By winning the 2025 Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit, McLaren's Lando Norris finds himself leading the world championship standings by seven points over four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who finished in second place.
Verstappen had led the standings for nearly three years straight, by far an all-time Formula 1 record. With his third straight win at the time, he took the lead from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya back in May 2022. The Spanish Grand Prix was race number six of the 22-race 2022 season.
The Dutchman went on to win the 2022 title with 15 wins, and he opened up the 2023 season with a victory before going on to win the title for the third year in a row, this time with 19 wins. Though he only won nine races in 2024, he won the season opener and again never relinquished the points lead.
From the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix through the 2024 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Verstappen racked up 40 wins.
In total, the 27-year-old had led the standings after 63 consecutive races, including the final 17 races of the 2022 season, the entire 22-race 2023 season, and the entire 24-race 2024 season, heading into the 2025 season.
But now that streak has come to an end, with Norris finishing just 0.895 seconds ahead of him in Australia on Sunday.
The race between the two was a lot closer than many expected, given McLaren's pace in the dry. But multiple safety car periods, plus two late mistakes by Norris in the rain, allowed Verstappen to get into DRS range over the race's final few laps, and he closed to within 0.2 seconds of his rival at one point.
In fact, had it not been for Red Bull's call to keep Verstappen out for an extra lap on medium tires, we could have been looking at another "upset" victory for the four-time champion in the rain, similar to what we saw last year in Brazil when he drove from 17th to first place.
Race number two of the 2025 Formula 1 season is scheduled to take place at Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday, March 23. Live coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix is set to be provided by ESPN starting at 2:55 a.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and be sure to catch all of the action!