Norris holds off Verstappen to win rain-hit Australian GP

Lando Norris kept his cool in a rain-hit and incident-packed season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday to edge world champion Max Verstappen with Lewis Hamilton 10th on his Ferrari debut.

- Agence France-Presse

MELBOURNE: The pole-sitting Briton took the chequered flag by less than a second from the Dutchman, with Mercedes' George Russell third after a chaotic race in Melbourne that saw three drivers crash before the end of the first lap.

With the safety car repeatedly forced into action after a slew of accidents on the wet Albert Park circuit, Norris held on to clock a fifth grand prix win and second in a row after topping the podium at the final race of 2024 in Abu Dhabi.

RB rookie Isack Hadjar, Alpine's Jack Doohan and Williams' Carlos Sainz — last year's winner — all failed to finish the first lap on a track made treacherous by earlier torrential rain.