Australian Grand Prix - Formula One: Lando Norris WINS dramatic season opener as Lewis Hamilton struggles

What a race that was! I've just about caught my breath! We've had torrential rain, radio drama and six drivers crash out in what was an eventful season opener.

It was the dream start for McLaren driver Lando Norris, who picked up his fifth Formula One victory of his career, with he and Oscar Piastri showcasing why the Woking-based side are the team to beat this year.

We'll be signing off on here for now but Jonathan McEvoy has been reflecting on all the drama in Melbourne below.

Meanwhile, we've also got a jam-packed day of sport coming your way here at Mail Sport. Arsenal host Chelsea in the Premier League while Manchester United and Leicester go head-to-head later on tonight. Elsewhere, we've got the final round of The Players Championship set to tee off later today while Newcastle take on Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.

Head over to Mail Sport's homepage for all the latest news, commentary and insights from what's set to be a jam-packed day of sport.

Lewis Hamilton did not hold back when giving his appraisal of the race.

It was a difficult day at the office for Hamilton on his debut for Ferrari and it seems the team have some teething issues to resolve heading to Shanghai next week.

Hamilton appeared to have communications with managers in the pit lane as they attempted to give the former Mercedes driver instructions over the weather forecast.

After the race, the Brit was pressed on those communication issues, stating that the race had gone 'a lot worse than I thought' while also adding he had difficulty driving the car.

It's very tricky. It went a lot worse than I thought it would go. The car was really, really hard to drive today. So I mean I'm just grateful that I kept it out of the wall because that's where it wanted to go most of the time.

But a lot to take from it and getting acclimatised to the wet conditions all the settings it requires a different way of driving and a set up on the steering wheel. I hung out as long as I could just the guidance on how much rain was coming was missing so I think we missed out.

On himself and Charles staying out on the slick tyres for as long as they could Hamilton appeared to express further concerns on how his team perhaps did not listen to him.

We tried to [have those conversations with the pit wall]. But the information I got was that it was just a short shower. Real quick and at the time it was only in the last corner. That's all that's coming and then more came.

A sensational drive from Lando Norris considering the conditions with the British driver picking up the fifth Formula One victory of his career.

As expected, McLaren look to be the team to beat this year with the Woking-based team dominating the race. There was heartbreak though for Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri, who had trailed him in second for most of the drive before he spun out in the latter stages of the race, going on to finish ninth.

Max Verstappen finished second behind Norris, while George Russell equally impressed to place third.

Norris told Sky Sports:

A tough race especially with Max behind me.

I was pushing. Especially the last two laps - a little bit stressful I'm not going to lie.

A tough one because we made some big mistakes - I went through the gravel. Tricky conditions. But these ones are the ones that are enjoyable.

On how he stayed so calm during that race, particularly towards the end with Verstappen pressing on him, Norris said that McLaren have learned a lot from their mistakes last season.

We got it wrong a lot last year. I guess we learned from our mistakes. We lost out on Silverstone and Canada in a race like this.

It's only round one of 24 but dealing with the pressure, dealing with Max, dealing Oscar behind me, I was pushing the whole way through. I couldn't relax inside but I wasn't relaxing from how much I was pushing.

A tough one. To not have any mistakes and to not have made a mistake that overly cost me, I guess I can take a lot of credit from that. A tough and challenging race but I have to say a big thanks to McLaren.

A dejected Oscar Piastri admitted that he only has himself to blame after a mistake late on in the race saw him drop from second to finish ninth in the race.

The Aussie span out onto a patch of grass at the side of the track and agonisingly lost seven places as he attempted to reverse off the slick surface.

Piastri had been pressing on team-mate Lando Norris up until that point.

It's obviously pretty disappointing at the moment.

Feel like for every lap apart from one I drove an incredibly strong race and it's just a shame not to land the result to show for it. I obviously don't have anyone to blame but myself. It was a bit unfortunate to get stuck the way. did. But it was only myself that put me there.

I think for me the big positive is the other 56 laps of the race. I felt like I had really strong pace and that's what I will try and take away from this weekend as a team and with Lando they made the right decision and with myself, given that I was trying to reverse for about a minute, we still made the right decision.

So I'm proud of the whole team effort this weekend and just a shame not to have a better result.

It would hurt if I had a bad car. But clearly there was much more on the table than P9 today so it was just a shame to not have that result.

The Ferrari team appeared on different wavelengths at times today with Hamilton issuing several spikey responses to race managers over the radio.

After the race he appeared to reveal his frustrations adding that the team needed to work on it's communication.

Here's his radio correspondence with the team during the race...

