Formula 1's 2025 season kicked off in style with a chaotic rain-affected Australian Grand Prix.
But what did we learn from the chaos about the shape of the 2025 title fight and its potential protagonists?
Here's what our team made of the race...
An early title twist
Scott Mitchell-Malm
The biggest shame from the late chaos is it removed Oscar Piastri from victory contention and a big points haul.
McLaren's advantage at times this weekend has been exaggerated by circumstances but it clearly has an edge and it's not too difficult to imagine how this develops into a Lando Norris/Piastri title fight.
If that's the case, it would be a little disappointing to go back to just an intra-team championship contest given what last year promised - but if the first half of the grand prix is anything to go by, Piastri would not make life easy for Norris in the circumstances.
The two looked closely matched here with Norris having a slight qualifying edge then Piastri coming back strong in the grand prix. For him to lose a big set of points to Norris straight out of the blocks is a shame in the context of a potential title battle.
In terms of upside, though, it's evident from today that Max Verstappen is going to be a pain in the McLaren backside at every opportunity this season. He was absolutely brilliant this weekend, battling a pace deficit so valiantly that his error in the race that let Piastri can be excused.
That could keep the pressure on both McLaren drivers, car advantage or not.
Properly ominous
Val Khorounzhiy
This is the kind of race Verstappen usually wins in modern F1, and the fact he didn't this time is, to me, a testament to just how good this new McLaren appears to be.
It had outrageous longevity on that initial intermediates stint, but what was particularly convincing was the ease with which Piastri worked his way back into the points and past Lewis Hamilton in that final dash to the flag.
The home hero was a full three seconds back from Hamilton with just over two laps left to run, yet got past on the final lap - with no tyre offset, remember - and would've almost certainly gobbled up Charles Leclerc, too, with one more lap.
That doesn't say great things about the Ferrari, sure, but it felt reflective of McLaren's potency in this kind of track condition. And so far there's precious little evidence that there's any type of condition in which its 2025 car is lacking.
Don't be too hard on the gamblers
Matt Beer
After all the radio messages promising race-inverting levels of rain and the sight of cars spinning everywhere, you might have thought Red Bull and Ferrari were lunatics for leaving their cars out as long as they did in the heavy late-race shower.
But have a bit of sympathy.
Yes, the points lost for Ferrari in particular there really could be painful in a close fight for (probably second in) the constructors' championship eventually. And yes, the speed at which those on slicks still had to tiptoe around before they finally pitted was painful to watch.
But looking at all the evidence of the rest of the weekend, this is going to be a season where McLaren has the pace to win any race that proceeds normally. To beat Norris and Piastri, you might have to do something abnormal or extremely bold.
Imagine if the rain had just skirted past the circuit and Ferrari had suddenly salvaged a 1-2 from a weekend it was otherwise fourth-best team. It was a chance worth taking.
Confirmation of a big McLaren 2025 headache
Jon Noble
It was certainly not an error-free race for Norris and McLaren, but the Australian Grand Prix has ticked off an awful lot of boxes from their winter to-do list after missing out on the drivers’ crown last year.
Based on what we saw in qualifying, and the opening stint, the MCL39 is a mighty quick car that is a step above everything else when it comes to managing tyres.
But there has been progress in other areas as well. Norris had every opportunity at Albert Park to repeat the kind of errors that proved costly in 2024, but he did not: even if there was that off before the final downpour and an error at Turn 6 in the closing dash that allowed Verstappen to get on his back.
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McLaren also seemed much calmer and in control on the pitwall on a day when, being in front with the fastest car, there was every chance to get it wrong and hand victory to someone else. This is a world away from when it blew opportunities at Silverstone and Montreal last year.
But despite all the positives, the Australian GP has exposed a old challenge: team orders. Temporarily calling off the fight between Norris and Piastri is something that certainly grabbed attention.
