Formula 1

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Red Bull's Max Verstappen claimed his first Australian Grand Prix on Sunday in remarkable circumstances after a chaotic F1 race ...

Max Verstappen held off a revived Lewis Hamilton to steer his Red Bull to a chaotic win at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday and tighten his grip on the ...

It was a bit of a mess but we had good pace and we won, so that's important. "After that, the pace of the car was quick. The world champion began from pole and despite being passed by Mercedes pair George Russell and Hamilton at the start, he kept his cool to win a race red flagged three times, with multiple crashes. The Red Bull triumph came despite unbelievable late drama that saw a red flag come out when Verstappen had a comfortable lead from Hamilton and Alonso with two laps left, meaning they had a bunched restart for an all-out attack to the finish. Max Verstappen held off a revived Lewis Hamilton to steer his Red Bull to a chaotic win at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday and tighten his grip on the world championship. "We had a very poor start, lap one I was careful as I had a lot to lose," said Dutchman Verstappen, who won the season-opening race in Bahrain and came second in Jeddah a fortnight ago.

Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali has praised the 'magic' atmosphere of the Australian Grand Prix and reiterated Melbourne remains 'very important' for the ...

Having replaced Adelaide as the host of the Australian Grand Prix in 1996, Melbourne has grown into one of the staples of the Formula 1 calendar. Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali praised the 'magic' atmosphere of the Australian GP Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali has praised the 'magic' atmosphere of the Australian Grand Prix and reiterated

After a hugely dramatic Australian Grand Prix that featured three red flags, Formula 1's officiators are once more coming under scrutiny for their ...

"How the hell you can put a red flag before?" "(In) the second half, and especially with four laps to go, I feel like you ruin a lot of things. And, because they try and put on a show, you just get unlucky, and everything can get taken away from you all of a sudden. I guess, maybe in the first quarter of the race, I understand it. "I'm not going to disagree with this red flag," Sky Sports F1's David Croft said. "We come all the way to Australia, but it's so much hard work to drive 56, 55 laps perfectly. [Stream the biggest moments on NOW](https://www.nowtv.com/promo/sky-sports?dcmp=articlelink) There was little dispute over the final red flag, with the heavy impact the Alpines experienced and the need to check on their safety - along with all the resulting debris and chaos - a valid reason for the stoppage. It's just strange, but I do understand safety-wise as well." The McLaren driver said: "I kind of hate it. With both the debris and the possibility of the race finishing behind the Safety Car in mind, another red flag was thrown, setting up a theoretical two-lap sprint to the end from a standing start. The clean-up operation began with a recovery vehicle coming on track and lifting the Williams off the ground, but as that was going on, a red flag was thrown with the presence of debris and gravel on track the reason for the decision.

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.

Australian Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen said the Formula 1 officials' red flag decisions directly led to the late pile-up.

But the car itself, it was like in the inside of Turn 4 so felt safe there and the safety car is for those kind of reasons. “We will ask probably in Baku what was the reason for the second. We’ve seen it far worse in the past. So if there is a red flag, it has to be for that reason. So I think the FIA has more information than us. And then you have a normal finish.

Max Verstappen has won a seriously chaotic Australian Grand Prix for the first time to end his Melbourne hoodoo and extend his lead in the drivers' ...

The race is back underway. Verstappen complained Hamilton pushed him wide. In a wild start, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton have overtaken Max Verstappen on the opening lap to put the reigning champion on the back foot. Hamilton held the lead after a standing start but it only took a couple of laps for Verstappen to overtake him in a DRS zone and open up a comfortable lead. Russell got the jump on Verstappen on the start and Hamilton got his elbows out and edged past the Dutchman on Turn 3. George Russell’s race is over after the rear of his Mercedes caught on fire, forcing him to grind to a halt in pit lane with flames coming out of his car. The carnage was so chaotic officials decided to restart the race in the order of the previous start, for a procession lap. Mercedes brought Russell into the pits but the race was red flagged, meaning Russell fell down to seventh when he could have stayed in the lead and had a free pit stop during the delay. Red Bull has won the first three races of a season for the first time ever, while Alonso has finished on the podium in every race so far in 2023. Mercedes were in a prime spot to try and control the race but Alex Albon spun out and sprayed gravel onto the track. Max Verstappen has won a seriously chaotic Australian Grand Prix for the first time to end his Melbourne hoodoo and extend his lead in the drivers’ championship. Verstappen started on pole position but was overtaken by George Russell and Lewis Hamilton on a chaotic opening lap that saw Charles Leclerc crash out of the race.

Haas is protesting the result of Formula 1's Australian Grand Prix over the way the order was decided after the final red flag.

Therefore, it has the potential to amend the order that should have bee used. In Melbourne, the SC2 line is just before Turn 1. The race was immediately red flagged again and with not enough laps remaining to complete another full standing restart, it would end with a rolling restart behind the safety car – meaning no more racing.

Max Verstappen is understood to be in the clear over the positioning of his car on the grid at Formula 1's chaotic Australian Grand Prix.