Hamilton: 'Let me know where I'm slow. Struggling for driveability. The car is snappy.'

Race manager: 'Turn 11 and 12. You can use K1 when you're close.'

Hamilton: 'Leave me to it please.'

Race manager: 'Leave me to it please.'

Hamilton: 'Yes I know, leave me to it please. Lost gear sync.'

Race manager: 'Try to hold the K1 just for practice. I know it's difficult.'

Hamilton: 'I'm not close enough. I'm not close enough. When I'm close I'll do it.'

Hamilton: 'I thought you said it's not going to rain very much? I just missed a big opportunity there. What position am I in now? Back in nine again?

Race manager: 'P9.'

McLaren boss Zak Brown has reflected on an enthralling and successful race but admitted he was heartbroken for Oscar Piastri after he spun out and fell back to finish ninth in the race, after a brilliant start.

Unbelievable drive [from Lando Norris]. Team called a perfect strategy in very difficult conditions.

I feel terrible for Oscar [Piastri] who drove such a brilliant race. They both came up on that rain at the same time. Lando was able to collect it up. Oscar a little more tricky. Drove great to get back to P9.

Awesome race, I feel like I'm back in my wind tunnel in Woking right now.

Speaking on sticking his hand out from the management booth to feel the rain, he was pressed on how tough the team found it to plan out their strategy in the changing weather conditions.

It was really tough because the rain, we kept thinking it was going to come, might not come, how bad is it going to be, how long is it going to be.

So we had to react to the circumstances. The team did a great job. All the team back at McLaren - they built a proper race car.

Brown was also asked on whether asking Piastri to hold off on overtaking Norris during the early stages of the race put him off his rhythm.

I don't think that had anything to do with it. We actually just released them to go racing and we just wanted to make sure we cleared the traffic. That was the reason for the hold for that moment. Looked like he dropped the wheel [when he spun out] and fell back a bit of a gap. They were pushing very hard in tricky conditions.

We're starting the season very strong. But as we saw last season Max won the first six-seven races and then had a bit of a drought so we just have to keep doing what we're doing.

We definitely have a very quick race car but we see how quickly things change in this sport. We just need to make sure we keep developing. But that's what everyone back at McLaren's done over the past few years.

On whether he had been able to catch up to Piastri after the race, Brown said:

I've not had a chance to see him yet. He's the first guy I want to see. He drove brilliantly.

In case you missed it earlier, we've had a few big names from around the world braving the rain for today's F1 Grand Prix.

Melanie C and Chris Dingwall both stepped out on track to take a look at the cars before the race.

Meanwhile, we've also spotted some stars from the world of sport, including Everton great Tim Cahill and cricket stars Usman Khawaja and Aaron Finch.

If you're a fan of White Lotus, Season One star Alexandra Daddario was also in attendance for this afternoon's race!

1. Lando Norris (McLaren)

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

3. George Russell (Mercedes)

4. Alex Albon (Williams)

5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

6. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

7. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

8. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

9. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

10. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

Reflecting on a chaotic, George Russell told Sky Sports:

It was good fun.

I was quite enjoying it to be honest. I was hoping that the two guys ahead would make a mistake and I could slip through.

It was tricky. That's what F1's about and that's what made it exciting for us and I hope everyone enjoyed it at home.

Lando Norris is on the cusp of winning the opening race of the Formula One season but just needs to hold off Max Verstappen here heading into the final lap.

This is set to be a thriller as the Dutchman looks to overtake him!

Here's what team boss Zak Brown told him ahead of the race.

Talk about the five seasons of Melbourne! The sun is now beaming down on the track after that deluge of rain - but it won't be for too long as the clouds are rolling in again!

We've got three laps left so let's just check in to where things stand in the leaderboard, with Mercedes driver Antonelli making a charge up the ladder to challenge Albon in fourth.

1. Norris

2. Verstappen

3. Russell

4. Albon

5. Antonelli

6. Stroll

7. Hulkenberg

8. Leclerc

9. Hamilton

10. Piastri

Lawson can't continue with his car sustaining damage after spinning out.

It's a tough break for the New Zealand driver who is one of six drivers to crash out of the race today.

Meanwhile, Lawson hit out at some fans this week over one 'Aussie' insult that he claims is the 'worst thing ever'.

More drama! Bortoleto and Lawson are both in the barriers at separate places on the track.

Lawson has just radioed in to tell his team: 'I'm OK!'

It looked like he spun out on some slippery ground in similar fashion to Hadjar earlier in today's formation lap.

