Round 1: Australia 🇦🇺

The 2025 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park set the tone for what will be a thrilling season full of spins and wins, featuring unexpected performances and costly incidents due to the changing weather conditions throughout the whole weekend.

McLaren’s Dominance

Lando Norris picked up where he left off last season as the most recent race winner and managed to win the Australian Grand Prix from Pole. He now has the lead in the driver’s championship, with Max Verstappen breathing down his neck and last years rivalry continuing but with Norris on top (for now). His teammate, Oscar Piastri, made the papaya family proud not by achieving a home race win, but by scoring points for his team, even after facing setbacks in the slippery streets of Melbourne.

Williams’ rise to the top

After years of underperforming, Williams showed up for the Australian Grand Prix, finishing the weekend with a promising P4 in the Constructors’ Championship. Alex Albon delivered a brilliant drive scoring 10 points for his team, indicating potential for Williams to be competing for points and even podiums in the following races. As for the new addition to the team, Carlos Sainz, was one of the first drivers to DNF, even after having an exceptional weekend during all free practices and qualifying, but made sure to help his teammate achieve P5.

Lewis Hamilton’s challenging Ferrari debut

The seven-time world champion’s long-awaited debut in red was not what any of us had hoped for (well, maybe Toto). Car performance and communication issues led to Lewis Hamilton losing positions and ultimately finishing tenth. His new teammate, Charles Leclerc, faced similar issues to Hamilton but was able to finish a couple of grid places higher, scoring a total of five points for Ferrari. Surely team principal, Fred Vasseur, won’t be pleased seeing his team last out of the point scorers, especially if he wants to win the “revanche” with McLaren in 2025.

The discontinuity of the bonus point for getting the fastest lap is already showcasing its’ importance, with the reigning world champions (McLaren) and Mercedes sharing the lead for the 2025 season. What does this season have in store for us after such an exhilarating opening race?

The Rookies

Kimi Antonelli #12

The eighteen-year-old lived up to the expectations and is now the second youngest driver to score points, following four-time world champion Max Verstappen, after finishing in P4 on his debut in F1. This will give Kimi the confidence he needs to keep up the point scoring finishes (and maybe even a podium?). Even though Australia was only round 1 out of 24, Toto Wolf must be pleased with his choice and the teams’ P2 in the WCC after losing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari.

Jack Doohan #7

The Aussie was out of the race after losing control of his car during the first lap. This adds even more pressure to Doohan who is already “threatened” by 4 reserve drivers one of them being fan-favorite Franco Colapinto.

Ollie Bearman #87

Bearman had a rough start going into his first race weekend as an official Formula 1 driver. After crashing in both FP1 and FP3, not qualifying and starting from the pit lane, Ollie finished last out of all remaining drivers on track, but at least he managed to keep his car in control, contrary to some of his fellow rookies.

Isack Hadjar #6

The rookie that showed the most promise during all free practices and qualifying, was the first to DNF. We are expecting to see many better outcomes from the twenty-year old and hope that he has healed by next weekend for Shanghai after Australias’ heartbreak. (Luckily, his idols’ father was there to comfort him and what a sweet moment that was).

Gabriel Bortoleto #5

The 2024 F2 champion was one of the many “victims” of the slippery white lines on track and hit the wall, just like his manager Fernando Alonso who DNF’d just a few laps before Bortoleto.

WDC standings:

  1. Lando Norris - 25 pts
  2. Max Verstappen - 18 pts
  3. George Russell - 15 pts
  4. Kimi Antonelli - 12 pts
  5. Alex Albon - 10 pts
  6. Lance Stroll - 8 pts
  7. Nico Hulkenberg- 6 pts
  8. Charles Leclerc - 4 pts
  9. Oscar Piastri - 2 pts
  10. Lewis Hamilton - 1 pt
  11. Pierre Gasly - 0 pts
  12. Yuki Tsunoda - 0 pts
  13. Esteban Ocon - 0 pts
  14. Ollie Bearman - 0 pts
  15. Liam Lawson - 0 pts
  16. Gabriel Bortoleto - 0 pts
  17. Fernando Alonso - 0 pts
  18. Carlos Sainz - 0 pts
  19. Jack Doohan - 0 pts
  20. Isack Hadjar - 0 pts

WCC standings:

  1. Mclaren - 27 pts
  2. Mercedes - 27 pts
  3. Red Bull - 18 pts
  4. Williams - 10 pts
  5. Aston Martin - 8 pts
  6. Kick Sauber - 8 pts
  7. Ferrari - 5 pts
  8. Alpine - 0 pts
  9. Racing Bulls - 0 pts
  10. HAAS - 0 pts

Up next: China 🇨🇳 (March 21st-23rd)

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