Lando Norris matches two Lewis Hamilton feats with Australian GP win
The incredible stats behind Lando Norris's victory at the F1 Australian Grand Prix.
Lando Norris’s victory at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix not only kicked off his F1 title bid in perfect fashion, but it also set some fascinating milestones.
Norris’s masterful drive to beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in treacherous conditions in Melbourne marked his fifth career win since making his F1 debut back in 2019.
In winning the F1 2025 curtain-raiser, Norris has become the first McLaren driver to lead the world championship since Lewis Hamilton after the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old Briton has also ended Verstappen’s 1,029 day, or 63-race, streak continuously leading the drivers’ standings - which stretched back to the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.
It is also the first time in his F1 career that Norris has won consecutive races, following on from his victory at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
By doing so, he has also became the first driver other than Verstappen to win consecutive F1 races since Hamilton in 2021 (Brazil, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia).
Norris admits he and McLaren are favourites
Having previously downplayed McLaren’s pre-season championship favourites tag, Norris has now conceded that they are the team to beat following his convincing victory in Australia.
“Max was three-tenths off yesterday,” Norris said after Sunday’s race. “Last year, we were much further off [but] ended up with the best car by the end of the season.
“We were over half a second off at the beginning of last year behind Red Bull and ended up with the quickest car.
“I know George made some comments earlier this weekend that we can just turn our focus to 2026. If that’s their mentality, wonderful, but that’s not the mentality to have.
“We know we still have a lot of work to do on this year’s car. If you relax in this position, you fail. In Formula 1, if you start thinking things are good and groovy, that’s when you get caught.”
Norris added: “I do think we’re favourites because the team has done an amazing job and the car is flying. But we will have races where we struggle.
“If we started the season in Bahrain, I don’t think we would have won, and [I wouldn’t be asked] this question. Let’s allow a few more races to take place before making any obvious statements.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
