Lando Norris kicked off the 2025 Formula 1 season with victory at the Australian Grand Prix, but he was made to sweat in the final few laps with Max Verstappen hot on his heels.
The McLaren racing driver led from pole position to take the fifth victory of his career, as he laid down a statement win over his title rivals for 2025.
In tricky wet-weather conditions, Norris was untroubled for the majority of the Grand Prix – his team-mate Oscar Piastri failing to get by.
The British driver handled the transition to dry tyres, but as the rain returned, he experienced an off-moment at Turn 13 before pitting to revert back onto a set of intermediate tyres.
Amidst the chaos, Norris and McLaren made the right call.
However, after Verstappen’s gamble to stay out longer did not pay off, the Dutchman applied the pressure to Norris late on as his tyres faded, and he ran wide at Turn 6.
But Norris held on for the victory in Melbourne, discussing his thoughts after the race on when the Red Bull driver appeared in his mirrors.
“So, I knew Max would be quicker in those last few laps, and I knew he would risk more because there were only a few laps left,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I did make a mistake at Turn 6 – I just put a wheel on the gravel and lost all my momentum and drive.
“Max got within DRS, and DRS really helped him stay there.
“It’s tough because it’s not just the pressure of him being there, it’s the pressure of knowing that if I put a wheel too close to a white line on entry, I’m off.
“If I clip the kerb wrong in Turn 6, I’m off.
“If I dip a wheel in the gravel, I get a bad run and he’s past.
“There are so many little things that can go wrong.
Papaya squad eases Norris’ worries
It’s no secret that in 2024, the pressure got to Norris when he was sprung into a title fight with the multiple World Champion, Verstappen.
He lacked experience, and it became evident that he was not able to convert McLaren’s pace into a championship-winning season.
Yet after a season of learnings for both the team and the driver, which sees Norris return as a race winner, the 24-year-old appears ready to take the next step.
Continuing to explain the pressure he felt during the final laps of the Grand Prix, he revealed the role his race engineer Will Joseph and Andrew Jarvis played in helping him handle the nerves.
“[I was] just trying to concentrate on not locking up, not rear locking, not hitting the kerbs wrong, but still trying to go quicker than before because the guy behind is doing the same,” Norris added.
“It was stressful – I’m not going to lie, I was checking my mirrors a lot.
“Even Will came on the radio and told me to chill out a bit.
“He knows, and Jarv [Andrew Jarvis], my performance engineer, knows very quickly from my driving when I’m pushing too much or when I’m pushing the entries too much.
“They’re quick to jump in and say, ‘do this better’ or ‘watch out for that’ because they know what I struggle with.
“Especially in a situation like that.”
Norris: Verstappen can handle the pressure better
The Bristol-born racing driver went into detail as to why he suffered so much in the latter stages of the Grand Prix.
“The thing is, I knew I was going to struggle a bit because I put the Inters on two laps before Max, and with half the track still being dry, I pushed,” he stated.
“Even the high-speed was dry, so I kind of destroyed my tyres a little.
“The front tyres – you could see the rubber was already rolling over on the edges.
“I knew my pace advantage wouldn’t be as much as at the beginning of the race.
“At the very beginning, when it was wettest, Max was just as quick as us.
“As it dried, we got a lot quicker, and Red Bull started to struggle.”
Whilst he conceded that Verstappen is better at handling these types of scenarios, Norris remained positive after he held on for the victory.
“That situation was new for me,” he said.
“I’ve never led a race with five laps to go with Max behind me, trying to put me under pressure in these conditions.
“Maybe Max has had that a few times – he’s raced against Lewis [Hamilton] a lot and can deal with it better than I can.
“For me, it was a first, so it was about seeing how I handled it when I got there.
“I’m happy I got through it and stayed calm.
“It’s something I improved from last year.”
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