Current form
McLaren were seen by many as the favourites entering into 2025, the Woking-based outfit having ended the last campaign with their first Teams’ Championship in 26 years. And while the likes of Lando Norris played this down, the squad certainly looked strong at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri secured a front row lockout for Sunday’s race, with polesitter Norris going on to master the changing weather conditions en route to victory – which also made the Briton the first driver other than Max Verstappen to lead the World Championship standings since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.
READ MORE: 5 Winners and 5 Losers from Australia – Who started their season in style?
Just days on from his win, Norris will be keen to continue this form in Shanghai – while Piastri will hope to bounce back after sliding onto the grass when the rain fell in Melbourne, dropping down the order from P2 before eventually salvaging P9.
Verstappen, meanwhile, led Red Bull’s charge to second place in Australia, a result that he hailed as a “decent starting point” for the outfit as he looks to defend his Drivers’ title.
Tied at the top of the Teams’ standings with McLaren are Mercedes, the Silver Arrows having claimed P3 and P4 with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli respectively. It was a positive start for the squad, leading Russell to declare that they “seemed a step ahead of Ferrari”.
Indeed, it was perhaps not the first weekend as a Scuderia driver that Lewis Hamilton had hoped for, with the seven-time World Champion ending the day down in P10 while team mate Charles Leclerc took P8. The Italian outfit are now “on the back foot”, according to Leclerc, after their pace struggles.
Elsewhere, Williams caught the eye with a strong weekend in Australia, Racing Bulls were unable to deliver on the promise they had displayed earlier on and Haas were faced with the “unwelcome surprise” of being at the back of the field – while several of the rookies will have a point to prove in China after struggling in the tricky weather conditions last weekend.
With only one Grand Prix of a 24-round calendar complete, one thing for certain is that there are plenty of twists and turns still to come in what looks set to be an exciting season ahead.
