Formula 1

Australia’s hopes of seeing homegrown talent stand on the podium at the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix will have to wait another year, as Lando Norris led Max Verstappen and George Russell across the line in a chaotic start to the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Championship season.

Norris delivered an almost perfect race to secure the third win of his career in wet and wild conditions, having led for most of the race and holding off challenges from McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and Verstappen.

In the end, Verstappen could do nothing to get past Norris and was forced to settle for second, as Norris became the sixth different Australian Grand Prix winner in six years.

As for Piastri, all the hard work done in qualifying—along with an impressive middle stint that saw him and Norris build a 16-second gap over the rest of the field—was undone by an unlucky moment on lap 44 when he spun off at the penultimate corner and was left stranded as cars streamed past.

The Melbournian eventually got back on track and into the pits for a quick tyre change, but any hopes of a podium were dashed as he rejoined near the back of the field with a mountain to climb.

Not to be deterred, Piastri salvaged some points with a lightning-quick final stint, capping it off with a last-lap overtake on Lewis Hamilton to secure P9.

Piastri was one of just 14 drivers to finish the race, as six failed to reach the chequered flag—including fellow Australian Jack Doohan.

Like Piastri, Doohan had an impressive qualifying session on Saturday, only to find himself walking back to the pits before the race had truly begun—the Queenslander crashing out on lap one after struggling with the slippery surface.

Doohan wasn’t the only early casualty, as Carlos Sainz found himself in the wall, and Formula 1 debutant Isack Hadjar crashed on the formation lap.

Other drivers caught out by the treacherous conditions included Fernando Alonso, Liam Lawson, and Gabriel Bortoleto.

It’s back-to-back weekends for the Formula 1 World Championship, with the Chinese Grand Prix set to take place at Shanghai International Circuit on March 20–23.

Supercars

With heavy rain falling over Albert Park, Supercars’ final race of the weekend was abandoned. The cancellation of the result gave Will Brown the Larry Perkins Trophy victory – making him the first driver to ever win it twice.

Pole sitter Broc Feeney finished the weekend in second place, while Friday’s winner Cameron Hill rounded out the trophy’s third place.

Supercars now heads across to New Zealand for the third round of the 2025 season on 11–13 April at Taupō.

Formula 2

Despite multiple attempts to get it underway, FIA Formula 2 Championship’s feature race was abandoned due to the wet conditions.

The Championship’s next round will be on 11–13 April in Bahrain.

Formula 3

Friday’s Formula 3 pole sitter Rafael Camara was in a league of his own in Sunday’s Feature Race as he comfortably took out the victory, while Aussie James Wharton had a challenging morning – finishing P21.

In what was a shortened race that started under safety car and finished under a red flag, there was plenty of drama in between with multiple interruptions as the future stars found it difficult to navigate the conditions.

Camara was not one of those drivers however as the Brazilian managed to build long gaps over his Trident teammate Noel Stromsted when the field was racing – making him a deserving winner of the Feature race when the race was eventually called on lap 18 after a big crash to Christian Ho.

It was unchanged top three from Friday’s Qualifying as Stromsted followed Camara across the line to make it a Trident one-two, while Théophile Naël rounded out the podium.

As for Wharton, the Victorian started the race further down the order than he qualified after receiving a five-grid place penalty for causing an incident in Saturday’s Sprint Race.

Despite the setback, he managed to gain more than a handful of places during the race to finish higher than where he started.

Formula 3 returns next month at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir on 11–13 April.