'McLaren hypocrisy will STING Piastri' - Australian Grand Prix Hot Takes

Formula 1 is back, and in some style!

Six drivers crashed out in Australia, one achieving the rare distinction of crashing out of a race before it even started.

Lando Norris started the season the way he ended 2024, winning from pole, but McLaren introduced team orders into the equation far sooner in the year than anyone expected.

READ MORE: F1 Results Today: Home town HEARTBREAK for star driver as Verstappen finally dethroned

Elsewhere, the rookie drivers struggled to stay out of the barriers, and Red Bull got away with developing a weak car after the rain played perfectly into Max Verstappen's hands.

The GPFans team give their hot takes, and brutal opinions from the 2025 Australian GP.

GPFans Australian Grand Prix Hot Takes

Matt Hobkinson - Global Lead Editor

Oscar Piastri should be furious with McLaren.

In his home race, breathing down the neck of his team-mate Lando Norris and McLaren tell him to hold positions?

Okay the fault that cost him a podium – or even a race win – will be attributed to driver error ultimately, but did the team put him under unnecessary pressure? Absolutely.

Will the hypocrisy of Zak Brown saying ‘We go racing’ sting for Piastri? You bet.

This could have been a once in a lifetime victory for the Aussie in front of an adoring crowd, but instead he is left to lick his wounds and takes home just two points.

McLaren will win the constructors’ at a canter this year, but they need to mange their driver pairing so much better if they want total and utter dominance.

Chris Deeley - Carlos Sainz Apologist

Death, taxes and the Australian Grand Prix being unnecessarily chaotic. What a way to get into the new season.

It felt like we’d have a better idea of the order of the field by the end of the weekend, but all we know is that McLaren are comfortably better than anyone else.

Don’t let the close finish fool you, on long run pace Max Verstappen’s Red Bull ate its tyres like a kid with their first Easter egg and he’s going to have to get used to the smaller steps on the podium this year.

Beyond that, though? Hell if I know. Kimi Antonelli finished fourth on the road? We didn’t get a chance to see what Carlos Sainz looked like in race trim? Ferrari absolutely screwed up their strateg—okay, yes, that one we could’ve predicted.

Oh, and Haas have given their drivers an absolute dud again. The more things change…

Sam Cook - F1 Journalist

The Australian Grand Prix once again proved why it absolutely has to kick off every season. After a few years of starting the season in Bahrain, Melbourne 2025 made us realise that it is the best option for a season opener.

The chaos that has ensued at the 2023, 2024 and now 2025 events have made it one of the most enjoyable races on the calendar, and for new F1 fans just getting into the sport, this year’s race is bound to have kept them interested beyond the first race.

It had everything. Safety cars, crashes, a variety of strategy options available for teams and some drivers skidding around in wet to dry back to wet conditions.

On-track, and this race has backed up the idea that McLaren have a supremely dominant car, we are likely to see a championship battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Both drivers were the fastest on the track in the dry and in the wet, with just one unfortunate skid in the wet costing Piastri dear at his home race. But let’s not forget that before all the chaos, the pair had pulled out a 16-second gap to the next fastest man on the track, Max Verstappen.

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Max Verstappen is going to claim the 2025 Formula 1 world title.

'But it was Lando Norris who won the first race’, I hear you cry in protest!

Well, yes technically true, but Verstappen should not have been that close to a victory, especially with the advantage McLaren held over their rivals in Melbourne - with Verstappen running 16 seconds behind the McLarens at one point.

Okay, so the wet weather conditions, multiple crashes and the safety car helped him out a bit, it is still impressive how Verstappen closed in for the win and showed once again how formidable he is in chaotic conditions.

Don't discount the champion from the title fight, and even if the team have not provided him with the best car, McLaren's team order fiasco proves that Norris and Oscar Piastri's ever increasing rivalry could be their downfall in 2025.

Which of course plays perfectly into Max Verstappen’s hands…

READ MORE: Australian Grand Prix: F1 rookie crashes on first career lap to bring out safety car