Winners and losers from F1’s chaotic Australian GP

Winners

McLaren

Way to pick up where you left off. Everyone expected McLaren to start 2025 at the front, and the reigning world champion squad duly delivered with a one-two in qualifying, which really should have been a one-two in the race but for Oscar Piastri’s off in Turn 12.

Lando Norris escaped an excursion in the same corner to deliver a composed victory drive, withstanding late pressure from Max Verstappen. But more ominous is McLaren’s pace advantage in the dry and the way it was able to both warm up the tyres better than Red Bull but also make them last longer, which is a rare but coveted combination.

Piastri’s spin, which demoted him to ninth in the end, kept the dreaded Australian podium curse intact, but it didn’t dampen enthusiasm for what should be McLaren’s year. Its title defence is well and truly up and running.

Alexander Albon

Much was made of Alexander Albon facing a stiff challenge by being joined by Carlos Sainz this year. That might yet be the case once the Spaniard is fully up to speed at his new employer, but Albon has had a very bright start to the year in Melbourne, showing great pace in qualifying to claim sixth on the grid.

The English-born Thai driver didn’t put a foot wrong in a challenging race either, and utilised Williams’ correct strategy calls to stay up front and almost contend for a podium. It is encouraging for Williams to have a car that seemed well-rounded enough to be competitive in tough wet conditions, and having 10 points in the bank early on will provide a big morale boost.

Sauber

At first, we were just going to include Nico Hulkenberg here, but the entire team deserves a mention for the opening race it has had following a dismal 2024. Having chased points all season to finally score four in the penultimate race in Qatar, it has now already scored six right off the bat.

The experienced Hulkenberg’s composed drive in the wet played a big part, as did the squad’s impeccable strategy where others faltered. It is certainly a big lift for the plagued Hinwil squad, that looked unlikely after a mediocre qualifying session.

Although Gabriel Bortoleto crashed out, he was also rather impressive with his speed and attitude all weekend. The Brazilian rookie was assertive after being presented with Helmut Marko’s ‘B-driver’ comments. And rather than feeling nervous about a wet-weather debut, Bortoleto seemed to embrace the opportunity to finish out of Sauber’s usual position and accelerate his learning.

Bortoleto, who was nursing a race-long brake issue, eventually crashed out like several of his peers, but he will find more chances to impress this season if the car allows it.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

People understandably wondered if young Andrea Kimi Antonelli would be ready for his grand F1 debut, but you don’t end up in a Mercedes F1 car by accident and the Italian phenom has already started showing why he was fast-tracked to replace Lewis Hamilton.

A small error in qualifying left him 16th on the grid for what was going to be his second-ever drive in a Formula 1 car in the wet. It had all sorts of potential to go wrong, and indeed he was fortunate to spin off where he did without clattering the barriers.

But his spin didn’t faze him and instead he locked in to complete a remarkable rise from 16th to fourth, aided by impeccable strategy by Mercedes for both himself and team-mate George Russell, who drove a composed race to third and equally deserved to be in this category. Antonelli ended up being reinstated to fourth after an incorrect unsafe release penalty, which meant Mercedes scored a huge result for the pace it actually had.

The result has not only provided an early vindication for Mercedes’ choice to back Antonelli, but may also take off some of the pressure for the Italian himself. He is where he belongs.

Losers

Ferrari

Ferrari looked like it was going to be McLaren’s closest challenger this weekend, all the way until Q2 in qualifying. But it lost pace over one lap, struggling with overheating, and from their midfield starting positions Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton didn’t really look like they were going places during the race either.

Their fortunes could have changed had the Scuderia responded better to the change in climatic conditions. Mercedes and Williams timed their late stop to intermediates beautifully, but Ferrari left both cars out too long in a gamble that, with the benefit of hindsight, was not only the wrong call but also quite risky to commit to with both cars rather than hedging one’s bets with a split strategy.

Ferrari does have a strong car in there, but it will have to execute both its qualifying and races runs better in China’s demanding sprint weekend to exploit it. Hamilton didn’t have the greatest Ferrari debut but will need a bit time to gel with both the car and the team.

Racing Bulls

Melbourne’s wet-weather chaos was a rare opportunity for plenty of teams to bank a lot of points, see Williams and Sauber above, and Racing Bulls will have to be frustrated that it couldn’t capitalise on the great pace the car had shown all weekend.

It appears as though Yuki Tsunoda has made another step forward this year as RB’s de facto team leader, putting in superb drives in qualifying and the race. But his points bid came undone with a pitstop for inters that came too late, much like the Ferraris’.

Isack Hadjar’s F1 debut was as short-lived as it was heartbreaking, the youngster inconsolable after crashing out at Turn 1 of the formation lap. It was a brutal introduction to F1, but the Frenchman had been putting together an impressive weekend until that point, so he will just have to dust himself off and go again in Shanghai.

There are no guarantees that Racing Bulls will be as competitive on other circuits as it was on the rather unique Albert Park layout, so this is quite simply a huge missed opportunity. No two ways about it.

Liam Lawson

It was a Red Bull debut to forget for Liam Lawson. In the dry his qualifying runs were messy as he appeared to overdrive a bit to compensate his lack of FP3 running with an engine issue, with his one completed lap only 18th fastest.

Starting from the pitlane was a difficult task, but as Antonelli proved, all was not lost in such a chaotic wet-dry-wet race. What was a little bit alarming was the initial pace on the inters, as Lawson was stuck in no man’s land between the Saubers and the Haas cars.

Lawson’s actual crash in the race can be swept under the rug as he was left out on slicks too long, but the damage had long been done by then. The Melbourne weekend was a bit of a disaster all-round, and while it sounds silly to say after race one of a 24-round season, he can’t afford too many repeats before the ghosts of the past starting circling around Red Bull’s difficult second seat.

Haas

Haas has been on the back foot all weekend with Oliver Bearman’s crash in FP1 costing him valuable track time, while Esteban Ocon also lost a bit of running for minor issues. Another off for Bearman in qualifying further limited his mileage, and in the end Ocon and Bearman couldn’t manage better than a distant 13th and 14th.

But while a tidier weekend could have made things much easier for Haas, the bigger issue is that the pace just doesn’t seem to be there at the moment, as Haas is the slowest team at the moment. Will there be more performance to unlock, both with the base car and early-season upgrades? You’d hope so, because if there isn’t, 2025 might be a bit of a dud for Ocon and Bearman.