Lando Norris mastered treacherous, changing conditions in a dramatic, incident-packed race to beat Max Verstappen and win the Australian Grand Prix. Norris and his McLaren team made the right calls in a race punctuated by crashes, three safety cars and an aborted start. Norris was forced to fend off a late threat from Verstappen while Mercedes’ George Russell finished third ahead of his rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli.
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Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made it a McLaren one-two in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton took eighth on his Ferrari debut. Norris and Piastri made life difficult for themselves with mistakes on their first laps in the final part of qualifying, but both produced strong laps on their final runs. Briton Norris beat Australian Piastri by 0.084 seconds as both knocked early pace-setter Max Verstappen’s Red Bull down to third in Melbourne.
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The Renault-owned Alpine team will use Mercedes engines in Formula 1 from the 2026 season. The deal, which follows the decision in September to end Renault’s own engine programme in 2025, runs until at least the end of 2030. Alpine will also use Mercedes-supplied gearboxes from 2026, although the team are exploring their options to design these in-house from 2027.
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Brazilian racer Gabriel Bortoleto will make his Formula 1 debut in 2025 after signing a multi-year deal with Sauber/Audi, with the team earlier confirming they were parting ways with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. Bortoleto fended off competition from incumbent and 10-time race winner Bottas to secure the seat alongside Nico Hulkenberg in an all-new line-up for the Hinwil-based team next season and in 2026 when the team become Audi’s works squad.
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