Norris and his McLaren team made the right calls in a race punctuated by crashes, three safety cars and an aborted start as the Briton put together a statement drive at the start of a season he intends to end as world champion.

Norris was forced to fend off a late threat from Verstappen, brought back into contention by a late safety car, but held on to take his fifth career victory.

Lewis Hamilton, making his debut for Ferrari, finished 10th on a difficult day for the team, with George Russell third for Mercedes in Melbourne.

Seven-time champion Hamilton was leading on lap 46 but only because Ferrari had made the wrong decision to stay out on dry-weather slick tyres as a heavy shower hit the track.

He and team-mate Charles Leclerc then had to pit as a safety car was sent out for the final time following a series of crashes and dropped to the bottom of the top 10.

To add insult to injury, Hamilton was overtaken by Leclerc on the final restart, as the Monegasque sought to recover from a spin at Turn 11 under the safety car that cost him four positions, the Ferraris touching wheels lightly in the incident.

Hamilton then lost a further place as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri fought back from a spin that had cost him second place in the late rain.

Mercedes’ 18-year-old Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli came through the field from 16th on the grid to fourth with Williams’ Alex Albon fifth.

Antonelli finished fourth on the road but was initially demoted a place for an unsafe release in the pits. However, that penalty was later overturned by the stewards on appeal.

McLaren acknowledged a concern that Verstappen would be a major threat, so good is he so often in wet conditions, but Norris and Piastri controlled the race from the start and were able to leave the four-time champion behind them for much of the race as chaos unfolded behind them.

The drama began even before the race officially started, when rookie Isack Hadjar spun his Racing Bull car at Turn Two on the formation lap. The Frenchman stood with his head in his hands, apparently crying, before returning to the pits.

After a 15-minute delay, the race finally got under way, only for another rookie, Australian Jack Doohan, to crash his Alpine on the straight between Turns Four and Six and bring out the safety car.

Underlining the difficulty of the conditions, Carlos Sainz immediately crashed his Williams at the final corner as well.

When the race finally got properly under way, Norris led but Verstappen passed Piastri to run second, only to lose the position when he ran wide at Turn 11 on lap 17, gifting McLaren a one-two.

The McLarens first stablished their position and then, as they looked after their intermediate tyres more effectively than the Red Bull, built a lead running nose to tail. They pulled 16 seconds on Verstappen by the time the safety car came out for a second time following a crash by Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin at Turn Six on lap 33, just after half distance.

The leaders pitted for slick tyres but there was fresh jeopardy as they waited for the restart – a rain shower was coming in, and the teams could see that it would bring heavy rain for a short period, but long enough to require a tyre change.

Norris was keen to pre-empt the conditions and stop for treaded intermediate tyres early, but was warned that they had to be on the right tyres at the right time.

When the rain came on lap 44, with 13 to go, it brought pandemonium.

Both McLaren drivers spun at the penultimate corner. Norris was able to rejoin and dive into the pits for intermediate tyres, but Piastri was stuck on the grass. There was a degree of black comedy as he sat on the grass, his tyres spinning furiously, before finally managing to reverse back on to the track.

Verstappen stayed out and took the lead for two laps, but as the rain intensified, he eventually had to admit defeat and stop.

This was when Ferrari made their fateful error, leaving Hamilton and Leclerc out, to assume first and second places, only to immediately lose them as they scrabbled for grip for a lap and had to pit anyway.

Liam Lawson then crashed his Red Bull, a disappointing end to a difficult first race for the senior team, and Gabriel Bortoleto blotted an otherwise strong start to his career for Sauber, and the safety car was deployed again.

When the race restarted with five laps to go, Norris initially made a third consecutive excellent restart and built a lead over Verstappen.

But when he ran a little wide at Turn Six, he allowed Verstappen to close within a second and gain the use of the DRS overtaking aid, giving Norris a nervous final couple of laps.

But he held on calmly as Russell followed Verstappen over the line to take the final podium position.

Lance Stroll made up for Alonso’s error to take sixth for Aston Martin, ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, Leclerc, Piastri and Hamilton.

The silver W196 R Stromlinienwagen was driven by Argentina’s five-time F1 champion Fangio as he won the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix.

Britain’s Moss piloted the car at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza the same year, setting the fastest lap at an average speed of 134mph before retiring.

The Silver Arrow was sold by RM Sotheby’s at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, Germany, on behalf of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), and becomes the most expensive grand prix car ever sold.

The previous record was held by another ex-Fangio Mercedes W196 from 1954 that went for £19.6m after commission and taxes at Goodwood in 2013.

The W196 R, one of only four in existence, had an estimated price of more than €50m with the final hammer going down at €46.5m. A buyer’s premium is included in the final price.

That makes it the second most valuable car to change hands at auction, behind a 1955 Mercedes 300SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe sportscar that sold for €135m (£113m) in May 2022.

“It’s a beautiful car, it’s a very historic car, it’s just a little bit outside our scope window,” said IMS curator Jason Vansickle.

Attention now turns to the 2025 campaign, the 75th anniversary of the Formula 1 World Championship, where big names are moving to rival teams and exciting rookies are joining the grid.

The news that Lewis Hamilton had signed a multi-year deal with Ferrari was released before the 2024 season had even begun, so the excitement levels for finally seeing the seven-time world champion in red are sky-high.

