Chaotic Australian Grand Prix won by Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen won the 3^rd round of the 2023 Formula One season in Melbourne with the race being marred in controversy following a series of red flags throughout the race, leading home Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen began the race from pole position but lost out to both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton on the first lap of the race. Russell opted for fresh tyres early in the race taking advantage of an early safety car but was unfortunate as the red flag was brought out for a heavy crash for Alex Albon brought out the red flag, gifting the rest of the field a free pit-stop.

Hamilton led the field back to the pits following the red flag and strapped on a set of hard tyres, like his rival Max Verstappen who would be taking the restart from P2. After the restart Verstappen retook the lead after getting into DRS range. Soon after this, Russell’s afternoon was compounded by further issues as he retired due to a catastrophic engine failure.

Verstappen began to pull away from the 7-time world champion, Hamilton developing a comfortable lead, whilst Hamilton behind managed the gap from Fernando Alonso who was joined by Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly in a fight for the podium positions.

Late in the race Magnussen hit the wall bringing out another safety car as his Haas dropped debris all over the circuit, leading to a second red flag being brought out, leading to the prospect of a two lap shootout on the soft compound tyre.

The second start was chaotic, as Sainz hit the back end of his fellow Spanish driver, Alonso causing him to spin to the back of the field. Behind Gasly collided with his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon as he tried to avoid an accident in front. American, Logan Sargeant hit Frysian driver Nyck de Vries and Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll ran into the gravel also.

Following this a third red flag was thrown, causing confusion as to how the race would finish and what order would they finish in. The FIA decided a rolling start would take place in the order of the last start, without the cars that had crashed out.

This meant Alonso who had been spun, was brought back up to P3 finishing ahead of Sainz who crossed the line in P4, but had been given a 5-second penalty that demoted him to P12, outside of the points. Sainz was vocal about the penalty on the team radio saying “it is unacceptable, they need to wait until the race is finished [to come up with a decision]”

This is the second race where the FIA have made questionable decisions, with a safety car being brought out when Lance Stroll retired in Saudi Arabia after parking behind the marshall’s post.

Race Classification:

Position Driver Time (Gap)

1 Max Verstappen 2:32:38.371

2 Lewis Hamilton 0.179

3 Fernando Alonso 0.769

4 Lance Stroll 3.082

5 Sergio Perez 3.320

6 Lando Norris 3.701

7 Nico Hulkenberg 4.939

8 Oscar Piastri 5.382

9 Zhou Guanyu 5.713

10 Yuki Tsunoda 6.052