Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has won the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in what was a race filled with chaos.
The race was suspended and restarted thrice due to multiple incidents that brought out the red flag and safety car. The race ultimately ended in awkward circumstances when a late standing restart caused further trouble.
A late red flag looked poised to set up an entertaining final two laps after Haas driver Kevin Magnussen lost a wheel, but more carnage ensued on the final lap when several cars that included Alonso and the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were all taken out.
Despite all the carnage, Alonso was able to claim the final podium spot ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. who dropped down to 12th after receiving a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Alonso.
This promoted the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll to fourth while Sergio Perez of Red Bull finished fifth after starting the race from the pit lane. McLaren’s Lando Norris was sixth for McLaren and Nico Hulkenberg seventh in the Haas.
Home-favourite and rookie Oscar Piastri scored his first F1 points in eighth place while Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 for Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri respectively.
The provisional Top 10 points-scorers following a bonkers race in Melbourne ????#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/mM9XgUSKOe
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 2, 2023
The race recorded seven retirements: George Russell in the Mercedes, the Alpine duo of Gasly and Ocon, the Williams of Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon, AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen leads the drivers’ championship 15 points clear of Red Bull teammate Perez while the Austrian team are 55 points clear of Aston Martin in the constructors’ championship.
The next round of racing takes place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on April 30.
