Norris beats Verstappen in dramatic Australia opener

In a dramatic, incident-packed race to defeat Max Verstappen and win the Australian Grand Prix, Lando Norris mastered risky, changing conditions.

As the Briton prepared a statement drive at the start of a season he intends to end as world champion, Norris and his McLaren team made the right decisions in a race that was punctuated by crashes, three safety cars, and an aborted start.

Verstappen’s late safety car forced Norris to fend off a late threat, but he held on for his fifth career victory.

Ferrari only had a lead on lap 46 when a heavy shower hit the track, making the wrong choice to continue driving in dry-weather slick tires.

After a number of crashes, he and team-mate Charles Leclerc had to pit as a safety car was dispatched for the final time and were eliminated from the top 10.

Leclerc overtook Hamilton on the final restart as the Monegasque attempted to recover from a spin at Turn 11 while the Ferraris lightly touched the wheels during the incident, adding insult to injury.

Oscar Piastri, a McLaren character, fought back from a fumble that had cost him second place in the late rain, before Hamilton lost a further spot.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, 18, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, 18, and Alex Albon, 19, both from Williams, finished fifth on the grid.

Verstappen was a significant threat, as McLaren has done so frequently in wet conditions, but Norris and Piastri were able to keep the four-time champion in their laps for the majority of the race as chaos erupted.

Isack Hadjar, a rookie Racing Bull driver, spun his car at Turn Two during the formation lap, which set off the drama. Before going back to the pits, the Frenchman appeared to be crying while holding his head in his hands.

The race finally started after a 15-minute delay, but only Jack Doohan, an Australian rookie, crashed his Alpine on the straight between Turns Four and Six and brought out the safety car.

Verstappen passed Piastri to finish second when Norris won the race’s final lap and was awarded McLaren a one-two when he ran wide at Turn 11 on lap 17.

The McLarens first stabilized their position before creating a lead running nose to tail as they managed their intermediate tyres better than the Red Bull. After Fernando Alonso crashed into the Aston Martin at Turn Six on lap 33, just before half-distance, they had already pulled 16 seconds off Verstappen.

The leaders fought for slick tires, but as they waited for the restart, a rain shower was approaching and the teams could see it would bring heavy rain for a brief but necessary period of time, necessitate a tyre change.

Norris wanted to avoid the circumstances and stop for intermediate treads prematurely, but he was informed that they needed to be on the right tyres at the right time.

At the final corner, both McLaren drivers spun. Piastri was stuck on the grass, but Norris was able to rejoin and enter the pits for intermediate tyres. He eventually managed to reverse back on to the track while sat on the grass, his tires spinning violently, and there was a sense of black comedy.

Verstappen remained in the lead for two laps while the rain eventually forced him to accept defeat and stop.

Ferrari then made the fateful mistake of allowing Hamilton and Leclerc to take first and second places before losing them as they raced for control for a lap before having to pit anyway.

A disappointing conclusion to a challenging first race for the senior team followed by Gabriel Bortoleto’s disastrous start to his Sauber career, in which case the safety car was deployed once more.

However, he gave Norris a final anxious moment when he ran a little wide at Turn Six, allowing Verstappen to close within a second and use the DRS overtaking aid.

But he persevered calmly as Verstappen pushed up the podium to take the spot where Verstappen had left off.