The Formula One season opener in Australia saw all four seasons pass over the Melbourne circuit in less than two hours. On the whole it appeared that the McLaren pair were in control of the Grand Prix and heading for the team’s 52nd 1-2 finish until late in the race back came the rains causing chaos from front to back of the field.

Leading the race were Norris, Piastri and Max Verstappen was in third place, all by now running on dry weather tyres as the rains came again. Both McLaren cars left the circuit at the penultimate corner, which allowed Max to close the gap and pass Piastri who was stricken on the grass.

Having experienced an off for both their cars, McLaren blinked first and called Norris in for the intermediate tyre, whilst Max ploughed around again on the medium tyre. Traffic for Norris meant that next time around Verstappen was over 21 seconds ahead of Norris, requiring just 19 seconds for a full speed pit stop. Yet Red Bull made the decision that the dry weather tyre would be good for the remainder of the race.

 

 

 

Red Bull strategists asleep on the job

Another lap in the rain which was increasing in intensity saw Norris make inroads into Verstappen’s lead and as Red Bull finally relented and ditched dry tyre strategy and fitted Max with the intermediate rain tyre, Norris once again had re-taken the lead of the Grand Prix.

The Red Bull decision not to leave Max on the medium dry tyre was absolutely correct given at the restart from the subsequent safety car, the world champion would have been swamped by the resat of the field on the intermediates. The question is did Red Bull delay just one lap too long before fitting the intermediate tyre?

The answer is yes, because both drivers would have been on the same tyre to the end of the race, with Verstappen now leading the field. The problem for the Red Bull strategists was that Norris being held up by slower cars meant the increasing gap to Max was growing more quickly than expected.

The call to pit cold have come with just two corners of Verstappen’s lap remaining and the team wold have been ready to receive their driver. Yet indecision cost Red Bull today and the ‘luck’ went the way of McLaren.

Piastri vote of confidence, not what it seems

 

 

 

McLaren claim Norris’ car damaged

McLaren admitted Norris’ car was damaged from the off which will irk Red. Bull and Max Verstappen with hindsight. But before the rains fell, it was clear the McLaren cars are indeed the class of the field at the start of 2025, they had eeked out a 15 second lead over Verstappen in third place and looked set to roll home with a comfortable 1-2.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted that they are behind the pace of the McLarens at this stage of the season stating to Sky F1: “[McLaren] have a well-balanced car, particularly in sector three, they looked strong. Max made a good start, got a little boxed in but then a great move around the outside of Oscar and was able to challenge a little, initially Lando, but I think we were just a little heavier on the tyres, particularly in the last sector.”

Horner noted the gap began to open up in the drying conditions, but that at the end of the first stint on intermediates the pace came back to Verstappen and “we started to be very competitive again.

“At the pit stop, we went on to the mediums and I was somewhat surprised to see everybody going onto hards on a damp track, and we felt that would give a better warm-up and so on. And then the rain came again, and it was only really in the last sector [where Max was suffering].”

Helmut Marko slams ’embarrassing’ crying Hadjar

 

 

 

Horner questions Norris’ mental toughness

The Red Bull boss then turned the heat up on the driver who is likely to be Verstappen’s biggest threat in the F1 drivers’ title chase by suggesting Lando Norris was feeling the pressure come the final six laps of racing.  “I think Lando looked like he tightened a little bit at the end of the race. He made a mistake at Turn 6, went half off the track. That gave Max a little bit of a run at a track that’s very difficult to overtake, and then the next lap, he got another run.

“A Very, very close finish to an exciting race,” Christian Horner concluded.

Dr. Helmut Marko detailed the advantage McLaren currently have over the Red Bull RB21 when speaking after the race to viaplay. “We can match them for six-eight laps, but then our tyre degradation comes earlier, and that’s the main problem we have to work on,” revealed the 82 year old Austrian. 

“But through the conditions and changing safety car and so on, Max was there and I think in the last six laps he was the faster guy, but of course there was just one dry line and overtaking was not possible, so what he tried is to push Lando into a mistake. Didn’t do so, but I think it’s a very good result for us and it will be a tough season.”

Marko rages against FIA rule change

 

 

 

Lawson 0 – Perez 1

Liam Lawson’s debut alongside Max was one to forget. Having made two mistakes in qualifying one, the New Zealand born driver was set to start the race in P18. Yet Red Bull decided to break parc ferme and fit a higher downforce wing to his car, this resulted in Lawson starting in the pitlane as Christian Horner explained.

“It was a difficult weekend for him. We changed the car to put a bit more downforce on the car; it’s a very hard track to overtake at. We took the risk of leaving him out because he was outside the points and we thought, you know what, roll the dice, maybe it’ll come right.

“But [that was] exactly the point that it started to rain more, so it’s difficult to blame him for that. You know, for that last spin, I think the one flash of light that he can take out of it is that on the dry tyres he actually posted the second fastest lap time of the Grand Prix.

“So, I think if there was one positive, we can take that his pace actually is not too bad,” said the Red Bull boss, somewhat clutching at straws. Sky F1’s pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz claimed this weekend,  “somewhere in Guadalajara, Mexico a man called Segrio is laughing his head off’.

Sky F1 reporter says Sergio Perez is “laughing”

 

 

 

 

Hamilton SLAMS Ferrari pit wall: “The flop of the weekend”

Ferrari’s disastrous season opener: Hamilton’s struggles and strategic errors in Melbourne as a nightmare start for Ferrari in 2025 – Ferrari had imagined a very different start to the 2025 Formula One season. However, the opening race in Melbourne turned into a disaster, leaving the Scuderia in disarray after a series of mistakes and misfortunes. In wet conditions, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished eighth and tenth respectively, marking a frustrating and disappointing start for the iconic Italian team.

What should have been a new and promising chapter for Hamilton at Ferrari quickly turned sour. The seven-time world champion endured a difficult debut, struggling with his new car and finishing an unimpressive tenth. Ferrari’s botched strategy ensured that a podium finish was never within reach, setting off alarm bells within the team after just one race.

From the moment the lights went out in Melbourne, it was clear that Hamilton’s first Grand Prix in Ferrari red was going to be an uphill struggle. The Briton, known for his precision and adaptability, found himself wrestling with an unruly car, battling both the tricky weather conditions and the limitations of his SF-25…. READ MORE