Oh well I’ve not written about Formula 1 for absolutely ages! Very quick background… first watched F1 at the end of 2008 with my (now) husband. 2009 was the first proper season and I became a Mark Webber fan. Watched it rather religiously whilst he was driving and have struggled a bit since he retired. Also Max Verstappen dominating the last couple of years made me switch off… it became boring!
However, 2025 might be the year my interest returns. There’s loads new drivers – I believe there are 6 rookies on the starting grid today – McLaren looking on form and Hamilton in a Ferrari! Exciting times!
Australian Grand Prix 2025
Anyway back to Australia! One problem with the Australia as the first race is that the timings for me are really rubbish… by the time we wake up it’s finished! We missed qualifying but the McLarens in 1 & 2… Verstappen in 3rd, Hamilton 8th in his shiny Ferrari… interesting!
Predictions
I’ve decided to blog along live… it won’t be posted live but I’m typing this as I watch it. Our predictions:
- husband: 13 cars to finish with 1- Norris 2 – Verstappen, 3 – Russell
- me: 15 cars to finish with 1 – Norris, 2 – Verstappen 3 – Leclerc (or Russell – can’t decide!)
Well what a rather chaotic start! Wet, crash on a formation lap (oh my heart goes out to Hadjar! Poor fella!) leading to an aborted start.
First Lap
First lap wasn’t a clean one… the Aussie is out!! Jack Doohan from the Gold Coast manages to crash his Alpine! Norris got away clean but Verstappen managed to pass Piastri’s McLaren (dammit!). I think this is going to be a long race!
Oh lord! Sainz is out! Last corner crash under a safety car! So we’re already down to 17 cars and we haven’t even finished a lap!! It seems these wet white lines are going to be a problem.
Whilst I wait for the safety car to come in as they recover the cars, I really want to Google who these new rookies are! But I can’t… whilst I say that I’m watching it live, I’m actually watching the replay. We didn’t manage to get up at stupid o’clock to watch it properly live!
Ah we’re seeing some clips of the fans in the grandstands. Some of them look proper gutted.. I imagine because their homeboy Doohan is out.
Lap 7 & 8
Safety car is coming in at the end of Lap 7 so Lap 8 will be a proper racing lap. It seems that the track has dried out a bit and no rain expected for another 30 minutes.
“Norris is starting to eek out a gap on Verstappen”… that is good to hear Crofty! Piastri is on Verstappen’s tail which is also very good to hear. Anything to challenge Verstappen is good to hear!
Wahey! Lap 8 was clean and we’ve finally had a whole racing lap! Norris sets fastest lap although apparently there’s no bonus points for it this year.
Safety Car Infringements
Alonso and Tsunoda is under investigation for a safety car infringement. They’e currently in 10th and 6th respectively. Alonso intrigues me… he’s an ex-world champion and one of, if not the oldest on the grid. He must love it as he’s not up there challenging really. He’s down in the mid tier.
Oh so it seems the infringements is that both were leaving more than 10 car lengths on the restart.
Lap 12 – DRS Enabled
Track has dried up enough to enable DRS now. This will be fun!!
Lap 16 – A Snappy Ferrari
Hamilton is struggling is a little bit in the Ferrari. He’s come on the radio saying the car is snappy. By lap 16 he’s around 7s behind his team mate Leclerc.
Antonelli had a spin in his Mercedes! Thankfully he managed to do it in a run off area and continues on! He’s now lost his place to Hulkenberg (he had gained it under an overtake previous lap).
Lap 17 – Verstappen Runs Wide
Yaaaasss!! Verstappen spins off after going through a puddle! Piastri back up in 2nd place! Yay for rain! It’s drizzling now.
Antonelli has passed Hulkenberg again.
Hamilton and Albon are noted to have a safety car infringements but not under investigation. Alsonso and Tsunoda is still under investigation for theirs it seems. Oh hang on… Hamilton and Albon under investigation now. We now have 4 exclamation marks!!!!
Lap 20 – Lawson Overtakes
Lawson overtakes Ocon’s Haas. Verstappen’s tyres are gone and he’s begging to come in to change tyres. Team’s telling him he’ll loose his track position.
All safety car infringements have now been cleared with no further action.
Lap 21/22 – Norris to Stay on Inters
Discussion between Norris and his race engineer is to not change tyres as things are drying up again. However if more rain happens then they will have to change.
Piastri is gaining on Norris with his fastest lap. Crofty is saying that he’s in the undercut zone where if he pits he could gain on his teammate. I wonder what the team will do here… surely it’s far too early for team orders!
Lap 23 – Hamilton has Lost Gear Sync
Radio message from Hamilton has lost gear sync in his Ferrari! However it seems he’s still managing so maybe it’s not as bad.
Lap 25 – Leclerc’s Radio Message
Haha that was a brilliant radio message…
Leclerc: is there a leakage?
Team: a leakage of what?
Leclerc: I have a seat full of water! Like, full of water!
Team: must be the water
Leclerc: let’s add that to the words of wisdom
Lap 26 – Verstappen 14s Off the Lead
Crofty and Brundle are reporting that Verstappen is now 14s off the lead. This is good as it means the McLaren’s can run off in the distance. Might be time to change Verstappen’s tyres. All the Sky F1 people are saying the same.
