2025 Australian Grand Prix Race Review

Norris Starts Season with Sensational Win in Chaotic Aussie GP

In a Race that continued to challenge all of the drivers, Lando Norris kept his nerve throughout to start the season with a terrific victory! Max Verstappen pushed hard in the final few laps as he took P2 whilst George Russell rounded out an impressive Podium in Australia!

The Biggest Talking Points

This could be a long one! At Turn 2 on the Formation Lap, we were already one down as Rookie Isack Hadjar found himself out before his Grand Prix debut even started! After an aborted start, the Race finally got underway with Max Verstappen clearing Oscar Piastri for second as Jack Doohan wrecked his car, resulting in a Home Race DNF and a Safety Car being deployed! On the same lap, Carlos Sainz was in the wall as his Williams debut started poorly before the Race finally got back underway as the conditions started to improve! After a mistake from Max, Oscar found himself up in P2 as he hunted down teammate Lando Norris, but McLaren ordered Piastri not to pass his teammate, a decision that will definitely get talked about for a while to come (no matter what you think about it)! Other than this, not much was really happening, it was tricky to overtake, and certain drivers were just waiting for the track to dry out, but ultimately, this all changed when Fernando Alonso suffered a big shunt in his Aston Martin, leading to another Safety Car!

During the Safety Car period, pretty much every driver boxed for slicks, but a few laps later, and the rain was coming down again as both McLaren’s went off in Turn 12, with Lando Norris just about staying alive whilst Oscar Piastri went skuttling onto the grass, ultimately taking him out of both Podium and Race Win contention! It then became a mixture of some teams staying on slicks and others pitting for another set of Intermediates, and one of those teams that stayed out were Ferrari! However, that was proven to be the wrong decision as the rain continued to get harder, with both Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson putting their cars into the wall to cause yet another Safety Car! With 6 laps to go, the Race got back underway as Lando pulled away out front as Andrea Kimi Antonelli received a 5-second time penalty for an unsafe release (which was later overturned)! Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton was dropping further down the order as his Ferrari debut wasn’t going to plan before a small mistake from Norris allowed Verstappen onto the back of him, leading to a very tense final couple of laps! However, in the end, Lando was able to hold off Max to take the win as Kimi Antonelli was re-instated to P4 after the Race was over!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out a rather impressive seven 10’s for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix and the first one is obviously Lando Norris! I backed Lando to win today, but I was so impressed with how he handled the pressure because those conditions were so damn tricky, and I felt him keeping a certain 4-time World Champion behind was a pretty big deal for him! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Max Verstappen, and this honestly might be the first time I’ve ever given Max a 10 for anything other than winning (or getting Pole)! However, the Red Bull car is clearly not that great, yet Verstappen was still right there challenging for the victory! The third driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is George Russell, and I know this may come as a bit of a surprise, but whilst everyone’s talking about his performance, George is being slept on for just how great of a job he did of making everything look easy! I’ve then given a 10 to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and my word did he do well today! Considering how the other Rookies did today, the fact that Kimi kept it on the road (for the most part) and jumped up 12 positions is super, duper impressive! The 5th driver I’ve given out a 10 to is Alex Albon, and I don’t think this needs much explaining, but a P5 for Williams in the open round of the season is absolutely mega! The 6th driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Lance Stroll, and I think Lance is another driver that people will sleep on today, but you have to remember that Aston Martin’s car performance has been worse than the likes of Williams, Alpine, and even Racing Bulls, so to finish 6th is pretty damn great! And finally, the last driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Nico Hulkenberg because that man just finished 7th in a Kick Sauber! I mean talk about impressive, Nico’s already scored more points in 1 Race than Sauber scored in the entirety of last year!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

In total, I’ve unfortunately given out six 1’s for the first Race of the year, and the first one is for Liam Lawson! Liam lacked all confidence today, he had no pace, had only the Haas cars behind him, and spun multiple times, eventually into the wall! The second driver I’ve given out the lowest possible grade to is Gabriel Bortoleto, and I do feel a little sorry for Gabby as he was driving decently, but he still crashed so I ultimately have to be a little harsh! The next driver I gave a 1 to was Fernando Alonso, and his crash was arguably the biggest mistake of them all, and this is not what you would expect from the 2-time World Champion! I then gave Carlos Sainz a 1, and again, he was unlucky, but Carlos still crashed on the opening lap whilst his teammate finished 4th! The 5th driver I’ve given a 1 to is Jack Doohan, and Jack was another driver that didn’t do too much wrong, but unfortunately he still smashed his car! And the final driver I’ve given out the lowest possible grade to is Isack Hadjar as he didn’t even make the Race itself after spinning into the wall on the Formation Lap! It was sad to see how down Isack was, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back! Also, whilst they didn’t get 1’s, I do need to talk about Haas because they sucked, with Esteban Ocon coming home ahead of Oliver Bearman!

Overall Race Results and My Ratings

1. Lando Norris: 10

2. Max Verstappen: 10

3. George Russell: 10

4. Andrea Kimi Antonelli: 10

5. Alex Albon: 10

6. Lance Stroll: 10

7. Nico Hulkenberg: 10

8. Charles Leclerc: 5

9. Oscar Piastri: 5

10. Lewis Hamilton: 4

11. Pierre Gasly: 4

12. Yuki Tsunoda: 4

13. Esteban Ocon: 3

14. Oliver Bearman: 2

15. Liam Lawson: 1 (DNF)

16. Gabriel Bortoleto: 1 (DNF)

17. Fernando Alonso: 1 (DNF)

18. Carlos Sainz: 1 (DNF)

19. Jack Doohan: 1 (DNF)

20. Isack Hadjar: 1 (DNS)