Australian Grand Prix: Teams and Drivers report on Sunday

But what of the other teams that did not feature on the podium of the 2025 Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

This is what they had to say.

Charles Leclerc: "It was a tough race and there are things we have to review and work on. We weren’t the fastest out there, but in such weather conditions, there was a chance of scoring some big points, which we didn’t capitalise on today. I lost a few positions after the spin at Turn 11. In the end, it wasn’t that bad with the Safety Car that came out later on, but then we stopped a lap too late to switch to Inters, losing positions again. There are two things we have to look into. The first is easy—it was my mistake. The second is something we will sort out as a team, looking into our decisions and making sure we make the right call if the situation comes up again. It’s a continuous process of improvement. We are disappointed, but it’s good to know we’ll be back in the car in just a few days in China to give it another go."

Lewis Hamilton: "Not the start we wanted, but there’s lots to take away and work on from this one. The start was okay, but I lost momentum out of Turn 1 on the outside of Charles and got stuck behind Albon for most of the race. The rain always mixes things up, and strategy comes down to timing and a bit of luck. We took a gamble and made up places, but then boxing too late for Inters cost us, dropping us to the back of the top 10 with too much ground to recover. I struggled with the balance, but it was an important race for learning more about the car in different weather conditions, as well as gaining more experience working with a new team. McLaren and Red Bull had serious pace, so there’s work to do, but we’ll dig deep. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car next weekend in China."

Fred Vasseur – Team Principal: "We can’t be happy with today’s result as it doesn’t match the potential of our car, and that means, as a team, we didn’t do a good job. Charles got a good start, and Lewis was also fighting to move up the order. Then, when the rain returned, we took the risk of staying out, as indeed did Max (Verstappen). But then we got our next strategy move wrong by staying out one lap too long, and we paid the price. As for positives from the weekend, we had strong pace on Friday in both qualifying and race trim, matching Mercedes and Red Bull, just a bit behind McLaren. It’s also good that in a few days we will be back on track, which means that very soon we will be able to evaluate our potential once again. It’s a very long season, and we just have to continue to work hard."

Pierre Gasly: "After such a tough race in really challenging conditions, it is definitely a disappointing feeling to leave without scoring points. It was a lottery out there and I felt like we did well to stay in the mix for the majority of the race. The rain shower at the end ultimately decided things with some drivers benefitting from pitting earlier and others, like us, taking a gamble to go a lap or two later. That is the way it goes sometimes. I am pleased with the competitiveness of our overall package. We have shown we have strong pace and I am confident going into next weekend in China, so we'll focus on the positives as a team and move on. Those conditions were really tough even for the most experienced drivers on the grid with such lack of grip. Jack has done a great job all weekend. He was really thrown into the deep end with those conditions and I know we are both determined to be back next week doing the best job possible and hopefully compete again for points."

Jack Doohan: "It was an unfortunate end to an overall positive weekend. It was the result of a combination of factors which we will go over together as a team to learn from and ensure it does not happen again. It is a tough way to learn but I have digested what happened and put it behind me to focus on what is ahead. The positive learnings from the weekend outweigh the outcome from today, we were strong yesterday afternoon but caught out with the yellow flag. All the weekend the pace has been there so as a team we can take confidence going into every race weekend. We have back-to-back races with Shanghai coming up next week, so we will regroup as a team and aim to come back even stronger there. Overall, the weekend has been great, the fans have been amazing, the atmosphere was incredible, and to have the opportunity to drive in front of a home crowd for my season debut has been special."

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal: "It's easy to come away from a race like today feeling disappointed. There are definitely some positives to take from the weekend. We showed that we're firmly in the midfield fight and, with how close the field is, it will no doubt fluctuate at different circuits across the season. The conditions were incredibly tricky out there today with a lot of incidents. Pierre was running a strong race until near the end when the conditions changed and missed out on the points. For Jack it's obviously not how he wanted his race to end, but he has shown positive pace across the entire weekend. With a double-header to kick off the season, our attention now turns to China where we'll look to regroup and improve on this weekend's result."