This is the requirement at a race start as the sporting regulations state it is only an offence to have “any part of the contact patch of its front tyres outside of the lines at the time of the start signal”. But it was speculated that his second win of the season looked might be in jeopardy when images of Verstappen being very far forward in his grid box at the start and subsequent restarts surfaced at the end of the race. Max Verstappen is understood to be in the clear over the positioning of his car on the grid at the start of Formula 1’s chaotic Australian Grand Prix.

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 ...

Red Bull has won the first three races of a season for the first time, while Alonso has finished on the podium in every race so far in 2023. The carnage was so chaotic officials decided to restart the race in the order of the previous start, for a procession lap. On the restart, Verstappen was able to hold Hamilton to the first turn as bedlam unfolded behind his RB19, sparking a massive reshuffle of the finishing order in the 58-lap race.

Spectators managed to break through security and access the track toward the end of the race, with some reaching the car driven by Haas's Nico Hulkenberg as ...

Organisers said a crowd of 131,124 attended Albert Park for Sunday’s race and a record total of 444,631 spectators across the race week. “All of this presented significant danger to the spectators; race officials and the drivers,” stewards said in a statement issued by the governing FIA. Stewards have ordered Australian Grand Prix organisers to urgently produce a “remediation plan” after a large group of spectators invaded the track during the Formula One race at Albert Park on Sunday.

Max Verstappen called it "a bit of a mess". Fernando Alonso used the word "stupid". George Russell said one of the decisions was "totally unnecessary".

The grid was a bit closer here at this venue." On top of that, it appears that it gets a bigger advantage from the DRS overtaking aid than any other. With a session that short, if a driver running early crashed on his first flying lap, the others may run out of time to set a time. There is a desire to get it introduced in time for the next race in Azerbaijan. "And the safety car is for those kind of reasons. This new qualifying would run on Saturday, be shorter than a standard session but in the same knockout format, and set the grid for the sprint race. "We will ask probably in Baku what was the reason for the second. "I was surprised with all the red flags, to be honest," he said. And what should be the positions for that final trundle to the chequered flag? And on the restart there was another crash, and another red flag. And when the red flag came, it turned what could have been an inspired call - but equally might not have been - into a disadvantage. This prompted Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, to say: "I don't really know what's going on with some of the decisions.

Lap-by-lap report: Who will take the chequered flag at Albert Park in Melbourne? Find out with Angus Fontaine.

1/58 Wild start as Max Verstappen misses the start and immediately fall back to third. Still the Williams car is on the kerb, and the Safety Car is back out. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Logan Sargeant from Williams clipped each other in the first frenzy of this race and Leclerc is beached in the gravel and is now officially walking off the track. 8/58 George Russell is in the pits and Lewis Hamilton now leads. With the DRS enabled, Verstappen is now right on Hamilton’s hammer, but Lewis has DRS of his own as he’s within one second of Russell. He sails past Hamilton on the outside and is officially in front. 13/58 Since taking the lead from Hamilton before Turn 9, Verstappen has floored it and is a full two seconds ahead by the end of the lap. 12/58 A straight line appears, DRS is enabled and Verstappen swoops! 15/ 58 Carlos Sainz has seized sixth and Aston Martin’s Stroll is back in seventh. 16/58 Max Verstappen has sparked a cigar and is cruising out front. He’s gone from leading this race to out of it in the space of an hour! Action aplenty at the front and in the middle!

Max Verstappen criticised F1 governing body, the FIA, after he won a chaotic Australian Grand Prix.

“I thought the red flag was totally unnecessary,” he said. “I just didn’t understand why we needed a red flag. The world champion dismissed it as a mess and accused the FIA, the governing body, of being responsible.

The race in Melbourne emphasized how radically F1's rules can reshape a race, for better and worse.

“Someone does something stupid and turn one locks up, and your race is over because (FIA) just want to make the show more exciting.” It all left 12 cars running in a shaken-up order, with Sainz on the podium, Nico Hülkenberg, and Yuki Tsunoda in the top five, and Alonso out of the points. Combined with the standing restarts, which create excitement but also bring the risk of more incidents, today being a case in point, it all added up to one of F1’s stranger recent races. The stewards had no valid reason (like severe weather) to call it over. He may not have been able to hold on — when The Athletic told Horner that Russell thought Mercedes could have won, he replied with a confused: “Why?” — but it at least would have created some fight and strategic variation. And this would be the one that really confused. Verstappen predictably made light work of overtaking Hamilton, recovering the lead on Lap 12 thanks to the Red Bull’s mighty straight-line advantage with DRS in use, and then established a healthy buffer to the chasing pack. One lap after the safety car was deployed, the stewards upgraded the situation to a red flag, calling all the cars off the track to allow for proper cleanup. [Mercedes](https://theathletic.com/tag/mercedes/) on the opening lap, giving George Russell the lead. Hamilton and Verstappen stayed out, meaning that although they inherited first and second, they would be at a strategic disadvantage to Russell as the time lost in the pits is reduced under the safety car due to the slow-moving train of cars. Because the red flag was called on Lap 9, drivers could switch to the hard compound tire and, with a bit of management, run to the end without pitting again. (“What is the only F1 race to have three red flags?”)

The injured motorhead was in ambulance care after narrowly avoiding disaster while sitting with his fiancé.