The safety car is now out and everyone is pitting now, while Charles Leclerc has spun out on the track but looks like he can continue. Ferrari had taken a gamble to stay out on the hard tyres but it seems like it's not paid off with the Ferrari duo now dropping to ninth and tenth in the leaderboard.

Heartbreak for Piastri as he slides off the track onto the grass!

It's treacherously wet in the final segment of the track there and it's heartbreak for the young Aussie who has been racing so well, pressing on Norris in first place!

He's fallen down to 15th and has managed to make it around to the pit lane after reversing off the grass.

Meanwhile, Verstappen has taken the lead with Norris dropping down to sixth - while Hamilton has sensationally snuck his way up to second!

Dark clouds are hanging over Melbourne right now and conditions are going to get worse over the next few minutes!

If you're just joining us in the UK good morning and welcome! We've had a crazy race so far with four drivers, Alonso, Sainz, Doohan and Hadjar all crashing out.

We've really had the full four seasons of Melbourne over the last few days with the drivers switching to slick tyers barring the Haas duo!

Drama in the pit lanes too!

Liam Lawson was just arriving to switch his tyres out but nearly crashed into Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto.

The rookie driver appeared to be released unsafely from his own pit stop pulling out in front of Lawson who was forced to break suddenly as he pulled into the lane.

Stewards are now investigating the incident!

The sky is getting darker and darker here over Melbourne and teams are anticipating another big shower of rain at some point during this race.

Meanwhile, here's why the safety car was called out!

The safety car is back on the track as the Aston Martin driver hits the wall.

Tough one for Alonso, his front-left wheel appeared to just skate across the gravel with the Spaniard losing control and skidding off the track.

His car has done a full 180 spin, with the tyres falling off.

Meanwhile, in the pit lane, drivers are pulling in to switch to hard tyres.

Both the McLarens are now on hard tyers but Verstappen appears to still be on medium. Hamilton has also changed to a hard tyre.

'Time to go racing,' says Zak Brown!

So it looks like Piastri and Norris are set to go head-to-head here after McLaren had told the Aussie to hold position in second place.

Looks like Piastri has dropped out of the DRS zone now after coming off the track briefly but he's still moving. McLaren look like they're weighing up a call to change to slick tyres too.

Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton's blockbuster switch to Ferrari has been the talk of the off-season. With excitement building around his switch to the Prancing Horse, many petrol heads have appear to also be looking to switch up their cars.

According to new research from Auto Trader, during the week following Hamilton's shock announcement that he'd be joining Ferrari, searches for Ferrari's on the platform spiked by 10 per cent.

Searches for the Ferrari 355 F1 which shares the classic supercar wedge design inspired by the iconic F40 model featured in Hamilton’s Instagram post, increased by 209 per cent in the week following the the Brit's social media upload, compared to the same time period the year before.

'It’s no doubt the ‘Hamilton effect’ has made an impact on the motorsport world, and it definitely won’t stop here,' Editorial director of Auto Trader, Erin Baker, said.

'With the start of the F1 season this Sunday, we’re expecting the impact of this driver to continue to drive searches for Ferrari on Auto Trader throughout the coming months.'

And with the new Formula One season now well underway why not check out Mail Sport's ultimate guide to the new campaign, which includes a run down on all the latest tech, driving systems and how the season is shaping up!

Oscar Piastri is currently the fastest man on the track and is pushing Lando Norris at the front of the race.

Piastri currently has another boost of DRS and has been told by McLaren to hold position. But that's not going to happen in his home Grand Prix!

The young Aussie can be the first Australian to win at Albert Park since Alan Jones in 1980.

Here's how he moved into second after Max Verstappen skidded off into a puddle!

Charles Leclerc has just poked fun at his team managers after he was left fearing that he might have a leakage. Turns out it might have just been the rain!

'Is there a leakage?' the Ferrari driver said over the radio.

'A leakage of what?' the team manager replied.

'I have a seat full of water?' he replied with a concerned tone.

'Must be... the water...' the radio correspondent said.

'Let's add that to the words of wisdom!' Leclerc quipped back.

Leclerc currently sits in fifth behind George Russell.

Here's the top-10 in the standings after 27 laps

1. Norris

2. Piastri

3. Verstappen

4. Russell

5. Leclerc

6. Tsunoda

7. Albon

8. Hamilton

9. Gasly

10. Alonso

Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon are also being investigated by the stewards for a safety car infringement!

The brit currently sits in eighth place behind Albon, Tsunoda and Leclerc, with his former team-mate, Russell, sitting behind Verstappen and the two McLarens.

Fans have been treated to a sensational day of racing already. We've had plenty of drama and despite the rain, fans seem to be having plenty of fun around Albert Park today.