Alex Albon: "I'm really happy. It was such a crazy race, I'm still trying to get my head around it! It's fantastic for the team - a P5 is very special and may not come around many times this year. Our strategist did an amazing job. Honestly, it was so difficult out there; these conditions are typically what we hate and, despite all of that, we were still one of the strongest midfield runners out there. Points like today mean a lot and I'm positive about what's to come. We're a very bonded team, it was great to have Carlos helping on the pit wall too. This is for everyone at Grove, for all their work."

Carlos Sainz: "First of all, a massive congratulations to Alex and the team; he did a great job and started off our season on the right foot. For me, we've looked at the data and could quickly spot what happened, so this leaves me calmer about the situation. Without going into details, it's related to the upshifts when in Safety Car Mode. I'm obviously frustrated about it and feel sorry for everyone in the team. I spent the rest of the race trying to help on the radio and I'm happy I could at least participate in that way. Thankfully China is already next weekend and I can't wait to jump back in the car."

James Vowles, Team Principal: "What an incredible feeling! We reflect on where we were twelve months ago and it's just a world of difference. Well done to Alex – a solid drive from start to finish, defending against really great drivers behind him and didn't put a foot wrong. In the case of Carlos, it was tricky conditions out there, but we can see that as he did an upshift at a difficult time, on a difficult part of the track, the car spun. We need to look at that all together as clearly, we could have two cars in the points today. I'm unbelievably proud of this team and I can't wait to get to Shanghai in just a few days. I'm looking forward to what we can do across the remainder of the season."

Yuki Tsunoda: "The timing of the pit didn't go our way today, it was too late and suddenly I dropped to P11 after the Safety Car. The pace was there and we didn't make many mistakes, until the last bit of rain. I did what I can, I was pretty happy with how my performance was. We'll definitely revise what happened and learn from this for the future. We need to make sure we're not making the same mistakes, especially with the field being so tight this year, every single point is very important. It's not ideal, but we can take a lot of positives from this weekend; we had pace and if we can maximise performance, we can have a good race weekend, we'll just have to keep performing like this and come back strong."

Isack Hadjar: "I feel embarrassed today, and I can only learn from my mistake and apologise to the team. There were tricky conditions out there, and from the installation laps, I felt very low grip and poor confidence. In the formation lap, I tried to prepare the tyres as much as I could, but unfortunately, I had a spin and the car was unsavable; I just felt like a passenger before hitting the wall. Now I look ahead to be ready to race in China next week."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal: "A disappointing outcome to what had been a very strong weekend up until the race itself. Lining up P5 and P11 on the grid was a reward for all the hard work over the winter. Overall, both drivers did an incredible job, with Yuki having made a further step forward and Isack taking an approach that could not be faulted. It's clear the field is even more closely matched than last year, but we are definitely in the fight.

"As for the race, Yuki was performing very strongly until the rain returned. There is nowhere to hide, we got our last call wrong, and it cost us very dearly today. For this we apologise to Yuki; the gamble to keep him out didn't pay off but it's part of the harshness of motorsport. There is only one way to improve, by working harder together as a team and to come back stronger. As for Isack, he will learn from this and turn his frustration into good energy for the next race. We will be here to support him over the next few days before Shanghai and not let this cloud all the positives we can take from this weekend."

Ollie Bearman: "The aim of today was to get the laps in and collect data. I'm quite happy with my performance, I felt like I executed things well. There are a few things where we lost a bit of time, but when you're not fighting for points it's the time to try things, and it just didn't work this time – now on to China."

