Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman finished the race. Isack Hadjar crashed his car on the warm-up lap even before the race could start, which caused an outpour of emotion after he came out of the car. He was soon followed into the paddock by Jack Doohan, who lost his car under the extreme conditions. Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson also ended up in the barriers after it started raining in the 43rd lap of the race.

Don’t worry, even the most experienced drivers couldn’t handle the pressure and crashed their cars. Last year’s race winner, Carlos Sainz, lost his car during the first safety car. The real change in the race took place when Fernando Alonso crashed his car, causing everybody to change into slicks, which caused more issues for the drivers further down the line.

Rain Hits at the Wrong Time for Piastri

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were heading for a one-two for Mclaren; however, rain hit at the wrong time for the team. After Fernando Alonso’s crash every driver on the grid except both the Haas drivers had changed to slick tires. Everything was going well until a sudden downpour hit the track.

Lando Norris had a trip on the lawn, but Oscar Piastri couldn’t control his car and parked his car on the grass just before the pit lane. This was heartbreaking for the home hero, and it looked like his race was over. But his sheer willpower allowed him to get going again and rejoin at the back of the grid. Eventually, he managed to salvage 2 points by finishing 9th ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Lando Norris Claims Victory Powered by McLaren Monstrous Race Pace

Mclaren was the clear favorite for both the F1 titles heading into the season. They downplayed their pre-season pace; however, everyone was aware of their prowess. Apart from Max Verstappen overtaking Oscar Piastri in the first racing laps, Mclaren didn’t set a foot wrong. The entire race was dominated by the Papaya team and everyone was expecting a shootout between the teammates. Even in the final laps, when Max Verstappen was getting close to Norris, he had the pace to fend him off.

We also saw a different Lando Norris in this race. After last year’s dismal performances in race, he’s gained valuable experience and didn’t crack under pressure. This makes him the favorite to win the 2025 Formula 1 Driver’s title.

Ferrari Masterclass

Ferrari improved a lot last year under the leadership of Fred Vasseur and had everything going their way to start this season. However, looking into the team radios for both the drivers’ things are not as good as they seem. This was especially true for Charles Leclerc when he said that something had spilled, and his race engineer replied it was water. This made Leclerc crack a funny joke taunting past instructions given by his engineer. Lewis Hamilton also had a tough time with his race engineer. The 7-time champion didn’t like everything that was told to him and wanted to do things on his own.

The major masterclass by Ferrari in this race was opting to keep both their drivers out on slicks when everyone was pitting during the downpour. They were 1-2 when everybody pitted to put on intermediate tires to handle the rain. However, after committing to dry tires, they soon realized it was time to switch to slick, thus ending up in 9th and 10th position at that time. If they had committed to dry tires they should’ve let the drivers handle it and take a gamble. They obviously didn’t have anything to lose at that point.

The next race we will get to witness is the Chinese Grand Prix from 21^st March to 23^rd March 2025.