After 12 years and six individual titles with Mercedes, Hamilton – who turns 40 in January – is leaving to partner Charles Leclerc at the Italian team.

The first glimpse of Hamilton driving for Ferrari will be at pre-season testing in Bahrain from 26-28 February, before the 2025 season opener in Australia from 14-16 March.

In June, Sergio Perez signed a new two-year deal to stay at Red Bull until the end of 2026, but that hasn’t stopped speculation about his future.

The Mexican ended the campaign eighth in the drivers’ championship – 285 points behind team-mate and champion Max Verstappen.

Team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports on the grid before the finale they would “sit down this week and reflect on the season”.

Rumours have suggested either Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson could take Perez’s seat at Red Bull, with reserve driver Isack Hadjar making the step up from F2 to RB.

Oliver Bearman gets a full-time seat next year after impressively stepping in for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia, and for Kevin Magnussen twice at Haas – the team he is joining.

The 19-year-old scored seven points in his three appearances in 2024 and will become the fourth British driver on the grid along with Hamilton, George Russell and Lando Norris in 2025.

Mercedes have opted to go down the rookie route by naming 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli as the driver to replace the departing Hamilton. The Italian has been promoted after just one season in Formula 2.

Also joining the grid is 21-year-old Australian Jack Doohan – son of five-time MotoGP world champion Mick Doohan – who made his debut for Alpine at the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi. Brazilian F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, 20, has been signed by Sauber in their final season before becoming Audi.

With Hamilton incoming – and Leclerc securing a lengthy contract extension in January – Carlos Sainz was left searching for a new home after four seasons with Ferrari.

The Spaniard secured all four of his career victories with the Scuderia, including two this year in Australia and Mexico. But with Mercedes snapping up Antonelli, and Red Bull initially deciding to stick with Perez until the end of 2026, his options for a spot with a top team were limited.

Ultimately, a very persuasive James Vowles convinced Sainz to switch to Williams – a challenge the 30-year-old says he will “embrace with excitement and positivity”.

Fans can look forward to another 24-race calendar, although there are a couple of fresh things to look out for in 2025.

Australia returns to its traditional position as the first grand prix of the new season, while Bahrain and Saudi Arabia move to an April slot because of the timing of the holy month of Ramadan.

The nine-month campaign finishes in Abu Dhabi on 7 December.

Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium will host its first sprint race since 2023, joining Shanghai, Miami, Austin, Sao Paulo and Qatar as part of the six events for next year.

The Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort will stage its penultimate race, with the event dropping off the calendar after 2026.

As this is a milestone year for Formula 1, the entire grid will be coming together for a special two-hour season launch event on 18 February.

Fans will gather at the O2 Arena in London from 20:00 GMT to watch all 10 teams show off their 2025 liveries together – a change from the usual individual unveilings.

How much of the newly developed cars we will get to see other than the liveries, however, remains a bit of a mystery.

With McLaren eyeing its first Formula 1 constructors’ title in 26 years and George Russell close behind for Mercedes, Norris was told by the team over the radio to “finish in this order”, ahead of Piastri.

He chose to gift his teammate the win anyway, easing off to the right on the exit of the final corner and then swooping back across in front of Russell, who finished third.

“The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it and we did,” Norris said. “Honestly, I don’t mind. I’m not here to win sprint races. I’m here to win races and the championship, but that’s not gone to plan.”

Norris was paying Piastri back for doing the same in the sprint race in Brazil when Norris was still fighting Verstappen for the driver’s title.

“I made my mind up in Brazil when it happened,” Norris said. “I needed to do something to give it back.”

Piastri said he had not expected Norris to take the risk. “I was aware it could happen. I was a bit surprised that with George half a second [away], it did,” Piastri said. “It just shows off our teamwork and the lack of egos within the team.”

It continues a season where McLaren’s race tactics have often been a talking point, such as when Norris and Piastri swapped for the lead in Hungary after a lengthy and often awkward radio exchange with the team.

On Saturday, Norris started in pole position and kept the lead at the start as Piastri squeezed past Russell for second. As Russell repeatedly attacked Piastri, Norris dropped back instead of building a lead. That put Piastri within one second of Norris, allowing the Australian to use the DRS overtaking aid for extra speed.

Russell said he found the McLaren teamwork “pretty infuriating” while stuck behind Piastri and also objected to what he saw as late moves from Piastri to defend the position.

“Hopefully, we can have a proper race [on Sunday] rather than this team orders stuff,” Russell said.

The F1 champion was not much of a factor in the sprint but he returned to form in qualifying, taking pole for Sunday’s race from Russell by just .055 of a second on his last run.

It is his first pole since the Austrian Grand Prix in June, after McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes all put pressure on the previously dominant Red Bull team in the second half of the season.

“Crazy. I mean, honestly, I didn’t expect that,” Verstappen said. “We did change a bit on the car but I never thought it would make such a swing in performance.”

Norris was .252 off the pace and lines up third, with Piastri fourth, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr.

McLaren increased its lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ championship to 30 points, and has both of its drivers ahead of the Ferraris on the grid.

Teams can earn a maximum 88 more points from the Grand Prix in Qatar and next week’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Red Bull dropped to 67 points behind McLaren in the standings as Verstappen – crowned the drivers’ champion for the fourth time last week in Las Vegas – finished eighth and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was last after a pit stop to change his car’s nose.