A record 131,547 fans have passed through the gates today, with a total of 465,498 fans arriving for the racing over the past four days.

That breaks last year's attendance record by 13,443 people!

But how much does it cost to snag a ticket to the Australian Grand Prix?

After all his overtaking work getting ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Kimi Antonelli catches his rear wheel on a piece of grass and spins off the track!

Luckily he avoids crashing into the wall but drops down to 13th place in the leaderboard!

Max Verstappen is also having some issues here, underbreaking as he looked to fend off Oscar Piastri, before skidding off the track into a huge puddle!

He concedes second place. Verstappen is now saying his tyres are dead! Looks like a lot of drivers are struggling with overheating tyres right now - can they ride this shower out now and then pit later on in the race?

Well, what an extraordinary season we're having. We're now 15 laps into the race and the conditions are currently much better than earlier - but things are going to get worse as the race goes on.

Norris leads the way with Verstappen right behind him and the Dutchman looks to have DRS!

There's not a whole lot of overtaking out there right now, with the rain starting to fall again on Albert Park.

Not the start to the 2025 season Sainz was looking for! It was also a fairly innocuous crash, with the Spaniard just spinning off the track during the safety car lap.

Lando Norris has given an update on the track. He's also now set to restart the race here with the safety car now leaving the track and we're back underway!

'They're OK. Little bits in the last sector there's dry patches. Some bits are still pretty wet,' Norris says on the radio.

'Days like this it will dry up at some point.'

Looks like Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda have also been handed a safety car infringement - wonder what that was for?

It does seem like the track is drying up a touch with the safety car still out on the track as race directors remove debris from the track from the earlier crashes.

Meanwhile, the drivers' visibility out there due to the spray from their wheels is essentially next to none!

Looks like Carlos Sainz has also spun off the track! After the safety car has been deployed.

The greasy conditions saw the Williams driver spin off the track and into the barriers at high speed.

Looks like Doohan is OK! He made contact with another car before spinning off into the barrier with his rear-wing totally broken.

That's a hugely tough result for the young Aussie driver in his home Grand Prix.

The race finally gets under way! Some excellent driving from Max Verstappen getting up to second ahead of Oscar Piastri! He trails Lando Norris in first!

That was an incredible start and I don't know how the drivers can see due to the spray on the track!

Thankfully the young driver was OK after his crash but he was distraught having crashed out in the formation lap on his first Formula One start.

We're back out on the grid now and there's another formation lap taking place. Looks like the rain has died down a little bit.

I spoke to Anthony Hamilton on the grid. He is now consoling Hadjar. Amazing scenes. Why is nobody from his team with him?

Back to what Hamilton Snr said: ‘We are enjoying it at Ferrari whatever happens. The results are less important.’

Poor Isack Hadjar. In tears. A seriously slow crash. All those months of preparation and then he can’t even start the race. Pass the Andrex.

We've got someone off the track in the practice lap!

Isack Hadjar's just come off the track in turn two!

We have now had an aborted start here because of the incident.

The rookie driver appeared to have also broken his rear wing.

T-minus three minutes until lights out!

All eyes will be on this man in his Ferrari debut!

Plenty of Aussie sporting royalty on the grid this morning with Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja and Tim Cahill all spotted during Martin Brundle's grid walk.

The Sky Sports broadcaster did not though stop for an interview with some taking to social media to joke that he snubbed them!

William's driver Alex Albon has given his verdict on the conditions here in Melbourne.

'It's a little sketchy out there so let's see,' he said.

'I'm always surprised with how little grip we have with these tyres. And that's no exception.

'It feels very slippy, being a street track you feel it and there's paint lines everywhere. And even going down the straights it's sliding around everywhere.'

Here's what the conditions look like currently...

Lando Norris has clapped back at Netflix for 'fabricating nonsense' during their hit series Drive to Survive.

The McLaren driver slammed TV producers for hyping up his rivalry with World Champion Max Verstappen.

'They need to show the truth about people more,' he said.

'I want facts; I don’t want made up scripts and fabricated nonsense, which there is. I mean the portrayal of Max, and how we were against each other so much. They don’t need to create things. There’s drama, anyway. They can just show the facts of the drama.'

Read more below...

Confirmation just in that Liam Lawson will start from the pit lane this afternoon.

Looks like we're still on time to get going here with the drivers coming out to pose for a picture on the grid.

Martin Brundle, meanwhile, is having a hard time tracking down many celebrities on his grid walk. I think many of the A-listers are taking shelter from the rain!

