He buried himself by making flaky starts, by flinching at key moments. If he hadn’t, Lando Norris would have opened a title defence in Melbourne yesterday, not his next hopeful challenge.
It is by his ability to beat the shortcomings of last season that he, the championship table, his McLaren team, the watching world, and posterity, will judge him. And based on his victory at this wet, wild and wacky race, there are reasons for optimism.
Indeed, he described himself as favourite for the title.
Three vivid vignettes tell his redemptive story. First, the start. He had promised to point his elbows out at sharp angles. But did he really have enough fire in his belly to make good on his word?
Well, we were to find out as the race began with spray in the air from rain that came and went all day. He was on pole. His garage-mate Oscar Piastri was sharing the front row. And going off third was Max Verstappen, the Dutchman with dragon’s breath.
Verstappen, who beat Norris to the title by dint of brilliance and belligerence, was off smartly. How would Norris assert himself into the first corner? Would he be made a mug of as he was in Austin, going up the hill, last October? No, he scythed across to the right defiantly, closing the road along which his pal was preparing to treat like Highway One.
McLaren’s Lando Norris won Formula One’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix
He emerged victorious on the slippery Albert Park circuit where only 14 of the 20 cars finished in the treacherous conditions
Norris, the pre-season favourite for the drivers’ title, started the Formula One season as he finished the last at Abu Dhabi, with victory from pole
This was a big moment. It sent a message to Verstappen. Norris had proved something to himself. It was a crunch dual, not only for the day but potentially in the shaping of a season.
Secondly, a decisive call by his team in immediate response to the one major mistake Norris made in the tricky conditions that saw six drivers spin off. Norris went over the gravel on lap 44 as rain fell again. This was heading towards the penultimate corner. He recovered to fight another day, but surrendered the lead for the first time. His team, as quick as a flash, called him in to be reshod on intermediate tyres.
They did not shilly-shally. They did that in Canada last year and it cost him a possible victory. Over the last few years, McLaren have reacted to rain as our railway lines do to leaves. But this time, no erros. He fell back to eighth but regained his place at the front when others peeled in for their own changes of rubber.
Thirdly, there was his response to the Verstappen’s late attack. By this stage, Piastri had spun off, where Norris made his slip, and was way adrift, ultimately to finish ninth after recovering. At the withdrawal of the third safety car and with five laps remaining, Verstappen was right on the Briton’s tail. Norris made one small booboo at Turn Six, plucking the gravel, and his pursuer was even closer to catching him.
Norris’s floor was damaged – perhaps by his first and major excursion off track – and the supreme pace of his car compromised. But he held on drying Tarmac, refusing to yield to the force of nature closing on him. The gap between him and Verstappen at the end stood at 0.8sec.
Let’s add a fourth ingredient that inspires hope. The car. Now, Verstappen wrung everything out of his Red Bull. His new team-mate Liam Lawson acted as his witness by featuring way down the field until he concluded his race in the barriers. But the McLaren was in a class of one.
So much so that George Russell, who finished a well-marshalled third for Mercedes, said after qualifying that the McLaren was so brisk, so dominant, that his rival team need develop it no further but instead turn their attention to the 2026 car. Russell may have been prosecuting his own agenda, but the underlying point stands.
‘It was very satisfying,’ said Norris. ‘To start the season with a win is good enough, but to do it in such a stressful race, one where it is so easy to make a mistake, so easy to ruin everything, was even more rewarding.
Defending champion Max Verstappen came second while George Russell came third
Meanwhile, Great Britain star Lewis Hamilton finished in 10th place on his Ferrari debut
Hamilton enjoyed the thrills and spills but had a few heated debates with his new race engineer Riccardo Adami, telling him not to distract him
‘It could quickly have gone wrong. You hit the white line wrong, you have a big snap. It was just very, very difficult not to go into a wall or end up in a tyre barrier. Knowing when to change on to slicks, or stay out on the inters, and even more when I have Oscar behind me and Max behind me, makes this such a sweet win.
‘We worked hard over the winter to prepare for a race like this because we threw away a lot of opportunities last season, such as Canada and Silverstone, where were not the best at preparing and being decisive. But today we were very decisive, calling to box half-a-second before I needed to box. It was the right call and that won us the race.’
One bone of contention came on lap 30 when Piastri was closing in. He moved within 0.4sec of Norris but was told: ‘Hold position.’
‘I think I am faster,’ said Piastri. ‘But I’m OK (with the instruction).
Carlos Sainz was among the six drivers to crash out during tough conditions in Melbourne
It was harsh on him. He might have passed Norris. He might then not have run off when he did. Andrea Stella, team principal, explained afterwards that the changing conditions, aging tyres, and traffic, were the reason for the team orders.
Three laps later, the team rescinded the instruction. ‘We’re free to race now,’ race engineer Tom Stallard told Piastri. It was too late for the Australian – the Melburnian, no less – who carried local hopes. By now, he had slipped three seconds behind.
As for the others, it was a poor day for Ferrari, eighth for Charles Leclerc and 10th for Lewis Hamilton on his first twirl in red. They have plenty of work to do.
Even this early, with China on Sunday as the next instalment of a 24-race marathon, it looks as if it is Norris’s title to lose. Only Piastri and Verstappen can possibly apply the brakes.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .