Melbourne, Australia-Lando Norris delivered one of the best displays of his Formula 1 career in Australia on Sunday, and won the season opening race and proves that he is more than ready for a championship bid.
Norris stood under the question of his tag as the favorite of the championship, as anointed by the bookmakers. McLaren’s impressive show in the presidential tests, followed by the front row Lockout in Albert Park on Saturday only justified such status.
But Sunday’s race threw many factors that could have derailed Norris. It was a world away from the dry, simple pole-to-win versions in the Netherlands, Singapore and Abu Dhabi last year where he saw the car home clearly.
Rain that comes and go, a broken start, three periods of the security cars and the pressure of Max Verstappen – the reigning world champion and one of the biggest ever in the wet – all serious questions from Norris to the front.
And for everyone he had an answer.
The safety car leads Norris on the right track during the Grand Prix in Melbourne (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Norris described it as a race where it was “so easy to make a mistake, so easy to ruin everything” at any time. Six crashes through the race turned out to be exactly that. Heavy rain tempered the course all day before the start, but Norris was able to absorb the pressure from Verstappen and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and remained under control. The tires of Verstappen then dried out the track, so that Norris is only concerned with Piastri, the home favorite.
The security car for the Fernando Alonso crash has the awkward moment around team orders could be an awkward moment, in which Piastri was already heard to maintain the position, and it gave both drivers the opportunity to go to slippery tires in the pits. Norris was warned on the radio There was a short, sharp rain shower in the final phase that could force a new stop.
Norris had been here before. In Montreal and Silverstone last year, he saw the victory slip away twice due to a shift in the weather that McLaren had read incorrectly, so that the door was opened for his rivals. “We worked a lot in the winter to prepare for a race like this, because we thrown away many opportunities last season,” said Norris.
This time McLaren nailed the call. As soon as Norris slid in turn 12 and through the gravel trap – ‘First, do you take the risks of’ how many push it? ” – Moments later followed by Piastri, McLaren called the call to come in.
“Today we were very, very decisive and called to Box Five Meter before I was in the context,” said Norris. “It was the right call in the end, and that won us the race.” Piastri was less lucky, rotating in the last corner and sitting in the grass, breaking the hearts of tens of thousands of Australians around the circuit.
Such a decision -making for Pit Norris points to the growth of a McLaren team that, on the way to the title of his first constructors since 1998, let a few chances slip away last year. As with every budding sports power, it had to learn how to become championships. Painful parts in the process were inevitable. Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing, is happy to tell his staff that it is OK to make a mistake, just don’t make the same mistake twice. The acceptance of that mentality seemed on Sunday.
Norris explained how communication had been an important focal point, which led to almost too much discussion with his race engineer, Will Joseph, through the race. “I had a story time with Will on the radio,” Norris joked. “We spoke so much, I could just as well leave my radio open for the entire race.”
Norris also proved that he learned last year’s lessons and therefore returned stronger. He struggled through some of his early fights with Verstappen and took his time to learn to race against the Dutchman. At high pressure moments there were small errors that turned out to be expensive. The error in Interlagos last year, where Norris went into the rain at a restart in the late race, while Verstappen stormed from the 17th on the schedule to victory, a grim image of the difference between the two.
So when Verstappen stood behind Norris for the last six laps sprint to the restart, his intermediate tires are two laps fresher and the track still damp from the rain shower, it would always be a test of how Norris could see the pressure and the win could see home. After spotting the data that Norris started riding a little differently, Joseph came to the radio and, in the words of Norris, “just told me to relax a little.” The pace was in the car. He just had to avoid mistakes. Verstappen got Drs for the last few laps, but could not get close enough to try a movement, where the line came for 0.8 seconds behind the flag.
“That situation was new to me,” said Norris. “I never led a race with five laps to go behind me with Max and tries to put pressure on and in these circumstances. Maybe Max has had that a few times, he raced a lot against Lewis and he can probably deal better than I can.
“It was a new situation for me, so it seemed a bit like:” Look how it goes when I’m there. “So (I am) glad I just got through it and remained calm. I’m pretty sure that I improved that last year.”
Norris stopped Verstappen during a dramatic opening race of the season (Clive Rose/Getty images)
Although Verstappen was able to stay in the wet with Norris and Piastri, McLaren’s rise clearly indicated while the track dried up to its true advantage. The MCL39 car is softer on its tires than its predecessor and helps to secure the 1-2 in qualifying on Saturday. Come on the race, while Verstappen struggled with tires that were ‘f – ed’, first made a mistake in turn 11 and then losing a lot of time, McLaren just kept pulling forward. The gap for the safety car was the field for more than 15 seconds.
Verstappen referred to the benefit of McLaren after the race and admitted that he ended one place higher than he earned. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who struggled in eighth place, was blown away by the pace of the papaya cars.
“They were incredibly fast today,” said Leclerc. “To be honest, I knew they are incredibly fast because I have heard that they are incredibly fast. But my engineer didn’t even tell me the lap times of the McLaren. I think they were too far ahead. “
It is inevitable that the ‘favorite’ tag came up again in the post-race news conference, a smile by Norris and a pat on the back of George Russell, who was third for Mercedes and noted earlier in the week that McLaren was so far ahead, it was already a focus on his 2026 car.
“If you relax in that position, you will fail, because in Formula 1, if you think it is good and groovy, then you start to get caught,” Norris said. “We know we have a lot of work to do.”
He suggested that a few races were needed to draw any solid conclusions in favor of the team, but admitted: “We are the favorites, we are the team to defeat, especially because there have two drivers who push each other.”
Verstappen gave meaning little about the benefit of McLaren: “We will do our best.” Russell felt a chance to have fun, added: “They are looking pretty good at the moment and groovy.”
This time 12 months ago this was a race that Norris and McLaren may have lost. Not this time. It is the most certain sign, but they have returned stronger than ever before 2025, and that Norris is now ready to launch a championship bid well.
(Top photo: Clive Rose/Getty images)
