By Nafisa Najmi
The Formula One season kicked off in Melbourne Australia, from the 14th to 16th March. And it was nothing short of a spectacle weekend. Alex Jacques F1 Tv commentator explained his point of views in two words, ‘Dishevelled and entertained.’
Not only was the race eventful, but Qualifying had everyone on the edge of their seats, Q1 started with the exit of Oliver Bearman who had to retire after one lap because of gearbox issues, because of the weather and track difference a lot of cars were sliding in certain corners, sliding through the grass or gravel. Q1 ends with the cars of Kimi Antonelli, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman not progressing to Q2. The significant moments of Qualifying were many, but only one yellow flag was called at the end of Q2 when Lewis Hamilton spun with 40 seconds remaining off the session, causing a track hazard. Fortunately, Hamilton had already set a time good enough to let him progress to Q3, but the yellow flag caused Jack Doohan a good lap time, and he failed to make it to Q3 with 4 other drivers, Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, and Gabriel Bortoleto. Q3 started with unfortunately no 2025 rookies making the cut, but there was always the next day to prove themselves. Q3 was close when Lando Norris’s first lap time got deleted because of track limits, giving his competitors a chance to hit on the throttle, Max Verstappen sets the fastest time on his lap, Oscar Piastri soon takes that away on his final lap, but not even a second later, Lando Norris comes through and takes provisional pole away from the home favourite. The crowd on the edge of their seat through it all! George Russell places 4th, followed by YUKI TSUNODA, which surprised a lot of people, but he drove a magnificent lap to get himself there, Alex Albon also got the Williams to land on P6, followed by both Ferraris in P7 (Leclerc) and P8 (Hamilton), P9 for Pierre Gasly, landing Carlos Sainz in P10. The top 3 times were slim, as Lando Norris sets the time, 1:15.096, teammate Oscar Piastri only 8 tenths of a second behind with 1:15.180, Max Verstappen is down nearly four tenths on Norris’ time with a 1:15.481.
Sunday falls in Melbourne, and the weather is not ideal, making the conditions on track iffy, at best. With 5 rookies on the grid this year, this race was going to be an intense one.
Well, intense it was—–Rookie Driver for Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar was already out of contention as he runs off to the barrier during the formation lap, causing heartbreak for the rookie, who seemed inconsolable as cameras followed him to the garage. Anthony Hamilton, father of Lewis Hamilton consoles the rookie, and tells the media, he felt heartbroken for Isack and his parents, because this is not the ideal debut anyone dreams off, and he hopes to see better for the rookie.
After an aborted start all the drivers take their positions again, except Bearman and Lawson, who both started their races from pitlane. The launch at the start was beautiful as Norris manages to lead the race out of turn 1, Max Verstappen sees an opportunity and overtakes the home favourite into P2, but there is a yellow flag called before anyone can finish their first lap when Jack Doohan, Australian driver for Alpine has an intense crash at the exit of turn number 5, that means 2 rookies, are already out of the race in their debut races.
The next lap we find its not only the rookies struggling in this weather as Carlos Sainz, on his debut race with Williams Racing finds the barrier, extending the yellow flag until lap 8.
Racing resumes, but the weather didn’t stop its torture as cars kept sliding and spinning off, some drivers like Antonelli and Verstappen managing to keep their cars away from the barriers, nevertheless getting overtaken by the drivers behind. Leaving both McLaren’s to battle for P1.
The pit window arrives, and drivers start to radio in complaining about their tires, when Fernando Alonso spins out and causes a yellow flag, a perfect opportunity for all the drivers to take their mandatory pitstops. The track was drying up, making everyone switch to medium and hard tyres, McLaren execute a perfect double stack pitstop that does not change their positions on the grid as Norris maintains first place, with the Australian hero right behind him. This was not over, as the clouds are getting grayer, causing distress for teams, and intense discussion between the drivers and pit wall.
The race takes a heart-breaking turn for Oscar Piastri when him and his teammate slide off on the grass at the penultimate corner of the race track, Norris manages to save himself and his position as race leader but Oscar slides into the grass and seems to stick there for a few minutes. To his credit, he refused to give up, as he reversed and got his car moving, restarting the race a lap behind the whole grid. Losing P2 at his home race, this was a gutting sight and if the roar from the crowd was enough of a sign, all the Aussies agree.
The yellow flag from Oscars spin causes Lando to pit and change his tires, making him lose the lead to Verstappen who stays out, another uproar from the crowd. Soon enough Verstappen pits, Lando re-joins the grid at 7th place behind the cars who hadn’t pitted for wet tires yet. Lewis Hamilton leads the Grand Prix, ahead of new teammate Charles Leclerc, but Norris isn’t easy on the un-pitted Ferraris as he immediately takes P2 away from Leclerc and chases Hamilton for P1. Norris is now P1, with the Ferraris behind him, when Liam Lawson, rookie driver for Redbull Racing spins off and finds the wall, soon joined by Gabriel Bortoleto, rookie driver for Kick Sauber F1 team who also goes off and sees the end of his debut Grand Prix.
The race doesn’t stop there, as we see both the Ferraris, the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, and the McLaren of Oscar Piastri battle it out for the last few positions in points, as Charles and Lewis manage to pass Gasly and take P8 and P9, Oscar Piastri right behind Gasly hunting him down, making a quick move on him and taking P10, but it all comes down to the final lap.
Verstappen and Norris have half a second between them as Norris leads Verstappen to the finish line, Norris takes the first chequered flag of 2025, his fellow teammate making a move on Lewis Hamilton and taking P9. What a spectacle of a race, as only two rookies manage to finish their first races of a full season, one of them, Kimi Antonelli, ends up P4, after his penalty is revoked after the race. Oliver Bearman, who did not have a good run in the free practices and Qualifying, still managed to finish the race P14. Alex Albon in the Williams, drove a fantastic race up to P5, and had praise for the car, his teammate Carlos Sainz, who gave input on his race strategy, what a class act of driver pairing and a exciting pair to keep an eye on, for the next 23 races of the season.
This race wasn’t just about the drivers, but the pit wall as well, as team scrambled to make sure they were keeping their drivers updated and their strategies intact, but the Ferrari pit wall isn’t safe from backlash as the drivers complained about too much information on the radio, and asking to be left alone during the race. The biggest moment of surprise being when Charles Leclerc reports a leakage in his car and says his seat is filled with water, his racing engineer responds, ‘Must be the water,’ confirming to the fans, it was not obviously not a champagne shower for the Monegasque driver. Furthermore, the Italian team causes a disaster of a pit strategy and fails to adapt under the wet race conditions, while their rivals McLaren and Redbull nail the strategy for their drivers. Lewis Hamilton’s debut race with Ferrari ends with him in P10, his teammate taking P8. The Tifosi are praying for things to change, as they have waited long enough for things to improve.
The final placements of the race were Top step for Lando Norris, followed by Max Verstappen (P2), George Russel (P3), Kimi Antonelli (P4), Alex Albon (P5), Lance Stroll (P6), Nico Hulkenburg (P7), Charles Leclerc (P8), Oscar Piastri (P9), Lewis Hamilton (P10), Pierre Gasly (P11), Yuki Tsunoda (P12), Esteban Ocon (P13), Oliver Bearman (P14). Followed by 6 drivers, who unfortunately did not finish the first race of 2025.