1. Lando Norris-

Lando Norris dominated the weekend in his McLaren. He withstood the pressure from his teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to win and take the championship lead. What was really impressive regarding Lando’s weekend was how confident he seemed. In interviews, he just seemed to have a certain spark of determination that projected that he knows he can win this championship. He may have made a couple small mistakes along the way, but in contrast to situations that occurred last year, they were not race losing mistakes.

2. Max Verstappen-

Verstappen continued to prove his relentlessness, even when provided with inferior machinery. He was the only driver that meaningfully challenged the McLarens and he came within a second of winning the race. This was mostly due to the late race safety car, but nevertheless, Verstappen reminded everyone that he can never be counted out of a race win, even in a Red Bull that was at times a second a lap slower than the McLaren.

3. Andrea Kimi Antonelli-

Whilst damage to his Mercedes during qualifying led to Kimi starting in sixteenth, he proved his doubters wrong on race day. Kimi made fantastic moves throughout the field on a track where it’s incredibly difficult to overtake, with his late race overtake on Alex Albon being a personal highlight. He did have a spin along the way but quickly recovered to finish fourth on his debut. This was a fantastic result and justifies the hype surrounding Kimi, he truly is a top-level talent.

4. Alexander Albon-

After everyone hyped new Williams signing Carlos Sainz, it was teammate Albon who shined in Australia. He outqualified Sainz and was running in seventh during the opening stint, whilst Sainz had crashed out on lap one under the safety car. Seventh place would have been a great result for Williams, but it became even better when the team called the switch to intermediate tyres perfectly, allowing Alex to move into fourth. This became fifth when Kimi overtook him, but was still Alex’s best finish for the Williams team since he joined in 2022.

5. Yuki Tsunoda-

Yuki really should have finished the race in the top five. He had a superb qualifying, putting his car in fifth on the grid. Running ahead of Albon during the opening stint, all the Racing Bulls team needed to do was to pit Yuki at the right time for intermediate tyres. Unfortunately, they didn’t, and Yuki finished the race in twelfth. But that isn’t representative of his drive, as Yuki was outstanding all weekend.

Tally:

1. Lando Norris- 1
2. Max Verstappen- 1
3. Andrea Kimi Antonelli- 1
4. Alexander Albon- 1
5. Yuki Tsunoda- 1