McLaren’s Lando Norris was left disappointed as an extended period behind Antonio Giovinazzi ruined his hopes of points in Australia.
The British rookie had hoped to maintain his starting position of eighth but dropped down to 10th on the opening lap before later coming up behind the Italian after making his first pit-stop.
Running long on the medium C3 tyres, Giovinazzi would hold off numerous attempts by Norris into Turn 3 before eventually making a move stick.
“It was too late. It cost me the positions on Kvyat and Stroll, which obviously put me out of the points in the end,” the 19-year-old said.
“I’m a bit annoyed because there was a lot more potential. The car had the pace to be in the top 10, and basically I let everyone down. So I need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Ultimately, it would be a 12th place finish for last year’s F2 championship runner-up and he was pleased by the performance of the McLaren, which has made solid gains from the end of last year.
“I’m pretty proud [of the team]. I think I had a pretty good car today. Not perfect, but overall it had enough pace in it to be in the top 10,” he stated. “I just made a couple of mistakes that put me outside of it.
“It is nice to get my first race out of the way. I was quite nervous going in, but after finishing, I’m reasonably happy.”
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Norris also says he has two key areas where he’ll focus his attention before a more familiar track in Bahrain.
“My initial start was okay, and then I just got a bit too keen and got wheelspin, and the lock-up, I think it’s just over-pushing a bit too much,” he explained.
“Small things here and there. It’s just working on the mistakes, working on my weak areas, the team’s weak areas, and just trying to improve.”
For teammate Carlos Sainz there was more disappointment as an engine failure ended his weekend early.