After a victory on the asphalt of the Albert Park Circuit, Lando Norris leads the 2025 World Championship. The Brit had a spectacular race in Australia, in part due to his team’s decisions. Where McLaren often struggled with race control last year, Norris is grateful that the strategists in Melbourne acted decisively.
“A victory like this is extra special,” said a relieved Lando Norris after the race. Due in part to the poor weather conditions down under, no fewer than six drivers had to retire early. This required the deployment of a safety car three times. “It could all have gone so wrong, so quickly,” Norris said. “It was incredibly stressful, but that makes it feel even better to be sitting here.”
The 25-year-old driver is particularly pleased with the McLaren team, which amidst all the chaos made the right decisions to secure Norris’s fifth career victory. “It’s good to see that we were so decisive,” he explained. “Last year, for example, we were too indecisive in Canada and Great Britain, and that ultimately cost us the race. Here, we consistently made the right choices and took the right risks.”
‘I’m Not a Champion Yet’
“In the past, we simply missed too many victories,” Norris continued. “Several times, we just got the strategy wrong. Over the winter, the team practiced decision-making and strategic choices extensively.” However, there were moments when he still found himself in disagreement with his race engineer. “Occasionally, I’ve told whole stories – I might as well have left the onboard radio on for the entire race,” he joked. “That being said, I’m incredibly grateful to the strategic team. They’ve worked tirelessly over the past few months, and that paid off today.”
Despite McLaren making the right choices in Melbourne, Max Verstappen finished within one second of Norris. The latter explained how he handled the pressure from his Dutch rival. “I knew I would struggle more than him, my intermediates were simply two laps older and the track was drying up quickly,” he said. “Of course, I knew Verstappen would be fast in those last minutes – it wasn’t just the pressure of him being behind me, but also my own concentration. You hit the kerb wrong, you’re off, you cross the white line, you’re off, you hit the gravel trap, you’re off.”
Finally, Norris wanted to downplay the advantage of the seemingly formidable MCL39. “We still have a lot of work to do,” he stated. “On the wet track, Verstappen was just as fast as us. We may be the favorites, but if we had raced today in, for example, Bahrain, I really don’t think we would have won. Of course, it feels good to be leading the championship now, but at the same time, it means absolutely nothing. I’m not a champion yet.”
