Portugal Colonial - Happy Norris learns from mistakes to earn Australia win

The McLaren pole-sitter showed extreme composure in testing conditions with intermittent rain, a slew of accidents and the safety car repeatedly required at Albert Park.

He managed to rise above it all and hold off charging Red Bull world champion Max Verstappen, leading from start to finish to take the chequered flag by less than a second.

"We got it wrong a lot last year so I guess we learned from our mistakes," said the Briton after laying down a marker for the 24-race season.

"We lost out in Silverstone and Canada in similar conditions.

"Dealing with the pressure, dealing with Max, with Oscar (Piastri) behind me. I was pushing the whole way through," he added.

"I could relax inside, but I wasn't relaxing from how much I was pushing."

At both Silverstone and Canada last year McLaren made mistakes on pit stop timings and tyre choices.

Norris controlled the early stages of the race in Melbourne from McLaren teammate Piastri and Verstappen on a sodden track.

But as the accidents piled up leading to multiple safety car interventions, Norris was forced to restart repeatedly.

When the safety car peeled away for the final time it led to a seven-lap sprint to the end where Norris came under attack in the slippery conditions from Verstappen, closed to within DRS range.

But Norris had just enough to hang on for a deserved win.

"A challenging race but for McLaren I need to give thanks as they have given me a brilliant car," said Norris.

"It was amazing, a top race, especially with Max behind me. I was pushing, especially the last two laps -- it was a little bit stressful, not going to lie.

"Tricky conditions, but there are the ones that are enjoyable and we ended up on top so I'm happy."

V.Dantas--PC