Esteban Ocon: "It's really the performance we missed out on this race, if we had a little bit more we would've been in the mix for points. The cars were fighting in front and I was just there, there was no position for me to get inside the top 10, I just couldn't keep up unfortunately. We need to give it a good look – it's not what we've seen, so it's quite unexpected to be where we are this weekend – but I'm sure we'll turn it around."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "With the car issues we've been having this week, we know it was going to be difficult, but it was really important to finish with both cars. We needed to gather as much data as possible as well as collect driver feedback, and with new team members in engineering, it was a tough race to operate. I'm very happy however that the new engineering team members did a really good job. Obviously on the operational side, there's room for improvement, but I'm happy that we're working together well. With the data and feedback we've got after today, that will help us make decisions on how to improve the VF-25 in the near future."

Lance Stroll: "That was a super tricky race, so it's good to come away with some big points for the team. I'm happy with that, for sure. We knew from the start that it was about staying on track and being on the right tyre at the right time, and we did that today. It's always a real balance of risk versus reward in these changing conditions. You've got to stay clean and consistent. The team made a great call bringing me in for the Intermediate tyres towards the end of the race. They were across the forecast and we made up positions because of it. The car still isn't where we want it to be – we've got to keep pushing for improvements – but that makes it even more important to make the most of opportunities like we did today."

Fernando Alonso: "It was a challenging race today with the wet conditions and I was a little unlucky in the end. I was battling inside the top 10 and felt like I was in the mix with others around me. I drove the same line at Turn Six, but there was some gravel there which caused me to lose control. There are some weaknesses in the car that we need to tackle, but if we execute a good weekend then it looks like we can score points this season. We get to have another go next week in China."

Andy Cowell, CEO & Team Principal: "Eight points for Lance is a great way to start our season. Conditions were incredibly challenging for everyone, but he delivered an excellent race to navigate his way to sixth place [from P13]. He maximised every opportunity and did not put a wheel out of place all race. Our strategy calls from the pit wall were strong and it was a great team performance. We had a solid opportunity to score with both cars today, but Fernando was unlucky with some gravel on the exit of Turn Six sending him into the wall on lap 33. This result gives us a nice boost as we head to China, but it's clear we need to work hard to improve the car for the long season ahead of us."

Nico Hulkenberg: “That's an absolutely positive result for the team. It definitely puts a smile on my face. We didn't see that coming yesterday after our qualifying performance. Under the challenging conditions today, we didn't make any mistakes and had a couple of good strategy calls. It was very difficult to keep that car on track and read the conditions. Street circuits under these circumstances are very unforgiving. You are constantly on the edge. On the intermediate tires in the first half of the race I was struggling quite a bit. It was a matter of just staying in the race and waiting for our opportunity. The safety car then obviously put us back in the race for the points, when it started to rain towards the end. We managed to pit exactly in the right moment ahead of others. Sometimes you got to be lucky. With others having some trouble, we stayed clean and rewarded ourselves with this nice six points. I would like to thank the entire team for the hard work to make that happen.”

Gabriel Bortoleto: "Unfortunately, the race didn’t end as we had hoped – which is a shame, as things were going quite well for me up until that moment. Once the Safety Car period ended, I found myself at the very back, tried to recover, but touched the kerb and ultimately ended up in the wall. We knew anything could happen in conditions like these; we gave it everything but pushed a little too hard. On the other hand, I’m happy for Nico and the team for scoring points today: he did an amazing job, and everyone deserved it, both trackside and back at our HQ in Hinwil. All in all, I think it’s safe to say my debut weekend went well aside from this, especially considering my qualifying result yesterday. It’s been a weekend of learning, getting to know the team and its dynamics even better. Now, I intend to keep working and improving as we look ahead to China next week."

Beat Zehnder, Director Signature Programs & Operations: "Today’s race showcased everything that makes Formula One so special—unpredictable weather, thrilling overtakes, exciting maneuvers, and, unfortunately, a few crashes as well. Huge congratulations to both drivers for their performances, and especially to Nico for securing his first points for the team. It was a strong collective effort throughout the entire weekend. The team executed really well, making the right calls in changing conditions and laying the foundation for this result. While this is a great step forward, we remain focused on addressing the challenges we faced to ensure we can consistently fight for points."