Norris retains Verstappen to win the Wild F1 opener in Australia

Melbourne: Lando Norris de McLaren swept victory in a great prize of humid and wild Australia on Sunday (March 16), retaining the defending champion Max Verstappen in an end of white knuckles at a stop of the season 1 covered with accidents and security cars.

George Russell de Mercedes was third in the slippery circuit of Albert Park, where only 14 of the 20 cars ended in the treacherous conditions.

Norris, the preseason favorite for the title of the pilots, began the Formula 1 season when the last one ended at Abu Dhabi, with the victory of Pole.

The British victory ended Verstappen’s long race at the top of the classification of the championship that dates back to May 2022.

Norris’s teammate, Oscar Piasstri, began second in the network, but ended up ninth, his dreams of becoming the first driver of the house to claim the victory or a dodde domain that ends with a skate on the grass.

Norris claimed his first victory in Melbourne and the fifth of his career, saying that it was difficult with Verstappen to breathe around his neck.

“It was incredible. Race hard, especially with Max behind me,” he added.

“I was pressing, especially in the last two laps. It was a bit stressful, I wouldn’t lie.

“This time we did well and ended at the top, so I’m happy.”

Red Bull kept Verstappen in used tires with the hope of a break in the rain, but was finally forced to go, which could cost Norris a better opportunity.

Verstappen said “it was worth the bet.”

“It was quite spicy in slippery tires. In the end it was fine,” he said.

“This is where I expected to be. In the first season we lacked a little rhythm for McLaren.”

Lewis Hamilton’s debut for Ferrari proved to be a humid squad with the British ending tenth, two places behind his teammate Charles Leclerc.

The seven -time Hamilton world champion complained that his car was “difficult to drive” and said the team had made the wrong call with the late weather in which it was expensive.

“It was very complicated and it was much worse than I thought I would go,” he said.

“I am grateful to have kept (the car) out of the wall because it is really where I wanted to go most of the time.”

It was a more encouraging day for Williams, with Alex Albon promoted to fourth, although Carlos Sainz crashed into his debut for the team.

Mercedes’s 18 -year -old rookie, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, crossed fourth in an excellent debut, but fell to the fifth due to a five -second penalty due to an unsafe liberation from the well.

Lance Stroll was sixth for Aston Martin, while Sauber also celebrated points for the seventh place Nico Hulkenberg.

Security cars

The race remained for 15 minutes after the debutante Isack Hadjar lost control in the training return and turned on his career car on a wall.

With his damaged rear spoiler and his career, the French unharmed was crying when his car was away.

Australian rookie Jack Doohan left shortly after the restart, crashing his alpine in curve six in the first round to activate the security car while his father Mick, great motorcycling, looked with disbelief of the team’s garage.

The drama continued when Sainz went out of control over return 14 during the deployment of the security car.

While Norris had a clean start, Piastri was skating on the left and the right in the first turn, which allowed Verstappen to roar him next to him.

But Verstappen then blocked a front brake and deviated to allow Piastri to recover in second place.

With more rhythm than his teammate, Piastri had Norris in sight, but the McLaren garage ordered him to keep the post until a rain passed.

The two -time world champion Fernando Alonso became the fourth car knocked out when his Aston Martin deviated from the track in Tour Seven in Tour 34 and crashed, taking out the security car again.

Norris and Piastri faced themselves to change hard tires, but another shower wreaked havoc 10 laps later, with piastri sliding in gravel and ending in grass.

Liam Lawson from Red Bull and Gabriel Bortoleto de Sauber crashed in rapid succession, causing a third safety car display.

While that gave Verstappen a last crack in Reeling in Norris, the British kept the relentless Dutch at bay to take the first blow in the championship before the second round in China.