“It was quite funny, because after the accident with Kevin Magnussen, my partner said, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I feel safe standing here’. “They let me pose for a picture with it and then took it off. When they held it up, I was quite surprised how large it was.” I didn’t think to look for it; I thought it was quite small. “I haven’t spoken to anyone from the race. I just feel lucky that it wasn’t any worse.

With a Formula 1 peak national audience of 934000 viewers, 698000 national viewers tuned in to see Max Verstappen win the chaotic race.

“Thanks to our sponsors such as 7-Eleven and their fuel partner Mobil, Harvey Norman, Shannons Insurance, PlayStation 5, Salesforce and Visit Victoria for joining us over the action-packed weekend. “Melbourne pulled out all stops in the 70th anniversary of the first race at Albert Park and didn’t they turn it on for a stand-out weekend of racing. Racing commentator and 1996 Formula 1 World Champion, Damon Hill, said: “It was an incredible weekend of racing at Albert Park, and I was thrilled to be involved with Network 10’s broadcast and call all the heart-pumping action of F1. In Melbourne, the race recorded 60.8% of viewers in under 50s, 62.9% in 25 to 54s and 49% in 16 to 39s. While a capacity crowd of more than 130,000 people flocked to the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne on Sunday for the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, Australians raced to their screens to catch all the action of the race on 10 and The race claimed victory in the key advertising demographics, under 50s, 25 to 54s and 16 to 39s, as well as total people with a commercial share of 45.5%.

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.

Here's our writers' final verdict on the biggest winners and losers from the race. Winners. Max Verstappen. Motor Racing Formula One World Championship ...

Bottas and Alfa took a big risk by pitting for the hard tyre on lap one, opting to essentially do a reverse of Albon’s point-capturing 2022 strategy by running to the end on those tyres. The fact Pierre Gasly looked by far the most comfortable he has at Alpine so far up to that point and was keeping pace with the podium battle could be a reason to take consolation from this painful day. But the battle it’s in is too close and its competitive position too precarious for Williams to be able to afford to let any opportunities slip. But a point at the very least felt like just deserts for a driver who’s not been without his sceptics during his time in F1 but set a new personal benchmark at the start of 2023. Even when you factor in that penalty, it was only that allowing Tsunoda and AlphaTauri to get off the mark for 2023. – JS

Mark Hughes and Scott Mitchell-Malm join Edd Straw to review the Australian Grand Prix including the red flag and restart controversies.

The Race F1 Podcast is available free to subscribe to from all good podcast suppliers, including Edd Straw, Mark Hughes and Scott Mitchell-Malm gather to explain the controversy and assess whether F1’s current system is fit for purpose. Formula 1’s third race of 2023 was dominated by the red flag and restart controversies that led to a late finish for the stewards.

Verstappen made a slow getaway and lost out to both Mercedes cars. He didn't pit under the first Safety Car but Russell did, so the Dutchman found himself ...

We pitted to the medium tyre following the first safety car, and it just wasn’t the tyre to be on today and I really struggled with it. 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. Hulkenberg though had been running in the points for all of the afternoon, and although he lost out to Perez and Norris, seventh was still a strong result and his first points of the season. Two points are a good return in what has been a challenging weekend: we need to make the most of this little break before Baku to understand how to recapture the pace we had in Bahrain, analyse the data from the car, especially with the new upgrades our team at home was able to produce for this race, and get back stronger for the next rounds.” At the same time, we know we have to stay realistic and have a lot of hard work ahead. I am actually glad to have some time before Baku, to get back to the drawing board and get back in a more competitive shape.” We managed to stay out of trouble and were able to score our first points of the season. I’m so happy to get my first points in Melbourne and want to thank all of the home fans and papaya fans for all their support this week. As we’ve seen across the weekend, it takes a while for the tyres to get up to temperature here and so on the second restart I locked up at turn three and ended up in the gravel. Alonso and Stroll were both in the thick of the action at both the start and subsequent restarts. As for Perez, the early red flag looked to have scuppered his plan to start on the hards and run long, but he was able to extract plenty of pace from his car to climb through the field after starting in the pit lane.

Australian Grand Prix organisers will investigate how a large group of fans accessed the track and how a Formula 1 fan was left bleeding after a piece of ...

Part of it was shredded and really sharp, if it hit me in a different angle, it could’ve been horrendous,” he said. we eventually went to the St John’s ambulance and they patched me up there.” “The debris fences are consistent around the world. [ Sign up for our Sport newsletter](https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/newsletter-signup?newsletter=sport). “Because it was a really dramatic finish, we sort of stood and watched the end of the race ... [People were scrambling](/link/follow-20170101-p5cxjj), partly trying to get out of the way and [others] trying to get a hold of the debris,” Sweet said.

Spectators managed to break through security lines and run onto the track before the end of the race at Albert Park, in Melbourne, on Sunday.

the car was in an unsafe condition with possible electrical discharge). 'A large group of spectators managed to break the security lines and accessed the track while the race was still ongoing,' the report read. Australian Grand Prix fans have been slammed after racing onto the track while Formula One cars were still speeding along it