Max Verstappen held off his old championship rival Lewis Hamilton to win Formula 1’s 2023 Australian Grand Prix, which ended in surreal scenes following a late second red flag of three and a chaotic subsequent restart.
Verstappen had dominated most of the proceedings despite losing the initial lead from pole to George Russell and Hamilton, before a first red flag caused by Alex Albon crashing out solo and putting debris and gravel across the road.
At the second standing start Hamilton maintained his lead, but as soon as the DRS overtaking aid was reactivated, Verstappen blasted by into a lead he would ultimately not lose but with plenty of drama and confusing scenes to come.
The first red flag meant none of the leaders completed any in-race pitstops as they were able to change their starting tyres under the stoppage, which was what cemented Russell’s place in the pack from which he charged before his engine expired in flames at the end of the event’s first third.
For most of the race, there was little action at the front as Verstappen dropped Hamilton and worked his way to a ten-second advantage that was only cut when the Red Bull driver briefly ran off the road at the penultimate corner and complaining about front locking.
At this point, Hamilton was holding Fernando Alonso at arm’s length while the teams worked out if their charges could get to the finish without requiring new tyres.
They were upping their pace – exchanging fastest laps with Verstappen ahead – when the concluding farce kicked off, starting with Kevin Magnussen bizarrely running off the track by himself exiting the second corner and striking the nearby wall with his right rear.
This fell off as he headed towards Turn 3 and that, plus Magnussen stopping inside Turn 4, led to the race being stopped again, with a two-lap sprint set to conclude the action.
When this started, Verstappen swept across Hamilton’s bows and covered the inside line to Turn 1, from where Alonso exited ahead of Carlos Sainz and was then tagged by the Ferrari and spun towards the wall Magnussen had tagged.
Behind, chaos reigned as Pierre Gasly locked hard behind Sainz and went off at Turn 2 along with several other cars and as Gasly rejoined he swung right and took out team-mate Esteban Ocon, ruining what had looked to be a very strong result for Alpine and Pierre in particular as he had been fighting Sainz for most of the race.
Before the red flags came out for a third time, Lance Stroll slid into the gravel at Turn 3 while fighting Sainz, appearing to also destroy Aston Martin’s previously excellent positions.
But after the race was suspended, crucially before Verstappen had passed the first sector timing line, a 30-minute delay followed with one lap remaining from the 58 total as the FIA worked out how the event would conclude.
It eventually decided, much like at Silverstone in 2022, that the previous grid restart order would be used minus the cars that could not take a fourth and final restart.
This was a safety car rolling start that meant no overtaking and so Verstappen blasted to the win under no threat from Hamilton and the restored Alonso fourth.
They were followed home by Sainz but he had already been handed a five-second time addition penalty for hitting Alonso at the third standing restart – this event matching Mugello 2020 and Jeddah 2021 for such scenes.
Sainz, who raged about not being able to explain his case to the stewards, therefore fell to P12 in the results, making it a point-less weekend down under for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc had retired in the Turn 3 gravel way back on the first lap after turning in and finding Lance Stroll on his inside and getting turned around in what was swiftly declared a racing incident.
Sergio Perez’s charge from a pitlane start had provided most of the action during the main part of the race, as he put in pass after pass on slower rivals into the fast Turn 9/10 left-right swoops.
He had reached seventh by the second red flag but was very lucky to end up fifth as he had been attacking Gasly in the third restart chaos and went deep into the gravel and fell to the rear of the pack before being boosted back up by the FIA’s ruling.
Lando Norris and Nico Hulkenberg put in a thrilling battle during the pre-Magnussen red flag events and they ended up sixth and seventh ahead of home hero Oscar Piastri.
Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten ahead of Valtteri Bottas and the penalised Sainz.
So an entertaining and chaotic race in Albert Park. So much action, overtaking and restarts. Plus a surreal ending with a parade to the flag. Congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the Australian Grand Prix and great to have Lewis Hamilton scoring a podium for Mercedes while Fernando Alonso continues to score a top three result for Aston Martin.
Australian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2:32:38.371
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.179
3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.769
4 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +3.082
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull +3.320
6 Lando Norris McLaren +3.701
7 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +4.939
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +5.382
9 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +5.713
10 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +6.052
11 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +6.513
12 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +6.594*
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +2 laps
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine +2 laps
15 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +2 laps
16 Logan Sargeant Williams +2 laps
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas +6 laps
– George Russell Mercedes DNF
– Alex Albon Williams DNF
– Charles Leclerc Ferrari DNF
*Five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso
Australian Grand Prix race review as reported by Formula1.com.
Max Verstappen claimed victory during a wild and action-packed Australian Grand Prix, overcoming battles with the Mercedes drivers, several Safety Cars and three red flags to lead home Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
Verstappen lost out to both George Russell and Hamilton at the original race start, before the Safety Car made two appearances in quick succession due to Charles Leclerc retiring from a collision with Lance Stroll and Alex Albon crashing out heavily.
A subsequent red flag for Albon’s incident brought the field back to the pits, with Hamilton leading Verstappen and Alonso, taking advantage of misfortune for Russell and Carlos Sainz, who were the two front-runners to take on fresh tyres just before the stoppage.
With a free choice of tyres for the restart, Hamilton initially held the lead from Verstappen, but the Red Bull driver soon got within DRS range and moved back into P1, moments before Russell’s misery was compounded by an apparent engine failure.
