Oracle Red Bull Racing

2025 Australia Grand Prix Race Report

Max Verstappen navigated tyre woes, safety cars and late-race rain showers to take a battling first podium of 2025.

P2 for Max in Melbourne

“A difficult race, but at the end, it was fun,” Max said afterwards. “Lando had a little moment on entry of six, so he lost a lot of momentum there and that's why I got close. But it's very hard to pass around here. It was fun those last laps, you know, pushing when you're fighting for the win. I'm just very happy to bring it home, score good points. This is, let's say, a decent starting point for us.”

Ahead of the start on a wet and greasy track, VCARB’s Isack Hadjar spun off into the barriers on the formation lap and the start was aborted. After a 15-minute delay, a new formation lap took the bulk of the remaining cars back to the grid, though Liam took up position at the end of pit lane after the Team opted to make changes to make his RB21 more competitive in rapidly increasing wet conditions.

When the lights went out for the start, it was Max who got away best, and the champion immediately put pressure on the slower starting McLaren ahead. Polesitter Lando Norris managed to stay ahead into Turn 1, but the Briton’s teammate Oscar Piastri had a tiny moment on the outside of the corner, and that was all the opportunity Max needed.

The Dutchman swept around the outside of Turn 2 to steal second place, but the Safety Car was released when Alpine’s Jack Doohan lost control on a painted line on the track and clattered into the wall. The SC period was extended when moments later, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, the 2024 race winner, lost control and hit the wall at Turn 14.

When racing resumed at the start of lap eight, Norris held his lead ahead of Max and Piastri, with Mercedes’ George Russell in fourth place ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Further back, Liam had stayed out of trouble after his pit lane start, and as the race headed for Turn 9, he was in 16th place, 1.9 seconds behind Haas’ Esteban Ocon.

At the front, Max was keeping Norris in his sights, a little over a second behind the McLaren. A lap later, Race Control reckoned the track was now sufficiently dry and DRS was activated for the first time.

That put Max under pressure from Piastri, who was within DRS range, but the Dutchman responded and reeled in Norris to also gain the ability to open his rear wing and up his pace ahead of Piastri. Feeling the pressure, Norris quickly broke DRS to Max, maintaining his first place.

That again put Max under threat, and on lap 18 the Dutchman locked up, went wide and Piastri swept by to demote the champion to third. Max was swiftly on the radio to say his tyres were “dead”, but with the weather set to clear, GP asked the Dutchman to hang on for 10 minutes as drizzle began to fall across Albert Park. Max knuckled down, but with his tyres on the edge, he swiftly began to drop back from the McLarens, and he was soon almost 10 seconds adrift.

The frenzy in the pit lane disadvantaged Liam

Further back, on lap 21, Liam at last found a way past Ocon, and the Kiwi set about trying to reduce the seven-second gap to 14th-placed Gabriel Bortoleto. Liam was able to carve two seconds out of the deficit, but as his tyres faded, he began to lose momentum.

At the front, Piastri began to close in on Norris, and on lap 30 he got DRS. He was told to hold station and though he insisted he was quicker than his teammate, he complied. Any pressure Norris was feeling was alleviated on lap 32 when Piastri dropped a wheel into the gravel at Turn 6, and though he was able to continue, the gap widened to three seconds.

Moments later, however, the Safety Car made its second appearance when Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso crashed at the exit of Turn 7.

That prompted a mass dive towards the pits for slick tyres, and while the McLarens put on Hard tyres, Max opted for Mediums. The pack closed up behind the Safety Car and the race reset.

The frenzy in the pit lane disadvantaged Liam. Coming in for his stop, the Kiwi had to slow sharply when Bortoleto pulled out in front of him.

The Safety Car left the track at the end of lap 41 and Norris controlled the restart well ahead of Piastri, Max and Russell.

There was heavy rain on the radar and on lap 44 it suddenly arrived in the final sector. Norris and Piastri were the first to encounter the downpour and both slid in Turn 11. Race leader Norris was able to hang on, but Piastri slid off track in the penultimate corner and Max swept past to take second place.

Exiting Turn 14 and reacting to the conditions, Norris dived towards the pits and fitted Intermediates. Risking all, Max stayed out to take the lead, and though he was able to hang on for a lap, the rain worsened, and the champion was forced to make a stop for inters, handing the advantage back to Norris.

Behind them, a gaggle of drivers tried to hold on to slick tyres, including both Ferraris and the RB21 of Liam – a gamble taken by the Team in the hopes the track would dry up. Unfortunately, as the rain turned into a heavier downfall, a difficult opening weekend ended for our Kiwi as he spun off into the barriers. And when Bortoleto then also crashed, the Safety Car came out for a third time.

The rain gradually eased off and at the end of lap 51 the Safety Car left the track. Norris controlled the restart well, but Max began to up the pace and when Norris momentarily dropped a wheel into the gravel at Turn 6 and DRS was enabled, Max attacked.

The champion pushed hard to find a way past, but Norris did well to make his McLaren as wide as possible, and though Max was snapping at his heels, he did enough to hang on for the win.

“It is what I expected it to be,” said Max of the pace of the RB21. “You can see in that first stint, we were lacking a little bit of pace compared to McLaren, but it's still 18 points more than what I had here last year, and I'll take that!”