McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are relishing Australia being the season-opening race in Formula 1 in 2025 due to the team’s previous struggles in Bahrain.
The Albert Park Circuit will return to being the curtain raiser this weekend having not held that status since a pandemic caused the 2020 and 2021 rounds to be cancelled.
Bahrain had taken on that privilege in recent times, which hadn’t served McLaren well as the circuit characteristics had exposed its long-standing limitation in low-speed turns.
Indeed, the Woking-based squad hasn’t managed a podium at the venue since 2010 and even began its run to the Constructors’ title last year with a sixth and eighth place.
However, Melbourne did prove to be better-tailored to the launch-spec MCL38 as Norris converted third on the grid, with home hero Piastri coming home behind him.
With McLaren bidding to go one better and claim a championship double this season, Norris has admitted Australia will heighten the chances it makes a good start in 2025.
“I look forward to it, because I love Australia, but you’re right, Bahrain’s really not been a good one for us,” Norris told media including Motorsport Week prior to pre-season.
“I think maybe my best result there was my first year. I think in 2019 I was sixth or something, and I felt like it’s never really got much better since then.
“We’ve had a lot of difficulties. I wouldn’t say it’s just track-specific, I think we have just had general difficulties, and that’s not just only been Bahrain – it started in Bahrain, and then it’s gone to other tracks.
“We were reasonable in Australia last year. It was actually a pretty decent track for us. It was quite early on in the season, but considering how the car was performing then, and how much we’ve been able to turn it around later on in the season, it still proved to actually be quite a good race for us.
“Excited, because one, I love Australia. Two, because it’s a good track for us, I think.
“It’s got these medium high-speed corners, which is where we tend to be reasonably strong. But now we’re kind of, I wouldn’t say there’s bad corners for us.
“It’s just here we lack a little bit to some cars, and there we lack a little bit to some cars, but we showed that we have one of the best, if not the best, all-around car.
“So, I wouldn’t mind if we started in Bahrain.
“I love Bahrain, and it’s a bit of a home race for us as McLaren, but it’s nice to go somewhere different, and hopefully have the momentum from the off.”
Australia more representative than Bahrain
Piastri has concurred with his team-mate’s as he cited that his home circuit provides a more representative outlook than Bahrain due to the less abrasive asphalt used.
“I think Melbourne is probably more representative than Bahrain is as an opening circuit, certainly for us in the last few years as well,” the Australian assessed.
“Bahrain has not been our strongest circuit, but Melbourne has often boded quite well for us. It’s got a little bit of everything.
“The tarmac, I would say, is much more… It’s a surface that’s quite common through the rest of the season, I would say.
“It’s quite fresh, quite smooth, whereas Bahrain is obviously very old now and rough. So I think that is probably a better indicator.
“But as the layout goes, these cars are so sensitive to everything that pretty much every track feels different to each other now.
“You can’t group them into similar characteristics that well anymore.
“So I think it’s definitely a little bit more of a better picture than Bahrain as a season opener.
“But again, we’ve got so many unique circuits on the calendar now that we’re still going to be going to China the weekend after, not knowing whether it’s going to be the same or different.”
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