Lap 29 – Antonelli in 11th
So it seems that Antonelli has passed Lance Stroll at some point. We haven’t seen the overtake move. The coverage is occasionally a bit rubbish… there aren’t many overtakes but they still don’t show them all!
Is Piastri Australian? The commentators just saidthat we might see an Australian winning the Australian Grand Prix…. huh, did not know he was an Aussie!
(Incidentally Ricciardo did win it a few years back and was on the podium but was disqualified post race due to lack of fuel. I hate it when they do the podium and then decide to disqualify someone. It’s wrong for the person who’s promoted as they don’t get to participate in the celebrations)
Lap 32 – Piastri Told to Hold Position
So it seems that Piastri has been told to hold position. However Zak Brown is on the radio with the Sky F1 team and has just said that it’s time for racing. However Piastri is now 2s behind Norris.
Lap 34 – Alonso OUT!
Argh! Alonso spins out! Safety car deployed! This is going to be chaos! Everyone is going to pit! It looks like there’s a mix of hard and medium’s going on here. The restart will be interesting… please McLarens don’t mess it up!
Lap 37-39 – Rain Discussions and Safety Car
There’s a risk of light rain again in a few laps but only for 1 lap it seems. If it’s a bit more than light rain it’ll be chaos again!
Safety car is still out and the lapped cars are being released. Looks like we’ll be going racing again soon. Looks like Alonso’s car has been cleared. Don’t know about you but I was rather nervous seeing a lorry and race cars on track.
Bearman and Ocon has pitted to change to mediums. Bearman has come out and it looked a bit dicey.
Lap 41-43 – Safety Car In
We now have Bearman in between the McLaren’s and Verstappen which would make the restart interesting. Oh hang on no he’s been told to unlap.
Oh there’s now Class 3 rain expected in a few laps which is going to be amazing for us… absolutely crap for the drivers! Bearman and Ocon are going to regret that change to mediums.
However DRS is now enabled on lap 43. Oooph there’s even discussions about maybe red flag should the rain come.
Bortoleto has been given a 5s penalty for an unsafe release during the pit stops.
Lap 45 – Piastri spins, Norris goes wide
Oh god! Chaos for the McLarens! Piastri is beached on the grass! He’s reversing and trying to get back on track. HE’S DONE IT! Back on track to the screams of the Aussies! Unfortunately his race is pretty much ruined now.
Norris has pitted for inters and Verstappen stayed out and in lead. Hamilton is in second, with Gasly in 3rd. The grid has all changed now! Verstappen is on team radio saying he has to come in. But the team are telling him to stay out! Oh it’s an old message and he’s pitting.
Lap 46 – Hamilton Leading!
Hamilton is on hard tyres as is Leclerc and they are currently in 1 & 2. Theres no way he can stay out like this.
Lawson is in a wall! And is Bortoleto! Safety car deployed again!! Norris is now back in the lead.
Hamilton and Leclerc is in the pits for inters. The gamble hasn’t paid off for the Ferraris.
Lap 48/49 – NOR/VER/RUS
Husband is happy as his predictions are looking spot on at the moment. One more car to go out and he’ll be a winner. They have to survive another 9 laps though and it could all change
Replay: Bortoleto’s crash looked pretty nasty. Rear wing lost and span right into the barriers.
Only 2 rookies left in the race! Antonelli is currently 5th in a Mercedes.
Hamilton has been on the radio saying that they shoudln’t have pitted for inters and they should’ve stayed out on hard tyres. Crofty is discussing it and he thinks they might’ve made it work. Brundle on the other hand it would’ve been treachourous not to change. He’s an ex-driver so I’d have to defer to him rather than Crofty on this one.
Lap 51 – Safety Car In
And here we go! Back to racing. Come on Norris!!! Go on Russell… have a go at Verstappen!
Lap 54 – DRS Enabled
This is good! Antonelli and Piastri are right on the tails of Albon and Gasly respectively. The DRS will be great for them. Go on Antonelli!! Piastri has done it! He’s in the points… not where he should’ve been but hey ho points means prizes.
Lap 57 – LAST LAP!
Ugh Verstappen is right on Norris’ tail and it’s looking far too close for comfort!
Antonelli is now up in 4th! But he’s now under investigation for an unsafe release. He’s been given a penalty.. drops to 5th after the penalty.
Piastri ends up in 9th and passed Hamilton on the last lap.
Come on Norris!!! YASSSSSS HE’S DONE IT!!!
Final Classifications
- Norris
- Verstappen
- Russell
- Albon
- Antonelli
- Stroll
- Hulkenberg
- Leclerc
- Piastri
- Hamilton
- Gasly
- Tsunoda
- Ocon
- Bearman
DNFs: Alsonso, Lawson, Bortoleto, Doohan, Hadjar, Sainz
Final Thoughts
Driver of the Day is Lando Norris per F1 however my vote goes to Antonelli. Rookie finishing in P5 is well deserving of it. Let’s hope this isn’t just a flash in the pan.
RAIN IS THE BEST THING FOR F1!!
