By Harry Freemantle

Albert Park in Melbourne Australia hosted a magnificent and unpredictable season opener impacted by rain. McLaren’s Lando Norris held off Max Verstappen to win the opening round with George Russell rounding up the podium.

McLaren have a significant advantage

Going into the season, many feared about the gap the MCL39 may have against the rest of the field. Those fears have come to reality. In the dry qualifying, McLaren locked out the front row with Lando Norris taking pole ahead of hometown hero Oscar Piastri. In the race McLaren were comfortably the car to beat with their tyre degradation looking to be perfect combined with their excellent cornering speed.

Although in the wetter parts of the race, Max Verstappen was able to keep up with the McLaren’s, as the track began to dry the McLaren were up to one second faster than the rest of the field. Verstappen finishing behind Norris by just under a second doesn’t show a real picture of the actual pace McLaren has. Whilst the rain started to hit on lap 44, Norris went off into the gravel picking up floor damage whereas Piastri went off at the same corner and couldn’t save it as he span onto the grass. Despite the damage, Norris was able to hold Verstappen off and take his fifth win of his career with Piastri recovering to finish ninth.

Ferrari and Hamilton fail to impress

Going into the season opener, there was a lot of hype and expectation placed on Ferrari’s shoulders. This came following their excellent performances towards the end of the season were they only narrowly missed out on the Constructors Championship to McLaren in the final round last season and the debut of Sir Lewis Hamilton.

However, Ferrari looked far off their late 2024 form with Leclerc finishing down in eighth and Hamilton finishing only tenth. Hamilton’s tenth place finish is the worst debut finishing place for a debut Ferrari driver since Luca Badoer back in 2009.

Part of the poor result did play into Ferrari’s poor strategy as they elected to stay on the slick tyres whereas the majority of teams pitted to change to the intermediates. Although Ferrari’s pace was underwhelming all weekend qualifying just seventh and eighth just under a second behind pole sitter Lando Norris. Ferrari found themselves outqualified by midfield teams such as Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bulls and Alex Albon in the Williams.

Ferrari appear to be the fourth fastest car, behind McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes with the gap to McLaren appear to be bigger than the gap to midfield teams such as Williams, Racing Bull and Aston Martin. In the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix, Ferrari have a lot to prove to show that they can be a competitive force in 2025 however, so far it does not look promising as pressure will begin to mount on Team Principal, Frederic Vasseur.

Ferrari’s low five points was their worst start to a Formula One season since the 2009 season were they scored zero points. Even in disastrously opening rounds such as in 2012, 2014 and 2020 were they were not on the pace compared to their competition, Ferrari did not start this poorly.

Antonelli outshines the other rookies

Andrea Kimi Antonelli made his Formula One debut in Melbourne and outshined the other rookies despite a weak qualifying. Antonelli was rather unfortunate in qualifying as he picked up floor damage which resulted in a Q1 exit for the Italian qualifying just P16.

In the race Antonelli made a strong start gaining three places up to P13 at the start and then made a magnificent overtake on Nico Hulkenberg. Despite spinning just after, he was able to make the place back replicating his move on the German and then made a move on Stroll

Following Fernando Alonso’s crash on lap 33, Antonelli was already into the points. Antonelli then showed his prowess in the wet as he made up excellent ground as he made the correct call to pit ahead of others which put himself into the top 5 places. Then with a few laps to go, he made an fantastic move on Alex Albon up to fourth place of where he finished, making it the best result on a debut since Kevin Magnussen’s P2 finish at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix and becoming the 2nd youngest point scorer in Formula One history only behind Max Verstappen at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Whereas Antonelli shone, the other rookies failed to make an impression. Isack Hadjar despite a strong eleventh place in qualifying, ended up spinning out on the formation lap resulting in not starting the race. Liam Lawson qualified down in P18 despite his team mate Max Verstappen qualifying in third, making no gains in the race and crashing out. Ollie Bearman crashed in both free Practice 1 and 3 and finishing last of the finishing drivers. Jack Doohan crashed out on the opening lap, losing control and spinning and hitting the barrier and Gabriel Bortoleto qualified well however, a reliability issue resulted in Bortoleto crashing out in the rain.

Williams make huge leap following poor 2024 season

Williams last season finished down in ninth in the Constructors beating only Sauber last season. However, Williams appear to have made major ground as they appear to be at the top of the midfield. Williams impressed in pre-season testing with Carlos Sainz topping Day 2 of testing with both Sainz and Albon massively impressed with the car’s performance and handling.

Williams showed great qualifying pace in Melbourne with both Sainz and Albon making into Q3. Although star signing Carlos Sainz crashed out of the race under the safety car, Alex Albon was able to finish fifth place scoring ten points in the opening round, just two points less than his overall tally last season. Albon’s pace was legit as he was able to keep Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton behind the entire first stint and had greater pace than the other midfield teams.

The modernization of Williams should be praised heavily to the Team Principal James Vowles. Vowles has made some excellent recruitment including the experienced Pat Fry as Chief Technical Officer. Adding Carlos Sainz to Alex Albon has made Williams a force to be reckoned with and a team not to be underestimated in 2025 compared to its lackluster 2024 form.

Haas fails to live up to expectations

Haas were the surprise package of last season, It was expected that Haas would be 2024’s bottom place team following a poor 2023 campaign. However, they shocked everybody as they had a top midfield car throughout 2024 finishing seventh in the Constructors Championship. However, any of that momentum they had then has disappeared in 2025.

Haas had a relatively underwhelming test were they prioritized high fuel long runs. Most people would have still placed Haas around the lower midfield mark at minimum. However they turned up to Melbourne with the clear slowest car with even Sauber besting them in every area. Ollie Bearman struggled as he crashed out twice in practice and couldn’t partake in qualifying with a gearbox issue. Esteban Ocon was the slowest driver in qualifying going out in 19th place not even challenging any other driver.

In the race it wasn’t much better. Haas finished 13th and 14th, the two lowest placed finishers. Although Haas missed out on possible points after a strategy disaster. Haas made the bold position not to pit for slicks under the safety car following Fernando Alonso’s crash on lap 33. Haas however then decided to back out pitting just before the safety car was about to come in. However just after the safety car came in, heavy rain hit the track. Had Haas stuck to their bold strategy, big points could have been earnt despite their poor pace.

Currently Sauber appear to be their closest rival in pace and with Nico Hulkenberg’s remarkable seventh place finish picking up six crucial points for Sauber. Team Principal, Ayao Komatsu has got a lot to answer to in the upcoming rounds.

The Chinese Grand Prix is on this weekend as hosts the first sprint race of the season.