What the Australian Grand Prix Revealed
A Race Full of Heroes and Zeroes
The Australian Grand Prix was the first race of the F1 2025 season and unusual because very few drivers had a so-so race. Almost all of them will be feeling either delighted or disappointed with their results, thanks to half a dozen crashing out, a few making dreadful strategy calls, and some really punching above their weight. Here’s what we learned from the Australian Grand Prix.
Antonelli is the Real Deal
Yes, he screwed up qualifying, but Antonelli was a bit unlucky with damage that dropped his floor and cost a lot of time. Come the race, he started in 16th, and made steady progress throughout the race, carving his way through the field in very tricky conditions. Only two rookies finished the race (the other, Bearman, was last on the road due to the Haas being awful), and Antonelli not only finished he hauled himself up into 4th. Very impressive stuff, and a great recovery from a bad starting position.
Second Seat or Sacrificial Altar?
Gasly, Albon, and Perez are all very good drivers. They also have all had a terrible time in the second Red Bull seat. Lawson went in full of confidence but after the first race he’s already looking very iffy. He qualified in 18th and struggled to make any progress, in contrast to Antonelli, before crashing out.
Many drivers introduced their cars to the wall, including three other rookies and the experienced pair of Alonso and Sainz. But the problem for Lawson is that Verstappen is vying for the podium and (late on) even the win, while Lawson is miles and miles off the pace. And the team needs to fix this sooner or later, because while Verstappen’s fantastically talented he won’t be around forever.
Hulk Smash
The Sauber is probably only the second worst car on the grid. But taking is from 17th (having been outqualified by his newcomer team mate) to 7th at the flag is a fantastic result for Hulkenberg. To put it in context, he outscored Ferrari by himself, and scored 150% of his team’s 2024 total points in the first race of 2025. Hulkenberg’s never had a seat at a top team, which is a great shame because he’s worthy of the chance, as last year’s consecutive 6th places for Haas showed. With him and Bortoleto, who did crash and DNF but showed impressive pace in qualifying, Sauber (Audi next year) have a very solid lineup.
Williams Best of the Rest — or Racing Bulls?
While Sainz crashed out early, Albon was fantastic in both qualifying and the race. Sainz will get up to speed in his new team, and the Williams is looking very tasty. I was surprised by how good Tsunoda was in qualifying and the race, however, and Hadjar got close to the top 10 as well. While I do believe Williams is the best of the midfield, I think Tsunoda’s unlucky strategy and Hadjar’s nightmare formation lap is somewhat masking just how good the Racing Bull is looking right now.
Ferrari (and Racing Bulls) Strategy Woe
Last year, Ferrari was odd. They were mostly tactically astute (yes, Canada was a big exception). It’s taken one race of 2025 for them to reassert the legendary Ferrari strategy. Conditions were tricky near the end but most others got the call right in changing conditions. Ferrari did not and plunged from middling to lower end points, with Leclerc 8th and Hamilton just 10th.
The worst part is their pace seemed weakest of the top four teams in both the hot qualifying and cold, wet race. Ferrari changed a lot on their car for this year, and it seems to have cost them.
Tsunoda was also shafted by a bad strategy call. All race long he’d been running with Albon in 5th and 6th, but Williams got the call right. Albon ended up 5th with 10 points, Tsunoda was out of the points altogether. Sad to see because he drove flawlessly.
Three Way Title Fight?
Verstappen came close to victory at the end, but Norris held him off. The McLaren looks the best of a bunch by a distance, and while Piastri only got a couple of points due to getting briefly beached in grass he was also in with a shot of the victory. Right now, it looks like the defending champion versus both McLarens for the title, with Mercedes the next fastest car.
We’ll see how development goes, but McLaren are, obviously, looking very hot favourites for the Constructors’ too. While Verstappen can extract great performance, Lawson looked a day and a half behind all weekend long. Just a few days until China, but the Kiwi needs to turn things around, and fast.
Richard