Verstappen brushed off the early drama to move into a comfortable lead as the race developed, while Hamilton held P2 and set about managing the gap back to Alonso, who was joined by the recovering Sainz and Pierre Gasly in a fight for the podium positions.
But just as the order appeared to be locked in, another Safety Car, and then another red flag, was triggered late on when Kevin Magnussen thumped the wall exiting Turn 2, lost his rear-right wheel and spread debris from his Haas over the racing line.
It meant a third standing start and the prospect of a two-lap shootout on soft tyres, but just a matter of seconds passed before further contact and drama as Sainz tipped fellow Spaniard Alonso into a spin in the Turn 1 bottleneck.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-takes-first-ever-australian-gp-win-amid-huge-drama-in-melbourne.1G5wUCOWxmWQyNeB4hPXTx.html
Max Verstappen claims that Lewis Hamilton did not properly follow Formula 1’s driving conduct rules in their first-lap fight for position in the Australian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman had made a poor getaway from pole position and lost out to Mercedes driver George Russell into Turn 1.
Then, as Hamilton got a run on him out of Turn 2, he was cautious under braking for Turn 3 and that allowed his Mercedes rival to get his nose inside.
As Hamilton snatched second, he moved wide on the exit and Verstappen felt he had not been given the necessary racing room that the rules dictate.
He complained on the team radio about the incident and said after the race that he felt Hamilton’s actions were not within the regulations.
“From my side, I just tried to avoid contact,” said the Red Bull driver. “It’s quite clear in the rules what you’re allowed to do now on the outside. Clearly, it’s not followed, but that’s okay.
“But we had good pace. We pass them anyway. But it’s something for the next races to take into account.”
At the start of last year, the FIA published guidelines for drivers to better inform them of the circumstances that were required for them to give racing room to rivals after overtaking moves.
It said about cars going down the inside: “In order for a car being overtaken to be required to give sufficient room to an overtaking car, the overtaking car needs to have a significant portion of the car alongside the car being overtaken and the overtaking manoeuvre must be done in a safe and controlled manner while enabling the car to clearly remain within the limits of the track.
“When considering what is a ‘significant portion’ for an overtaking on the inside of a corner, among the various factors that will be looked at by the stewards when exercising their discretion, the stewards will consider if the overtaking car’s front tyres are alongside the other car by no later than the apex of the corner.”
Verstappen said he had deliberately taken it a bit easy early on because he did not see much to gain by taking too many risks.
“We had a very poor start and then lap one I was careful because I had a lot to lose and they had a lot to win,” he said.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-hamilton-did-not-follow-racing-rules-in-first-lap-f1-battle/10452094/
Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes “can close that gap” to Red Bull after scoring second to Max Verstappen in Formula 1’s heavily disrupted 2023 Australian Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion climbed from third on the grid to lead in the early stages of the race, having robustly passed a slow-starting Verstappen on the inside into Turn 3.
That move handed him second at the time to leading team-mate George Russell, who then dropped to seventh as a result of pitting under a safety car that morphed into the first of three red-flag stoppages.
Hamilton and Verstappen could change tyres without a time handicap, and the Mercedes racer controlled the second standing start before Verstappen powered past with DRS into Turn 9.
While Russell retired with a power unit fire, second place for Hamilton marked Mercedes’ best result of the season as the team endures with the limited W14 car.
But that score was enough for Hamilton to believe that while it will be “tough”, it is “not impossible” for the Three-Pointed Star to reel in the 2023 dominant force Red Bull.
Hamilton, who has complained that the cockpit of the W14 is too far forward relative to the front wheels, said: “I still feel uncomfortable in the car. I still don’t feel connected to it.
“I’m driving as best I can with that disconnect and I’m working as hard as I can to try and create that connection. But I think it’s a long project.
“But still, considering we’ve been down on performance, we’re clearly down on straight [line] pace compared to the Red Bulls, for us to be up here fighting with Aston [Martin, third in Melbourne] is just amazing at this point in the season.”
“We just have to keep on fighting. A big, big thank you to all the people back at the factory. Let’s keep pushing.
“We can close that gap. It’s going to be tough but not impossible.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-mercedes-can-close-gap-to-red-bull-after-melbourne-f1-podium/10452108/
Carlos Sainz has called his Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix demotion “the most unfair penalty I’ve ever seen in my life” and wants to discuss it with the FIA stewards.
The Ferrari driver tangled with Fernando Alonso at the second race restart of a chaotic Australian GP, sending his fellow Spaniard into the wall at Turn 2 before the third red flag.
Amid the FIA’s final restart decisions, Sainz lined up for the final lap in fourth but was given a five-second penalty for the incident, so when the race ended under safety car conditions he was relegated to 12th when the penalty was applied.
An angry Sainz wished to review the penalty with the stewards, stating over team radio: “No, this is unacceptable! They need to wait until the end of the race to discuss with me.”
Sainz later felt he needed to see the stewards to talk through the incident and penalty before giving his full take on it.
“I think it is the most unfair penalty I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said after the Albert Park race.
“Before talking to you and saying any really bad stuff or bad words, I’d prefer to go back to the stewards, have a conversation with them and maybe I can come back and talk again.
“Because right now honestly I cannot do it, I think it is too unfair and I don’t feel well to speak.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sainz-blasts-most-unfair-penalty-ever-seeks-australian-gp-stewards-explanation/10452169/