With Piastri looking every bit as quick as Norris, there are going to be times where the pitwall is going to have an influence on the outcome of races this year. So McLaren faces an impossible task in always keeping both its drivers and its own interests all lined up.
It could prove to be its biggest headache of 2025.
Questions for Piastri, Ferrari and race control
Gary Anderson
As they say you can have four seasons in one day in Melbourne and we surely had that today.
For Norris, pole to the win in adverse conditions is a just result. In reality it should have been a 1-2 for McLaren. When both Norris and Piastri went off when the last batch of rain came Piastri didn't handle the mistake as well as he should have. Norris picked up and didn’t let it get to him, but Piastri tried to recover it all immediately and paid the price.
A decent result for Mercedes but disappointing for Ferrari. I know sometimes you need to take a gamble but staying on slicks when the last batch of rain came was a bit more like Russian Roulette.
Four of the five rookies paid the price in these conditions but Kimi Antonelli showed he has that inner talent. At 18 years old he drove a very confident race, with a few mistakes, but seeing the chequered flag in what ended up fifth will build his confidence.
My biggest worry/complaint would be having trucks on track to retrieve crashed cars. I know access is not always possible but the reason they crashed was because of the conditions so something needs to be done to reduce the risk. Yes you can say they were behind the safety car and the drivers need to be more careful but a slight mistake can become an accident very quickly.
We don’t want constant red flags but we also don’t want another Jules Bianchi accident.
At circuits like Albert Park where crane access is difficult, trucks with steel plates around the open areas or at least a conveyor belt around the lower section would be a major step.
Overall a good first race for 2025 and I'm very glad they didn’t start behind a safety car.
Watch out for Verstappen
Ben Anderson
Amid a brilliant win for Norris, and all the talk of McLaren's frightening pace advantage in Australia, this was yet another example of Max Verstappen absolutely maximising his opportunity.
His complete mastery of wet weather driving - save for a small lock-up at Turn 11 in the middle phase of the race - was on show again, as he motored past Piastri on the first lap and had Norris under pressure when the race turned wet again at the end.
The fact Liam Lawson had such an awful first grand prix for Red Bull, not helped by his lack of track time in practice of course, only highlights further the incredible job Verstappen continues to do in managing what is clearly not an easy situation for Red Bull right now.
It reminded me a little bit of Michael Schumacher in the tricky 1996 Ferrari 'bathtub' - occasionally nipping at the heels of the dominant Williams cars.
Verstappen's job right now is to keep himself in the hunt while Red Bull works out how to make the RB21 work properly (or waits for the Barcelona rule change to slow the others down).
I still think Norris needs a car advantage to keep Verstappen under control. That was evident in the final laps really, as his engineer reminded him he was fast enough to win without needing to extend himself or overdrive his McLaren.
Norris just about got the job done here, but for Verstappen to finish such a close second, on a weekend where McLaren should have had a dominant 1-2 finish, is a reminder of how much of a threat the reigning world champion remains even when he doesn't have the best car.
Norris 2.0 passes first stress test
Josh Suttill
A mixed conditions race with tricky strategy calls, pressure from Verstappen and pressure from a hungry McLaren team-mate were all factors that threatened to spoil a smooth path to victory for Norris.
This felt like the kind of race that would have underdone 2024-spec Norris and yet the Norris of 2025 passed every test that was thrown at him.
It wasn’t note perfect. There were mistakes but even Verstappen wasn’t unflappable in these greasy conditions.
The key was Norris let the race come to him even when the rain appeared to spoil McLaren’s perfect day and he soaked up all the pressure from Verstappen. He appeared calmer than the chaos he seemed to let overcome him at times last year. Compare and contrast this to Canada last year.
The McLaren looked like the much better car but I’d argue any driver is going to need a car advantage to beat Verstappen in a season-long title battle.
And on the very (very) early tentative evidence of this weekend - both how Norris handled things and the car advantage McLaren appears to have - Norris and McLaren have set themselves up nicely to do so.
