Australian Grand Prix

Red Bull makes it three wins in three races in a day marred by crashes, renewing talk that it might be unbeatable this year.

It had been a bright day for the pink cars of Alpine, but it all went dark on the last restart after Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon — running fifth and 10th — came together in a chaotic few moments that scrambled the race order and took out six cars. “No, it cannot be, it’s unacceptable!” — Carlos Sainz, of Ferrari, after learning he was assessed a five-second penalty for spinning Alonso on a late restart. The decision was caused by debris on the track after Kevin Magnussen clipped the wall and destroyed his right rear tire. He took the lead from Max Verstappen on the first run but barely got a chance to enjoy the view as he soon came under pressure from his own teammate, Lewis Hamilton. His race ended before he could complete a lap, nudged off the track and into the gravel in a collision with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll on Turn 3. That was position was briefly in doubt, though, after he was spun by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on the last competitive restart of the day. (Ferrari’s forgettable day somehow got worse when a five-second penalty on Carlos Sainz for causing a last-lap crash sent him down to 13th, and Ferrari out of the points.) Within seconds, both were sliding along a wall in the grass, wondering how such a positive afternoon, and the promise of some valuable points, had gone so very wrong. But once Max Verstappen got his hands on first place at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, he never gave it back. The racing, at least for first place, was effectively over. Verstappen sure looked as if he could not be caught, opening a lead of more than 10 seconds at one point, lapping slower drivers with ease and then holding off a last-lap challenge on a final crash-laden restart. “We won, which is of course the most important.”

One Red Bull first, one Red Bull last, and a Mercedes on the front row. Those were the headlines from qualifying in Melbourne, but since then there's been a ...

[READ MORE: Perez and Bottas to start from the pit lane for the Australian Grand Prix after parc ferme changes](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.perez-and-bottas-to-start-from-the-pit-lane-for-the-australian-grand-prix.7z19QtJ6QEhQNv0bKNSe9i.html) [Max Verstappen sits on pole for the first time in Albert Park](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-claims-first-ever-melbourne-pole-as-russell-bags-front-row-start.3IxM1nwxybesiW95o5C1sE.html), team mate Sergio Perez will start from the pit lane after Red Bull opted to modify his car following his off in Q1 yesterday. Those were the headlines from qualifying in Melbourne, but since then there’s been a couple of minor tweaks to the starting line-up for Sunday’s race.

Lewis Hamilton qualified third for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix and the seven-time world champion described the result as a "dream" for him and his ...

“George did a fantastic job today, so for us to be up in the two front rows is honestly a dream for us,” Hamilton added. “I hope tomorrow we can give them a bit of a run for their money, and we hope the weather is good.” “We are all working as hard as we can to be back right at the front, so to be this close to Red Bull is honestly incredible. “I’m so happy with this. This is totally unexpected,” he told reporters, according to F1.com. Hamilton qualified in seventh for the two races of the season so his surprise at starting third on the grid for Sunday’s GP was understandable.

RED BULL drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are both comfortably leading the drivers standings ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.Perez finished.

Lap 20/58 – Verstappen leads, Hamilton second Lap 22/58 – Verstappen leads, Hamilton second Lap 28/58 – Verstappen leads, Hamilton second Lap 36/58 – Verstappen leads, Hamilton second Lap 38/58 – Verstappen leads, Hamilton second Lap 40/58 – Verstappen leads, Hamilton second Lap 26/58 – Verstappen builds lead Lap 30/58 – Verstappen leads comfortably Lap 34/58 – Verstappen leads, Perez puts foot down Lap 52/58 – Verstappen leads, Hamilton in second Lap 48/58 – Verstappen leads, Alonso sets fastest lap Lap 46/58 – Verstappen leads, Perez moves into seventh

Red Bull's Max Verstappen has claimed his first Australian Grand Prix in remarkable circumstances in a chaotic Formula 1 race filled with drama from the ...

“It left a lot of drivers confused as to why we needed a second red flag. “It was very unexpected,” he said. On the restart on lap 55, Verstappen was able to hold off Hamilton to the first turn as bedlam unfolded behind his Red Bull, resulting in a reshuffle of the finishing order. The race resumed with Verstappen stalking Hamilton at the front of the field and the two-time world champion used his Red Bull’s superior speed to take the lead on Lap 12. “Of course we are happy to win the race, but I think the race itself towards the end was a bit of a mess with all the calls,” Verstappen said. Verstappen was pleased to clinch victory but queried the decision by stewards to issue a red flag after a crash on lap 55 of the 58-lap race instead of deploying a safety car.

Max Verstappen won the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday after two late red flags and a slew of crashes threw the race into chaos before the Red Bull driver ...

