Melbourne victor Norris delighted as McLaren learns from past mistakes.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

So goes the oft-misquoted claim attributed to the philosopher George Santayana.

It is a warning that the likes of Ferrari should heed, but never seem to do so. On the other hand, according to Melbourne-winner Lando Norris, McLaren has learned from its past mistakes.

When the anticipated later rain hit today's race, the Woking outfit, which had forecast the downpour, if not its intensity or duration, kept its cool, and it paid off.

"Tough race!" said Norris shortly after taking the chequered flag. "Especially with Max behind me.

"I was pushing, especially the last two laps," he added. "A little bit stressful, I won't lie. But an amazing way to start the year.

"It was a tough one because we went off, went through the gravel, got damage, just tricky conditions but these ones are enjoyable, fun and unpredictable.

"This time we got it right and ended up on top," he grinned. ""We got it wrong a lot last year, so we learned from our mistakes. We lost out at Silverstone and Canada through a race like this.

"It's only the first round of 24," he continued, "so dealing with the pressure, dealing with Max, dealing with Oscar, I was pushing the whole way through. A tough one, so to not make overly too many mistakes or a mistake that cost me anything, I can take a bit of credit for that."

Norris can also take credit for damage to his floor that could have proved costly.

"One issue we had in the final laps of the race with Lando is that he had the floor pretty badly damaged," revealed Andrea Stella. "He had lost - I haven't heard the numbers yet - but he lost aerodynamic performance and this meant that he couldn't utilise the full pace of the car.

"I think the situation got more tense than would have normally been the case because of this damage on Lando's car," he added. "I think how strong the car was, we could see actually with Oscar that in the space of a few laps he recovered three or four positions," said the Italian, referring to Piastri's costly off. "So I think in normal circumstances it shouldn't have been that difficult for Lando."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Albert Park here.