MAXIM Does Melbourne

The Australian Grand Prix officially reclaimed its rightful place as the F1 season opener this year and we were inside the paddock to take you behind the scenes of all the drama on and off the track...

- REILLY SULLIVAN

The 2025 Formula One season opened not with a bang but a roar at Albert Park as the F1 circus descended on Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. This year's race marked the first time the season has begun in Australia since 2019 and represented a major changing of the guard as the 2025 rookies made their debuts. Haas driver Esteban Ocon welcomed the "historical" return of Albert Park as the season opener after several underwhelming openers in Bahrain.

"When I used to watch F1 when I was younger, it always used to be Albert Park as the first race," he told MAXIM. "It's been very different obviously to have been Bahrain in the last couple of years but it's good to be here, it's a fantastic atmosphere and the city really turns into a racing environment. There's a lot of support from day one when you land to every time when you come here in Melbourne it is special." Kiwi driver Liam Lawson feels that the Australian Grand Prix is like a de facto home race. “It's as close as I'm going to get to a home race right now," he explained. "I've seen a lot of New Zealand flags which is pretty cool".

This season will likely be remembered as one of the biggest shake ups to the grid in recent memory, with no less than six rookies making their full-season debut at Albert Park. The class of 2025 includes Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes, Isaak Hadjar at Racing Bulls, Aussie Jack Doohan at Alpine, Oliver Bearman at Haas, Gabriel Bortoleto at Sauber and Liam Lawson at Red Bull. Antonelli has insisted that he was not named after former world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who happened to win the championship shortly after Antonelli was born. “Bullshit,” one British motorsport journalist sneered in the media room.