The 2025 F1 season got off to an incredibly dramatic start in what proved to be an action-packed Australian Grand Prix, with the 57-lap event featuring rapidly changing weather conditions, numerous crashes and more than one Safety Car appearance.
It seems likely that the race will go down in history as one of the most eventful to start a campaign – so, in honour of that, we’ve been taking a look back at some of the other most chaotic season-opening Grands Prix that it joins on the list, featuring everything from heavy rain and unexpected winners through to an unprecedented drivers’ strike…
READ MORE: 5 Winners and 5 Losers from Australia – Who started their season in style?
2002 Australian Grand Prix
The Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit has frequently played host to the first race of the season – and one of the most jaw-dropping of these took place back in 2002.
Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello initially held onto P1 off the line from pole position, but his lead proved to be short-lived as the Williams of Ralf Schumacher hit the back of the Brazilian’s car into the first corner before dramatically launching over it and hurtling into the barriers.
This then sparked a sequence of events that commentator Martin Brundle declared at the time to be “everybody shunting in sympathy”, with six further cars joining Barrichello and Schumacher as Lap 1 retirements.
All of this left David Coulthard in the lead, while Michael Schumacher had dropped down to fourth. But after the Scot went off track, a battle played out between Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, which the former ultimately won in a race that saw only eight drivers take the chequered flag – one of these being Mark Webber, claiming P5 on debut in front of his home crowd to score some fairytale points for the Minardi team.
