Max Verstappen blitzed a chaotic 2023 Australian Grand Prix to extend his title lead over Sergio Perez.
Verstappen lost the lead at the start to Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton but was promoted to second on Lap Eight as Russell pitted shortly before a red flag following a crash for Alex Albon.
The two-time champion eventually overtook Hamilton on Lap 12 with a race winning move but there was a second red flag on Lap 55, after Kevin Magnussen’s rear-right tyre was torn off as he hit the barriers at Turn 2 on Lap 54.
Chaos however unfolded on the second standing restart on Lap 57 as Carlos Sainz spun Fernando Alonso and triggered mass chaos involving the rest of grid, aside from Verstappen and Hamilton which culminated in a third red flag and confusion over the finishing order and procedure.
Stewards eventually decided to conclude the race with a rolling start under Safety Car conditions as Verstappen clinched his second victory of the season, with Hamilton and Alonso rounding out the podium.
Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Nico Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri, Guanyu Zhou and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top ten, after Sainz was served a five-second time penalty for causing the chaos which dropped him to 12th overall.
In the driver standings, Verstappen now heads into the four-week Easter break with 69 points and a 15-point lead over Perez as Alonso remains third but now 23 points behind Verstappen.
Pre-race, Red Bull and Alfa Romeo opted to start Perez and Valtteri Bottas from the pit lane following setup changes to their respective cars, in which Perez specifically took a third control electronics and energy store of the season following his FP3 and Qualifying issues.
At lights out, Verstappen made a steady start but Russell made an equally strong start and seized the lead on the inside line of Turn One, with Hamilton following through on inside of Turn 3 to demote Verstappen to third as Sainz jumped Alonso for fourth.
Last year’s race winner, Leclerc though spun out after tagging Stroll as he attempted to pass the Canadian round the outside of Turn 3, which triggered the Safety Car to be deployed until the end of Lap 3.
During the Safety Car, Guanyu Zhou pitted for the hard tyres whilst Logan Sargeant and Sergio Perez switched to medium tyres, although Perez made another stop a lap later to return to the hard tyre with view of running until the checkered flag.
Racing resumed on Lap 4 with the order largely staying the same aside from Perez climbing to 14th by Lap 7, when the Safety Car was deployed after Albon lost the rear of his Williams on entry to Turn 7 and spun into the gravel trap, in-turn blowing gravel across the track.
Russell and Sainz reacted by pitting for the hard tyre as the Safety Car was deployed, re-joining in seventh and 11th respectively only for the red flag to be shown on Lap 8 due to excessive gravel on the track which allowed those who hadn’t pitted a free tyre change.
The race resumed 16 minutes later behind the Safety Car followed by a standing restart, with several drivers having switched to the hard tyres during the red flag period as only Nyck De Vries and Logan Sargeant opted for the medium tyre at the restart.
On the standing restart, Hamilton who inherited the lead when Russell pitted made a clean start to lead Verstappen, Alonso and Gasly, whilst Russell improved to fifth off the line ahead of Stroll and Hulkenberg.
Further back, De Vries got tagged by Ocon at Turn 3 and slipped down to 17th position in the order.
Up front, Hamilton struggled to fend off Verstappen who eventually breezed past round the outside of the seven-time champion towards Turn 9 on Lap 12 to take the lead and sprinted away to victory, whilst Russell cleared Gasly for fourth a lap later at Turn 11.
Russell’s race however came to a premature end on Lap 18 as he stopped at the pit exit with a power unit fire, which caused the Virtual Safety Car to be deployed for one lap whilst his Mercedes was removed from the track.
Perez meanwhile struggled to make much inroads during the early stages of the race but found himself 12th by the start of Lap 21, before breezing past Ocon, Piastri and Tsunoda on the following three laps to climb to ninth.
Sainz meanwhile cleared Gasly for fourth with an inside lunge at Turn 3 on Lap 25 after selling a dummy outside move to the Frenchman in the build-up.
Ocon cleared Piastri on Lap 26 for 11th then passed Tsunoda a lap later to improve to 10th with Piastri following through on Lap 29 to demote Tsunoda out of the points.
Up front, Hamilton found himself under pressure from Alonso as the ex McLaren teammates managed their tyres, whilst Alonso attempted to get within DRS range of one second but Hamilton was alert to up his pace whenever appropriate to keep the Spaniard at bay to the checkered flag.
Perez meanwhile cleared Norris and Hulkenberg on Laps 43 and 44 respectively as he continued his charge through the field.
The Safety Car meanwhile made one last appearance on Lap 54 after Kevin Magnussen suffered a rear-right suspension failure after hitting the techpro barriers at Turn 2, which saw his rear-right tyre come loose with debris strewn across the track.
Stewards consequently opted to red flag the race again on Lap 55 to allow marshals time to safely clean the track of debris, whilst everyone opted to switch to soft tyres for the final few laps.
The race eventually resumed under the Safety Car 15 minutes later on Lap 56 with a standing restart at start of Lap 57, from which Verstappen made a clean start to lead Hamilton whilst Sainz spun Alonso at Turn 1 which triggered chaos with several cars making contact between Turns 1-3.
Stewards were left with no option other than to wave the red flag which made this race the first event in F1 history with three separate red flags.
Further mayhem ensured with nobody sure of whether the race was finished or should be restarted with grid reset either to original restart grid or grid at time of red flag – minus the Alpine pair of Gasly and Ocon who collided at Turn 2 amidst the carnage and were eliminated on the spot.
After a lengthy period of discussion, stewards decided that the race would be finished under Safety Car conditions with a rolling start finish, as Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso rounded out the podium following a decision to take the order of the standing grid minus those didn’t recover to pits.
That decision though left Haas fuming after Hulkenberg had climbed to fourth amongst the restart drama, but he was forced to drop to eighth for the restart.
Sainz, Stroll, Perez, Norris and Hulkenberg rounded out the top eight ahead of hometown hero, Piastri who finished ninth whilst Guanyu Zhou completed the top ten.
Sainz though was hit with a five second time penalty amidst the chaotic discussions after he was adjudged as responsible for the chaos, which ultimately dropped him to 12th in the classification.
F1 now takes a four-week Easter break due to the cancellation of Chinese Grand Prix and will resume in Azerbaijan across weekend of 28-30 April.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 58 | 2h 32m 38.371 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 58 | + 0.179 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 58 | + 0.769 |
| 4 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 58 | + 3.082 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 58 | + 3.320 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 58 | + 3.701 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 58 | + 4.939 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 58 | + 5.382 |
| 9 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 58 | + 5.713 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 58 | + 6.052 |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 58 | + 6.513 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 58 | + 6.594 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 56 | Collision |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 56 | Collision |
| 15 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | 56 | Collision |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 56 | Collision |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 52 | Suspension |
| RET | George Russell | Mercedes | 17 | Power |
| RET | Alex Albon | Williams | 6 | Spin |
| RET | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 0 | Spin |