"Otherwise, to get those points is really amazing today. Verstappen had to recover from a poor start as he lost his lead to both Russell and Hamilton in the first three turns. His Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz survived all the carnage and was in line to finish fourth but a five-second penalty for making contact with Alonso left him demoted to 12th and raging on the team radio. Mercedes' first podium of the season was soured with George Russell suffering his first retirement for the team after losing power and rolling to a halt with his engine on fire early on. That allowed Verstappen to claim his second win of the season ahead of Hamilton with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso third in a race in which eight of the 20 cars failed to finish. Register for free to Reuters and know the full story

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen won the Australian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton finished second in an incident-packed race in Melbourne on Sunday.

Verstappen enjoyed a second win of the season, with Hamilton finishing on the podium for the first time this year. That moved Alonso back up to third, with Sainz down to 12th because of his penalty. Sainz went on to receive a five-second penalty. According to the rules, two racing laps would remain after the restart. Fernando Alonso, despite finding himself in a spin with two laps to go, was third. “After that, the pace of the car was quick - you could see that straight away.

All-time great podium features the two-time defending champion, along with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso.

Rookie team-mate Logan Sargeant had a quiet weekend in the sister car. “With all the accidents, it was a good chance to score points this weekend, so I’m very sorry to the team. Williams’ slippery FW45 was rapid around the streets of Albert Park, particularly in the hands of Alexander Albon, who qualified a promising eighth. When the pack bunched together at the tricky right-hander Leclerc got a tap from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and wound up beached in the gravel. Leclerc has had a wretched start to the 2023 campaign and his woes continued in Australia, an event he utterly dominated 12 months ago. That restored the spun Alonso up to third, but Sainz was penalized for the incident and handed a five-second penalty, plunging him down the order because of how close the field was over the line. The only certainty at that stage was Verstappen first, Hamilton second, but behind it was a mess. Haas driver Magnussen, running 12th, drifted wide through Turn 2 and clipped the wall, removing his rear-right tire from the wheel rim, and prompting the deployment of the Safety Car. Hamilton held second, keeping a buffer to third-placed Alonso, while Carlos Sainz held fourth for Ferrari. The first red flag came on the eighth lap of 58, after Williams’ Alexander Albon binned it at Turn 6, dragging extensive debris and gravel onto the track. Max Verstappen claimed victory in the Australian Grand Prix to open up a 15-point championship lead over teammate Sergio Perez. Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

That led to a standing restart in which Carlos Sainz tapped Fernando Alonso into a spin, both Alpines crashed out, and Williams' Logan Sargeant also collected ...

Race Control determined that the last point at which it was possible to the determine the position of all cars was when the last grid was formed. “Very shortly thereafter, there was a further Red Flag incident within the first two corners of the resumed race and Race Control had to determine what the order of the grid ought to be for the next restart based on Art 57.3. They suggested that if that line was used then the starting grid position of their car would have been different. “Having considered all the arguments made, we made the following determination… That led to a standing restart in which Carlos Sainz tapped Fernando Alonso into a spin, both Alpines crashed out, and Williams' Logan Sargeant also collected AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries. “In this instance, the race was resumed after another Red Flag incident,” they wrote.

A Formula One fan at the Australian Grand Prix suffered a cut to his arm when struck by a piece of debris, putting the spotlight on safety protocols.

“My fiancee was pretty spooked by it and borderline shell-shocked.” Part of it was shredded and really sharp, if it hit me in a different angle, it could’ve been horrendous,” he added. “It slapped me in the arm and I was just standing there bleeding,” he told radio station 3AW.

Then it looked like Carlos Sainz Jr. was going to fall victim to a bit of bad luck. With Sainz running inside the top five, Ferrari made the decision to bring ...

“Our initial reaction is one of frustration, with Charles clearly unlucky to be involved in a racing incident at the start. We have taken a step forward in terms of pure performance and even more importantly, we had a decent and consistent race pace on the various tyre compounds, including the hard. “It was a good race overall but the penalty ruined all the effort and I don’t agree with it,” he added. Max Verstappen took the checkered flag, and Ferrari took home nothing to show for their efforts. Prior to qualifying, reserve driver Robert Shwartzman was part of the coverage on F1TV, and he described the feeling around the team as “very good.” That touched off a chain reaction of events that would see Gasly and Esteban Ocon collide, knocking both Alpines out of the Grand Prix:

Haas' protest over the result of the Australian Grand Prix has been thrown out by the FIA's stewards, meaning the race classification is now official.

"Race Control determined that the last point at which it was possible to the determine the position of all cars was when the last grid was formed," the stewards' said in a statement. They suggested that if that line was used then the starting grid position of their car would have been different. The first red flag was caused by Haas driver Kevin Magnussen stopping on track after he clipped the barriers on the exit of Turn 2 on Lap 53.