Norris Beats Verstappen in Dramatic
Australia Opener

Melbourne, 16 Mar (ONA) — Lando
Norris mastered treacherous, changing conditions in a dramatic, incident-packed
race to beat Max Verstappen and win the Australian Grand Prix.

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

Norris was forced to fend off a late
threat from Verstappen, brought back into contention by a late safety car, but
held on to take his fifth career victory.

Lewis Hamilton, making his debut for
Ferrari, finished 10th on a difficult day for the team, with George Russell
third for Mercedes in Melbourne, BBC sports reported.

Seven-time champion Hamilton was
leading on lap 46 but only because Ferrari had made the wrong decision to stay
out on dry-weather slick tyres as a heavy shower hit the track.

He and team-mate Charles Leclerc
then had to pit as a safety car was sent out for the final time following a
series of crashes and dropped to the bottom of the top 10.

To add insult to injury, Hamilton
was overtaken by Leclerc on the final restart, as the Monegasque sought to
recover from a spin at Turn 11 under the safety car that cost him four
positions, the Ferraris touching wheels lightly in the incident.

Hamilton then lost a further place
as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri fought back from a spin that had cost him second
place in the late rain.

Mercedes’ 18-year-old Italian rookie
Andrea Kimi Antonelli came through the field from 16th on the grid to fourth
with Williams’ Alex Albon fifth.

Antonelli finished fourth on the
road but was initially demoted a place for an unsafe release in the pits.
However, that penalty was later overturned by the stewards on appeal.

McLaren acknowledged a concern that
Verstappen would be a major threat, so good is he so often in wet conditions,
but Norris and Piastri controlled the race from the start and were able to
leave the four-time champion behind them for much of the race as chaos unfolded
behind them.

The drama began even before the race
officially started, when rookie Isack Hadjar spun his Racing Bull car at Turn
Two on the formation lap. The Frenchman stood with his head in his hands,
apparently crying, before returning to the pits.

After a 15-minute delay, the race
finally got under way, only for another rookie, Australian Jack Doohan, to
crash his Alpine on the straight between Turns Four and Six and bring out the
safety car.

Underlining the difficulty of the
conditions, Carlos Sainz immediately crashed his Williams at the final corner
as well.

— Ends/Khalid