A conversation between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in the cooldown room has unearthed an untelevised mistake made by the McLaren driver in the closing stages of the Australian Grand Prix.

Norris and McLaren lived up to their billing as F1 2025 title favourites by taking victory in the season opener in Melbourne, a race held in changeable conditions.

Australian Grand Prix: Lando Norris holds off Max Verstappen to win

It marks the fifth victory of Norris’s career after the British driver took four wins en route to the runner-up spot in the 2024 standings.

Verstappen was promoted to second after Norris’s team-mate Oscar Piastri spun as rain began to fall on the Albert Park circuit in the closing stages, with the chaos triggering a late Safety Car.

Norris had established a lead of around 1.5 seconds entering Lap 55 of 57, but the gap to Verstappen mysteriously dropped to around 0.6s for the remaining two-and-a-half laps.

Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri: McLaren head-to-head stats for F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Despite the Red Bull having DRS, Norris was able to stay in front and crossed the finish line 0.895 seconds ahead of Verstappen to take victory.

Speaking in the cooldown room ahead of the podium ceremony, Norris quipped that he “messed up” at Turn 6 to give Verstappen a chance of taking the win.

The full exchange went as follows:

Norris: You have a big run on me when I messed up in [Turn] 6.

Verstappen: Yeah. Honestly, you were only, like, this much [holds small gap between fingers] to the left. It was not even, like, a lot.

Norris: Really?

Verstappen: Yeah. You weren’t, like, really wide.

Norris: You had DRS with inters.

Verstappen: That run I didn’t have DRS [straight after the mistake] because you were [too far ahead]…

Norris: No, but then the next lap.

Verstappen: Yeah, it was big. It was big.

Norris’s next response was inaudible, but he held his hands in a steering wheel position and repeatedly flicked his head to the left, indicating that he was regularly checking his rear-view mirrors in the closing moments of the race.

Verstappen: It’s so hard to pass around here. Unless you’re in severe trouble [it’s impossible].

The exchange came minutes after Verstappen uncovered Norris’s error in the post-race interviews in parc ferme.

Verstappen said: “Lando had a little moment on entry of 6, so he lost a lot of momentum there, so that’s why I got close and then I got the DRS.

“I got close but it’s very hard to pass around here. But it was fun, those last laps pushing, at least when you’re fighting for the win.

“But I’m just very happy to bring it home, score good points and this is a decent starting point for us.”

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