LANDO NORRIS PREDICTS SLOW START FOR LEWIS HAMILTON AT FERRARI

McLaren racing driver Lando Norris believes Lewis Hamilton will struggle to adapt in the early stages of his Ferrari career in the 2025 Formula 1 season.

The seven-time World Champion moves to the Scuderia for 2025 after 12 seasons with Mercedes.

Hamilton finished 12th in the opening Free Practice session at the Australian Grand Prix.

The British driver was off the pace as he contended with getting to grips with his new car for this season.

Meanwhile, Norris topped the timing sheets in the first session at Albert Park, showcasing McLaren’s competitiveness from last season.

The 25-year-old was pipped by the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in the second practice session, as Hamilton improved up into fifth place.

When discussing this year’s title fight, Norris explained how he feels it will take time for Hamilton to adjust at Ferrari before he gets going.

“I don’t think I’m just going to be racing against Max this year,” he told select media including Motorsport Week.

“I think it’s going to be Charles and Lewis, it’s going to be Oscar [Piastri].

“It’s going to be both Red Bull drivers and Mercedes drivers too.

“So I look forward to all of the battles, and of course, the more wars that can be on track between others, the better for us.

“But I don’t expect that to happen too much, I think Lewis will still take a little time to settle in.

“That doesn’t mean he won’t be quick from the beginning, but there’s always things in the first few races.

“Especially when you change team and you’ve been with one team for such a long time, it takes a bit of time to get going.

“But I’m sure Lewis knows what those things are, and he’ll iron them out as quickly as he can.”

Norris ready to take another crack at battling Verstappen in 2025

Norris, a four-time race winner last season, was unable to dethrone Max Verstappen in 2024, as the Dutchman sealed the title at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Colliding on several occasions, Verstappen got the best of his frenemy in the wheel-to-wheel battles.

However, Norris says he has learnt a lot from last year as to where he stands in comparison to the Red Bull driver.

“I learned a lot of things last year; I think I learned two big things,” he added.

“One was, I clearly wasn’t quite ready to deliver on everything that I needed to deliver on, from a racing point of view, and that’s just because racing against Max is a unique situation.

“You don’t get to experience it in any other way of life until you really get to that point.

“I think had it been a battle against different drivers, I don’t know if it would have been the same.

“It probably wouldn’t have been as hard, and I think that’s probably a fair assessment because I do think Max will be the hardest guy to race against.

“He’s always going to be the one who’s going to be most willing to push the limits and push the boundaries like he did.

“So I learned that aspect of Max, and I also learned where I stood in that situation, which was not at the right level.

“I learned from those things, and I think already in the last couple of races, I improved on a lot of those situations.

“But every situation is different in Formula 1 – so even if some of them happen again, it’s not always a guarantee I’ll make the right decision and Max will make the right decision, or any other driver will make the right decision.

“So it’s a tough one because you don’t make those decisions now.

“You have to make them on track half a second before it happens, and you don’t have a lot of time to think about the whole situation.

“So I’m just excited to have another crack at it and see what I can do and go up against any driver.”

- Harry Whitfield

AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX: FERNANDO ALONSO HANDED PENALTY FOR GEORGE RUSSELL CRASH

Reuters: Mark Peterson

 Fernando Alonso has been relegated to eighth in the Australian Grand Prix, after a 20-second penalty was handed to him post race.

The Spaniard crossed the line sixth at Albert Park on Sunday, but was sent to the stewards for an incident late in the race involving George Russell.

The race finished under a virtual safety car after Russell went into the barriers at turn 6, while chasing Alonso on the penultimate lap.

 The stewards investigated the incident, in which there was no contact between the cars, to see whether Alonso had slowed down earlier than usual, which resulted in Russell needing to change his driving.

Immediately after the race, Russell told media that he was much closer to Alonso going into the corner than he expected to be.

"I was half a second behind Fernando on the entry of the corner and then suddenly, before the apex, I was right on his gearbox and lost the car," he said.

The stewards decided that Alonso had changed his driving heading into turn 6 on the penultimate lap, which was described as "extraordinary" in a lengthy judgement.

"Telemetry shows that Alonso lifted slightly more than 100m earlier than he ever had going into that corner during the race," the panel said, reported F1.com.

"He also braked very slightly at a point that he did not usually brake (although the amount of brake was so slight that it was not the main reason for his car slowing) and he downshifted at a point he never usually downshifted. He then upshifted again, and accelerated to the corner before lifting again to make the corner.

"Alonso explained that while his plan was to slow earlier, he got it slightly wrong and had to take extra steps to get back up to speed. Nonetheless, this manoeuvre created a considerable and unusual closing speed between the cars.

"In considering the matter the stewards focused solely on the wording of the regulation which states: 'At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person'.

"Specifically, in this case, the stewards have not considered the consequences of the crash. Further, the stewards considered that they do not have sufficient information to determine whether Alonso's manoeuvre was intended to cause Russell problems, or whether as he stated to the stewards that he simply was trying to get a better exit.

"Should Alonso have the right to try a different approach to the corner? Yes. Should Alonso be responsible for dirty air, that ultimately caused the incident? No.

George Russell crashed out on the penultimate lap of the race.(Getty Images: Joe Portlock/Formula 1)

"However, did he choose to do something, with whatever intent, that was extraordinary, i.e. lifting, braking, downshifting and all the other elements of the manoeuvre over 100m earlier than previously, and much greater than was needed to simply slow earlier for the corner? Yes, by his own account of the incident he did.

"In the opinion of the stewards by doing these things, he drove in a manner that was at very least 'potentially dangerous' given the very high speed nature of that point of the track.

The 20-second time penalty demoted Alonso from sixth to eighth.

His Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll was promoted to sixth, while RB driver Yuki Tsunoda was promoted to seventh.

- Michael Doyle

MERCEDES BOSS TOTO WOLFF SAYS THERE IS NO HOPE OF CATCHING RED BULL

 Mercedes endured their worst qualifying session of the season at the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday, leaving seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton crushed and team boss Toto Wolff seeing no hope of catching Red Bull in the short term.

Hamilton was eliminated in Q2 to qualify 11th, his worst result at Albert Park since 2010, while George Russell qualified seventh for Sunday's race as the team's hopes of rebounding in Melbourne suffered a major blow.

Russell's fastest lap in Q3 was a gaping eight-tenths of a second shy of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen's best, the Dutchman taking his third pole of the season and fourth in succession.

Briton Hamilton said there was a shopping list of problems with his car, while Wolff gave a gloomy assessment of their situation.

"I think we have a car that's difficult and you can be narrowly in and out of the window," Wolff said. "It's the whole interaction of aerodynamics and mechanical and the tyres. It's never a single topic.

"But we are going to just keep our heads down and push through this. I think it's an illusion to go closer to Red Bull in the short term but I still have to believe that there is more in this car."

The day had started brightly for Mercedes, with Hamilton fourth quickest, and within a 10th of a second of Ferrari's pace-setter Charles Leclerc, in the final practice session. But the bubble burst in qualifying.

Hamilton said his car's inconsistency "messes with the mind.

"I think our car is on a bit of a knife edge," he said. "This morning was nice with a calmer wind and then as soon as the wind picks up it gets a little bit less stable.

"I'm not sure why but it didn't feel the same in qualifying even though we had lighter fuel. It felt better in P3 [final practice] so it's not a great feeling."

Russell was happier with his car but gave a dim preview of Mercedes' chances on Sunday.

"We will be in a much better place tomorrow when we have more fuel in the car and the pace is a little slower from everybody," he said.

"But this circuit is not playing to our strengths."

- Reuters