How Norris managed pressure packed Australian GP

The 2025 Australian Grand Prix was the most dramatic Formula 1 race Albert Park has seen and winner Lando Norris remained calm through all the chaos.

Despite significant challenges from home hero and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, a spirited defending champion Max Verstappen and mother nature, Norris won a tense season opener to give McLaren the driver’s championship lead for the first time in 13 years.

In a season where McLaren appears to be a team to beat, both Norris and Piastri were desperate to land the first blow in the fight for the 2025 title.

Even though the Aussie did almost everything right, his more experienced teammate had an edge.

After denying the home hero pole by 0.084s, the closest margin at Albert Park since 2004, Norris controlled the majority of the race, but not without some nervy moments.

After overcoming the early wet weather, Piastri hunted him down and slashed a 3s deficit, only for team orders to rule out a battle as they encountered lapped traffic.

Then there was the now infamous moment where both McLarens speared off at Turn 12 having been caught out by a sudden shower on slicks.

One saved it on the racing line and one was not so lucky and to the devastation of the home crowd, Norris held on and pitted.

Despite sacrificing track position, a dramatic series of laps where the full field pitted for intermediates saw Norris back in control, but with Verstappen breathing down his neck for the late blast to the flag and held on by eight tenths.

With so much going on, Norris admitted it was a race he felt McLaren would have thrown away before being constructors champions last year.

“I mean, to start the season off with a win is good enough, but to do it in such a stressful race, where it’s so easy to make a mistake and ruin everything. That’s what makes it rewarding and such a nice win,” he said.

“A lot of tough moments. I guess that’s what makes it sweeter. 

“But, you know, we worked a lot over the winter to prepare for a race like this because it’s where we threw away a lot of opportunities last season – Canada, Silverstone – where we were not the best at preparing and knowing how decisive we’ve got to be and today we were very decisive. 

“Calling to box five minutes before I boxed, but it was the right call in the end, and that won us the race. Stressful, but rewarding.”

Unsurprisingly Norris pinpointed the wild off at Turn 12 as the biggest stress test of the eventful day.

“If you slow down 11, maybe it’s perfect; if you slow down 10, maybe you’re off. Making those decisions two metres before you brake is not easy,” he said. 

“You’ve got to do a lot of things on the fly and just wing it.

“Obviously, I went in a bit quick for how much rain was coming down and I’ve completely gone off. 

“I’ve managed to just about get it stopped for the corner, but I looked in my mirror as I was off and saw Oscar go through the gravel as well, and Max then catching. 

“It’s a very stressful moment because it all could have gone wrong there. 

“If I stayed on track, I think Max probably would have passed me because he was on the Medium and probably in a better window than I had with the Hards. 

“But we boxed, and then half the track was completely dry, and half of it was wet – kind of like a Spa kind of race. 

“You don’t know how much to push in the dry bit because you destroy the Inters quickly. 

“I think that’s why I struggled a bit at the end of the race – my Inters were just a little destroyed from when it was still dry. 

“A lot of things to factor in, so to get it all right and deal with the stress in a good way was very nice.”

It will be interesting to see if McLaren is just as strong at Shanghai this weekend.

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

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