Britain’s Lando Norris believes he and his McLaren team are now favourites for the 2025 Formula One world championship after a strong victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix – but Ferrari’s team principal, Frédéric Vasseur, admitted his team had to up their game in working with Lewis Hamilton.
After a dramatic and incident packed race in mixed wet and dry conditions, Norris took the flag for his first victory in Australia, the first time he has won the opening race of a season and the perfect start for the 25-year-old’s title ambitions.
Norris won by just under a second from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen but at times the McLaren enjoyed a huge pace advantage over the rest of the field. Verstappen closed the gap due to the intervention of a safety car. Norris has previously played down how impressive his car has looked but after the race in Melbourne, conceded it was the class of the field.
“I do think we are the favourites,” he said. “We are the team to beat. The car is flying. There will be tracks where we are even better.”
George Russell, who was third for Mercedes, had suggested earlier at the weekend that the pace of the McLaren had made it all but untouchable already and that other teams may shift swiftly their focus to 2026 when there is a major regulation change. Russell’s comments were welcomed by Norris.
“If that is their mentality, then wonderful because that is not the mentality to have,” he said. “We know we have a lot of work to do in this car and if you do relax, you have failed. In Formula One if you start to think everything is good and groovy that is when you get caught.”
The British driver also praised his team for making the right strategy calls and managing his race well after some significant failings last year – specifically in the crucial moments when a sudden rain shower hit in the latter stages and Norris was wrestling with his car.
“The team calling me to box half a second before I needed to box, even though I was still trying to save the car and making sure I didn’t shunt, was the right call. It was a call that won me the race,” he said.
At Ferrari, however, it was clear there is work to be done. Hamilton finished 10th and said adapting to his car and team is taking time. He had some terse exchanges with his race engineer, Riccardo Adami, and Vasseur said the team must do better.
“We learn a lot from this weekend because we made mistakes,” he said. “We need to improve the communication, understand what Lewis needs from the communication. It was the first race, the first time that we have to communicate between the pitwall and the car. We can do a better job and know each other more, for sure it was not a clean one at all, the strategy was difficult and we need to find a better way to communicate between the car and the pitwall.”
