MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 02: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit on April 02, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Max Verstappen won a dramatic Australian Grand Prix in a race marred by multiple accidents following a red flag restart two laps from the chequered flag.
The chaos began when Fernando Alonso was spun out of third place by fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz before the two Alpine's of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon appeared to take each other out of the race seconds later.
However, once the race was able to restart again for the final lap, Alonso was allowed to reclaim his third place thanks to the countback rule, meaning the Aston Martin driver finished on the podium for the third straight race to begin the 2023 season.
Alonso, furious that the red flag was issued in the first place, ultimately finished behind Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton who both avoided the mayhem that ensued behind them.
Sainz was later penalised for the contact with his compatriot and, with everyone completing the race behind the Safety Car, finished outside the points.
The result meant that Verstappen extended his championship lead over teammate Sergio Perez who recovered well from his pit lane start to finish fifth behind the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
Story of the race:
The Dutchman had dominated the race before the late carnage after recovering from a poor start that meant Mercedes briefly led one-two with George Russell ahead of Hamilton.
Russell however was desperately unlucky as he pitted moments before the first red flag was thrown during a Safety Car period on lap seven after a high-speed crash for Alex Albon. He was demoted to seventh whilst Hamilton and Verstappen were gifted a free change of tyres during the race suspension.
Albon, who put in an impressive performance in Saturday’s qualifying session, seemed to lose control of the rear of his Williams, resulting in him spiralling into the barrier at turn six.
Reigning champion Verstappen dispatched Hamilton quickly after the restart before Russell’s miserable afternoon was compounded after the back of his Mercedes caught fire after losing power.
Russell joined Charles Leclerc in not finishing the race after the Ferrari driver beached his car in the turn three gravel after contact with Lance Stroll on the opening lap, although replays showed the Canadian driver was not at fault.
Stroll himself was also a beneficiary of the countback rule enforced at the end of the race as he ran wide at turn three, demoting him to what was then the last position.
Sergio Perez produced some of the best racing of the Grand Prix as he effortlessly cut through the field at times, moving up into the points before half-race distance.
Perez used the immense superiority of Red Bull’s powerful DRS system to breeze past drivers on a notoriously tough track to overtake at and claimed ten points from a weekend where he battled reliability problems with his car.
Further down the order, an improved showing from McLaren gave them their first points of an otherwise turbulent season, with Lando Norris finishing sixth and Oscar Piastri claiming the first points of his career in front of his home crowd in eighth.
Norris was involved in a fantastic battle with Nico Hulkenberg for what was P8 at the time and was finally able to overtake the German on the third attempt at turn 11.
Hulkenberg finished P7 in the end for Haas despite having moved up to fourth after avoiding the restart chaos and falling foul of the new race order determined by Race Control.
Rounding off the points-paying positions were Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda who finished ninth and tenth respectively ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sainz, who was the last of only 12 classified finishers.
With the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix over the winter, Formula One will return in four weeks with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the always entertaining Baku City Circuit.
