Australian Grand Prix;Liam Lawson opens up on replacing Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren pre-season testing, Melbourne weather forecast, rain predictor

Ahead of first race in a full-time seat for Red Bull, Liam Lawson has revealed an incredibly classy gesture from a driver he once replaced, Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo.

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The New Zealander has taken Sergio Perez’s place as reigning world champion Max Verstappen’s teammate this season after last season replacing Riccardo full-time on the secondary RB team, now called Racing Bulls, for the final six races of the season after the Australian was axed following the Singapore Grand Prix.

The promotion was a big show of faith in the 23-year-old from the Red Bull hierarchy, and in a recent interview with GQ he revealed that the entire saga was an “emotional rollercoaster” for him, but it was helped by Riccardo maintaining his class throughout.

“The possibility of anything in this sport slips away, all the time,” Lawson said.

“Last year was an emotional rollercoaster. You obviously never wish for somebody’s downfall, but I knew that the only way I was going to get a seat was to replace somebody. So, watching the season was brutal. There would be races where a seat seemed closer and then it would go away again, just like that.

“In the meantime, Red Bull was testing me and I was trying to nail every single opportunity that they gave me. It wasn’t an enjoyable experience.

“I actually spoke to Daniel a lot when it was happening,” Lawson added.

“I will always have so much respect for him. Throughout the whole ordeal, from when the rumours started to when they were confirmed, he never said a bad word about or towards me. He never made it about me and him, because at the end of the day, it wasn’t our decision. It’s up to the team, and what they decide to do. He was so good to me, through all of it.

“Fast forward to December, when I got the Red Bull seat, and Daniel is still the only driver, past or present, to send me a message about it, congratulating me. It says a lot about him as a person.”

– Norris tips McLaren to be “tied” with big rivals –

Lando Norris has shared that he does not expect McLaren to be a “big step” ahead of their fiercest rivals when the season begins in Melbourne this weekend.

The reigning constructors champions have changed the car Brit Norris and Australian Oscar Piastri drove last season to a new MCL39 challenger, and during pre-season testing in Bahrain, Norris flagged that there was still improvements to be made.

“It feels similar, which is a good start – that’s where we want it to start, at least,” he said.

“Nothing has been majorly addressed. It’s not like that much has changed from what we’ve tried to do.

“We’ve just tried to make the car quicker all round and add more load – that’s the most simple way of looking at it, honestly.

“We still want to try and focus on some areas more than others. We’ve struggled a bit more with the rear than what we would have liked [during the first two days of testing].

“But it’s all early days, we’re not looking at absolute outright performance – if we went into qualifying now, I’m sure we would change some things.”

McLaren have been slow starters to the season in recent years, and Norris addressed this as a clear focus of the team is to stay with the pack in the early stanzas of 2025.

“I think if we want to improve anything at the minute, it’s still the rear of the car,” the 25-year-old said. “The more you can improve the rear, the more everything just gets better, but the rest of it feels correct and it feels like it’s in the same ballpark.

“I don’t think we’re expecting to be a big step ahead of anyone – we’re expecting to be tied alongside the guys to my right [Red Bull and Ferrari]. But if we’re just there fighting from the beginning, that’s our target.

“Considering how the last few years have been, if we can just be there fighting from the off, then we’ll be happy.”

– Rainy race day throws spanner in the works –

The Albert Park track is set to be baked in sunshine with temperatures expected to reach 35 degrees during practice and qualifying, but race day itself could be a different story with the Melbourne weather forecast not playing ball.

Up to 8mm of rain is predicted with an 80% chance of rain forecast for the afternoon making it likely the opening race of the season will be contested in slippery conditions.

The race begins at 3pm making it increasingly likely that the cool change coming through will make the race the only time the track gets wet all weekend.