Lando Norris and Max Verstappen continued where they left off last season at the Australian Grand Prix.
McLaren will be delighted that Lando Norris managed to hold off the late challenge from last season’s champion and takes the lead in the drivers’ championship as a result.
Norris started on pole position alongside teammate Oscar Piastri with Max Verstappen sitting right behind them in his Red Bull.
Verstappen got the jump on the hometown hero on the opening lap but gave up the position later in the race after a rare mistake at turn 11.
However, the race was only just getting started and a huge shower towards the end of the race saw both McLarens go off and Piastri get stuck on the grass, with Norris immediately diving into the pits.
Speaking on Sky Sports F1 (16/3 6:19 am), Martin Brundle and David Croft believe they spotted an opportunity for Verstappen to go on and win the Australian Grand Prix after both drivers made the error.
Unfortunately for Red Bull, they didn’t capitalise and Verstappen has lost seven points to his likeliest championship rival.
Max Verstappen’s late pit stop cost him victory at the Australian Grand Prix says Martin Brundle
Ahead of the podium celebrations beginning, Croft said: “Just picking up on Max’s post-race interview there, 21.7 seconds ahead of Lando Norris when Norris was on the inters and Max could have pitted.
“If he had changed a lap earlier, could Max have won this race?”
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Brundle replied: “Yes! He could have but hindsight’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it?
“Everybody was trying to second guess that weather and will they make it, that extra stay out lap.
“It’s hero or zero stuff, isn’t it? You can either look [like] a genius or look a bit silly and it cost Ferrari didn’t it?
“Lewis Hamilton was leading a race and ended up finishing 10th. Momentarily, it looked clever but turned out it wasn’t.”
Max Verstappen pleased after the Australian Grand Prix despite Lando Norris victory
Throughout pre-season, Verstappen has played down Red Bull’s chances as he doesn’t believe they’re at the same level as McLaren.
However, the pecking order still isn’t clear behind McLaren with new teammate Liam Lawson having a torrid weekend.
Verstappen had a smile on his face when he greeted Norris after they got out of their cars and it’s hard to believe he would have looked that happy if he thought he’d given up a win.
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Brundle spotted an issue with Verstappen’s car during practice and Red Bull were making plenty of changes to his and Lawson’s machines throughout the weekend.
Verstappen once again demonstrated how good he is at driving around issues when his performance is compared to Lawson’s.
While Red Bull will be pleased with his performance, they’ll know they need to be faultless when it comes to their strategy calls if Verstappen is going to win a fifth straight championship in 2025.