We're just waiting to see whether we'll get a standing start or a safety car start here due to the torrential rain.

Plenty of cars were taking the chance to practice a standing start in their practice laps around the track.

Meanwhile, Martin Brundle is doing his grid walk, and he's just caught up with Lewis Hamilton's dad, who has some interesting comments about the Ferrari driver's debut...

'It sort of feels like the first day in Formula One for us,' Anthony Hamilton said.

'It's that sort of same butterflies and anticipation that you don't know what's going to happen or what to expect.

'But the most important thing is he's super happy and we're super happy.'

Re-cap on how Hamilton got on earlier this weekend below!

Zak Brown believes we could have a rolling safety car start here.

The McLaren boss though believes that visibility should clear up later on in the race, while revealing Lando Norris' tyre selection.

'Lando's just gone out on some intermediates,' Brown told Sky Sports.

'They know what to do here, I imagine this will be a rolling safety car start with how bad the visibility is,'

I'm just watching Sky Sports' pre-race coverage and the broadcasters are fighting to stay standing up! Martin Brundle

We're bracing for what's set to be a very wet and wild race, with rain expected to fall on Albert Park for the next four hours.

It comes after the F2 feature race ahead of this year's Australian Grand Prix was cancelled due to the torrential conditions.

The race was scheduled to start at 11.30, but with large puddles forming on the track, the race was delayed.

A 'track clear' message came at 11.54 and a formation lap took place.

But with the field gathering behind the safety car race bosses were forced to call off the race due to the torrential weather.

'I feel sorry for the fans who wanted to see us race and also for our teams and drivers who came all the way to Melbourne, but safety takes precedence,' Formula Two CEO Bruno Michel said.

'We tried everything we could to make it happen, but ultimately, the track conditions were too dangerous, which the drivers confirmed over the radio, so the right call was to cancel. We focus now on Bahrain, which will take place on 11-13 of April.'

Meanwhile, Ted Kravitz in the pit lane has given us his thoughts on the conditions, stating: 'This could not be more difficult conditions for the first race of the year.'

'It's possible for a safety car start,' he added.

The visibility out there looks awful with cars spraying water up behind them from the track.

If this rain keeps falling it could mean we'll have a stop-start race.

Lando Norris has beaten Max Verstappen to start on pole this morning, while his team-mate Oscar Piastri takes second place.

Piastri could today become the first Australian to win on home soil in Melbourne since Alan Jones back in 1980!

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, got off to a disappointing start on his Ferrari debut, placing eighth having made the startling admission that he didn't know where the 'wet button' was in his new Ferrari!

Hamilton said: 'I have never driven the car in the wet. I don't even know where the wet switch is. I don't know which buttons I have got to switch so that is going to be new. We are using Brembo brakes, which I have not used since I was much younger.'

Feeling a bit lost with all the new faces? Disoriented by the fact Max Verstappen might not actually win? Or maybe you haven't tuned in since the days of Adrian Sutil and Rubens Barrichello and need a major overhaul of your F1 knowledge. 'Who's Max Verstappen?'

Wherever you stand, we hope this guide is useful with getting to grips with the new campaign. I, for one, can't wait.

It's back and we're very excited for what's set to be one of the most competitive Formula One seasons on record!

It's also the first time since 2019 that the race has been held in Melbourne and the main talking point this morning has been the weather!

The rain has been pouring down on the track this morning meaning we're set to have some very slippery conditions out there today.

And over the next four hours it looks like the rain isn't going to hold off, with moderate winds also expected.

Meanwhile, the drivers have got their coats on and have stopped on the starting grid to pose for a quick snap!

Here's how we line up today.

McLaren are the only team on the grid who have achieved a sense of strong consistency, lining up on the front row.

Lewis Hamilton admitted he doesn't even know where the wet switch is in his Ferrari after chuntering to eighth, so he'll be hoping for a dry session. Unfortunately for him, rain is forecasted for this one, so he best get learning quickly! He sitsjust behind Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Not a great start to the season for Haas, who prop up the grid with their new-look line-up of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman.

Lights out and away we go! Well, sort of. In a few hours, at least.

It's good to back, isn't it? The three months of effort since the Abu Dhabi GP in early December have been leading up to this.

Lando Norris claimed the victory on that day as McLaren lifted the Constructors' Championship, and it is Mr Norris who is tipped for glory this season - though Max Verstappen will have a lot to say about that as he hunts for a fifth consecutive drivers' title.

Norris and his team-mate Oscar Piastri lock out the front row going into today. Stay with us for all the build-up, action, and reaction. Things could get tasty, fast. Like, 200mph fast.