Lando Norris Wins the Australian Grand Prix
Has Lando Norris finally learnt from last year’s mistakes?
The Brit won this year’s Australian Grand Prix, in a race that had just about everything. Four safety cars, crashes, and all kinds of overtakes, it was the man from Pole that drove a near flawless race.
Near flawless….. there was incident in Turn 10 on Lap 45. Norris went bounding off the road as he tried to turn into the corner, after going off, he pitted, and came back out in sixth, which was a decent save.
However for the home town hero, things turned out much more sinister. Oscar Piastri also slid off at Turn 10, however unlike his teammate, he didn’t save face. The Aussie slipped off into the grass at 11 after saving himself at 10 much like his teammate. However in the grass, his car got stuck, and it looked to be day over. However, he did get the car moving again.
The chaos didn’t end there. Before the race started, Isack Hadjar went off into the gravel on the formation lap, which delayed the start to the race by 15 minutes, and ended his day before it began.
When the race did get underway, Jack Doohan and Carlos Sainz followed Hadjar out of the Grand Prix. Doohan hit the barrier in the opening stanza, while Sainz spun out under the safety car.
Everything became relatively stable after that when the race got started again. Piastri overtook Max Verstappen on lap 18 to get himself into second, much to the cheers of the home fans.
Piastri then quickly disappeared down the road after his teammate, as the McLaren drivers appeared to be in a straight shootout for the win.
However, when Fernando Alonso crashed into the wall at turn seven on Lap 34, the safety car appeared again and turned the race on its head.
This triggered a series of events, events that eventually ended up costing Piastri his podium, and potentially more.
Because of the safety car and the drying track, almost everyone pitted for slicks. However, when the race got started again, it rained. It was on the restart was when both Norris and Piastri took their excursions of the track.
Would they have gone wide on interns, who knows?
Norris was in sixth before both Gabriel Bortoletto and Liam Lawson went into the barriers bringing out safety car moments after he pitted. Due to everyone then pitting back onto the interns for the race finish, Norris regained the lead.
From there, Norris was able to keep Verstappen’s Red Bull behind, defending for the last seven laps after the race went green to take the first win of the season, and lead a Drivers Championship for the first time in his career.
Elsewhere, Alex Albon’s qualifying result of sixth became fourth at the end of the race, while Nico Hulkenberg beat Stake’s points tally from last year in one weekend, as he recorded six points and a seventh place finish.
Rookie Kimi Antonelli drove a race well beyond his years. Antonelli went from 16th on the grid to four on track as he survived all the choas to back up teammate Russell nicely. Some of the Italian’s passes were exceptional, and it appears the sliver arrows have again found another generational talent. Antonelli was originally given a five second penalty for an unsafe release, which dropped him to P5, but that was overturned. Russell himself finished third as Mercedes and McLaren both ended the weekend first in the Constructors, with 27 points apiece.
Potentially most damning of all was Oscar Piastri’s ninth place finish. The Aussie stormed through the field from 14th on the final restart to force himself into the points. The final moments of the race saw him overtake Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari, as the Papaya team threw a massive challenge to their red rivals ahead of the rest of the season.
F1 is back in China in one week.