LANDO NORRIS won a thrilling season opener in Melbourne after SIX drivers were KO’d and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton gamble went horribly wrong.
The McLaren driver held onto the lead by the skin of his teeth as Max Verstappen pulled it out the bag to finish a whisker behind him in second.
GettyLando Norris won a chaotic Australian Grand Prix[/caption]
AFPNorris celebrated the win with his mum[/caption]
EPANorris finished just ahead of Verstappen[/caption]
GettyThe wet conditions saw six cars crash out[/caption]
AFPLewis Hamilton had a Ferrari debut to forget as he finished P10[/caption]
The other McLaren, Oscar Piastri, suffered a nightmare ending having been hot on team-mate Norris’ heels throughout before spinning off the track and onto the grass with 11 laps to go.
It meant Verstappen overtook him and Piastri finished in ninth after starting the race in second after a front row lock-out for reigning Constructors’ champs McLaren.
After the Piastri chaos, Lewis Hamilton was leading the race on his debut for Ferrari as the Italian team gambled by not pitting him and his team-mate Charles Leclerc.
But it did not pay off as Verstappen pitted and hunted them down on fresh tyres, forcing them into the pits for a changeover.
The fuming seven-time world champion gave his race engineer Riccardo Adami a tongue lashing, swearing on his radio after Ferrari dropped down the positions and he finished in ninth while Leclerc settled for eighth.
At one point Adami was trying to give Hamilton information about DRS but he says on his team radio: “Leave it guys, leave it. I’m learning the car as I go mate, just leave me to it with the DRS. It’s not an issue.”
Earlier on in the race, Hamilton asked: “Tell me where I’m slow I’m having a hard time.”
British Mercedes driver George Russell made it onto the podium in third and Alex Albon came in fourth in his Williams.
To rub salt in the wounds for Hamilton, Lance Stroll also finished ahead of him in sixth for Aston Martin.
SIX drivers did not finish the drama-filled race, including Isack Hadjar, Jack Doohan, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson.
RB rookie Hadjar crashed on the formation lap before he even started and was left crying with his head in his hands before Lewis Hamilton’s dad comforted him.
“Ooof, little bit of pressure! Well done boys, beautifully handled.
“Executed to the second. One second later and we were done. Well done everyone, congrats, amazing way to start the year.”
Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle called it one of Norris’ “all-time great” drives.
After his disappointing debut, Hamilton said: “It was very tricky and went a lot worse than I thought it would go. The car was really, really hard to drive today.
“For me, I’m just grateful I kept it out of the wall because that’s where it wanted to go most of the time.
“A lot to take from it and just getting acclimatised with the new power unit in the wet conditions.
“The settings it requires are different, and a different way of driving and a different set-up on the steering wheel.
“I hung out as long as I could, got in the lead at one point. Just the guidance with how much more rain was coming, was missing there, so I think we missed out.”
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