The Australian Grand Prix Race Recap

Over 130,000 spectators braved the rain to witness a dramatic and chaotic opening race of the 2025 season. After three days of hot, sunny weather, autumn arrived in Melbourne on Sunday as grey skies and heavy rain soaked the Albert Park circuit.

For the BWT Alpine Formula One Team, it was a mixed Australian Grand Prix weekend. There was overall positivity with the pace of the A525 - and Pierre ran in the points until four laps from the chequered flag - but there was also disappointment for Jack, who crashed out of his home Grand Prix on the opening lap in treacherous conditions.

After a strong qualifying, Pierre lined up ninth on the grid, but Jack was caught out by a yellow flag on his final Q2 lap and could only manage 14th. Following a morning of persistent rain, which had eased by the start of the Grand Prix, the track was still wet and the whole field started on Intermediates - although the initial start was delayed by 15 minutes after rookie Isack Hadjar crashed on the formation lap.

When the race finally got underway, two more cars hit the wall, with Jack unfortunately catching one of the painted white lines on the high-speed section of the circuit between Turns 4 and 6. Despite the mistake, Team Principal of the BWT Alpine Formula One Team, Oliver Oakes, was impressed with Jack’s performance at his home event.

“Coming into this race, obviously there was a lot of fan support for Jack, and throughout the weekend and in Qualifying he did a really good job,” said Oakes. “The fact quite a few people got caught out - I think out of six rookies, only two finished - proves how difficult it was out there. He’s a tough kid - you can see that - nothing seems to faze him. Yes, he was annoyed for the team, but he’ll be right back on it next weekend in China.”

Pierre continued in P9, keeping Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari in sight while repelling an attack from Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin behind. During the opening phase of the race, Pierre was staying out of trouble and discussing with his engineer which tyre compound to run when the crossover to slicks would take place as the circuit was drying out.

The lap to pit was decided when the race’s second Safety Car emerged following Alonso’s crash into the wall after the exit of Turn 6. Across the field, there was a 50:50 split between those drivers who opted for medium and hard tyres, and Pierre opted for a new set of hards when he stopped on lap 33.

After eight laps behind the Safety Car, the race went green on lap 42, but the radar showed that a heavy band of rain was sweeping in from Port Phillip Bay. When this storm hit the last sector of the lap, the leaders decided to pit. But Pierre stayed out and brilliantly moved up the order running on the wet track with his slick tyres, while cars were spinning off in all directions.

Ultimately, the Safety Car was deployed once more after two more drivers hit the wall. With the field bunched up, Pierre entered the pits for new Intermediates on lap 46, falling to 11th - which became P8 when others stopped ahead of him. This was the critical moment in the race and could have gone either way.

“At our second pit stop - there was a lot of back and forth on team radio,” said Oakes. “Do you gamble on stopping a lap earlier than we did at the time or not? It’s one of those things in racing - we pitted because of what we saw on the radar, but there’s no guarantee the radar is right. The feedback from your drivers will also tell you that some corners are OK on slicks, but then you can easily pick up the throttle and be straight in the wall.”

With the whole field now on wet tyres and the debris cleared from the race track, the Safety Car peeled in and there was a six-lap shootout to the flag. Pierre was struggling to stop the car and made a small mistake into Turn 1 on lap 54. He ran through a puddle on the exit of the first corner and just managed to prevent his Alpine from spinning. Unfortunately, the loss of momentum and the tightly-packed field meant that both Ferraris went past. Then, on the next lap, Oscar Piastri’s McLaren also overtook Pierre to claim tenth spot. After 57 frantic laps, he crossed the finish line in 11th place, having run as high as third at one stage.

“Even though we came away empty-handed, races like that are great for Formula 1 - it’s an exciting race for the fans,” said Oakes. “There were a lot of things we did right in Australia. Now we want to keep that momentum going as we head straight to Shanghai for round two next weekend.”