@Max33Verstappen takes victory in drama-filled #AustralianGP. #F1 #AusGP

Verstappen Australian GP Victory – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen beat 2021 title-rival Lewis Hamilton to take victory in a crazy Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, which ended in farcical scenes after a late second red flag of three in a chaotic successive restart.

 

 

Verstappen had dominated most of the Grand Prix despite initially losing the lead from pole to Mercedes’ George Russell and Hamilton, before the first red flag came following Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon crashing out solo, scattering debris and gravel all over the track.

 

At the second standing start, Hamilton kept his lead, but as soon as DRS was re-enabled, Verstappen flew by the Mercedes around the outside and into P1 and built a lead he would not ultimately lose, but with a series of drama and confusion scenes to come.

 

The first red flag meant none of the race leaders completed any in-race pit-stops as they were allowed to change their starting rubber under the stoppage, which was what set Russell’s place in the field from which he pushed until his engine erupted in flames at the end of the Grand Prix’s third quarter of proceedings.

 

For most of the 58-lap Australian GP, there was little action at the front of the pack as Verstappen dropped Hamilton and built his gap to a ten-second advantage, which was only cut when the Dutchman took an off-track excursion onto the grass at the penultimate turn 13 left-hand corner and complained about front brake-locking.

 

At this point Hamilton was keeping Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at arm’s length whilst the teams worked out if their stints to the finish could be done without requiring another set of tyres.

 

They were increasing their pace – switching fastest laps with Verstappen in-front – when the concluding bizarreness began, starting with Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen unusually running off the track by himself exiting turn two and hitting the nearby wall with the right-rear of his VF-23 racer.

 

This fell off as the Dane ran towards turn three and that, along with Magnussen parking inside turn four, lead to the Grand Prix being stopped again, with a two-lap dash set to conclude the race.

 

When this began, Verstappen swept across Hamilton’s Mercedes and covered the inside line into the opening corner, from where Alonso exited in-front of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and was then clipped by the SF-23 racer and spun towards the barriers Magnussen had struck.

 

Being, more drama unfolded as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly locked-up hard behind Sainz and went off at the second turn along with a few other cars and as the Frenchman rejoined, he collided with team-mate Esteban Ocon, ruining what could have been a solid result for the Anglo-French based-outfit and most especially for Gasly as he had been battling with Ferrari’s Sainz for most of the proceedings.

 

Before the red flags came out a third time, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll slipped into the gravel trap at turn three whilst fighting with Sainz, appearing to also destroy the Silverstone based-squad’s previous great positions.

 

But after the race was suspended, crucially before Verstappen had gotten through the opening sector-timing line, a half-an-hour delay following with only one lap remaining from the 58 in total as sport’s governing body, the FIA, worked out how they would conclude the event.

 

It was eventually decided, much like last year’s British Grand Prix, that the previous grid start order would be used minus the cars that could not take a fourth and last restart.

 

This was a rolling-start behind the safety car, which meant no overtaking and so Verstappen blasted on to take the Australian GP victory to win under no threat from Mercedes’ Hamilton and the restored Alonso in third.

 

They were followed to the flag by Sainz, but he had already copped a five-second timed-addition penalty for hitting fellow Spanish-compatriot Alonso at the third standing start –

 

Sainz, was absolutely furious about not being able to plead his case to the race stewards, thus was relegated to 12^th in the classifications, making it pointless weekend for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc was forced to retire in the turn three gravel trap on the lap one after turning in and finding Stroll on his inside and getting sent around in what was declared a racing incident.

 

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez made a charge from starting in the pit-lane and produced the most action of the Grand Prix during its main phase, as he put in overtake after overtake on slower rivals into the swift turn nine-ten left-right sweepers.

 

The Mexican reached seventh place by the second red flag, but was very lucky to end the day in fifth as he had been battling Gasly in the third restart drama and went deep into the gravel trap and dropped to the rear of the field before being boosted back up by the FIA’s ruling.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg put in an entertaining fight during the pre-Magnussen red flag events, and they finished sixth and seventh respectively in-front of home hero Oscar Piastri who was eighth in the other MCL60 racer.

 

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten and ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who was 11^th and the aforementioned penalised Sainz.

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2023 Australian GP – The Top Three

 

 

2023 Australian GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing-RBPT Honda:

“We had a very poor start; Lap 1 I was careful as I had a lot to lose. After that, the pace of the car was quick. With these red flags, I don’t know, I don’t really understand. It was a bit of a mess, but we had good pace and we won, so that’s important. It’s great to win here, my first win [here] as well.”

 

2^nd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W14:

“Unlucky for George today, really unfortunate. I didn’t expect to be second so I’m super grateful for it. I still feel uncomfortable in the car though, I’m driving as best I can and working as hard as I can but still, considering we’ve been down on performance and in straight pace, for us to be up there fighting with Aston is amazing. We can close that gap – it’s going to be tough but not impossible.”

 

3^rd Place – Fernando Alonso, #14, Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team, AMR23:

“We had a rollercoaster of emotions today, many things going on at the beginning, and the last half an hour! Mercedes were very fast, and Lewis did an incredible job – I could not match the pace, but we’ll take P3. The first red flag helped us get places for three, the second one didn’t help. P3, P4 for the team is an amazing Sunday.”

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Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2023 Race Results Classification (58 Laps)

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	58	2:32:38.371	25
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	58	+0.179s	18
3	14	Fernando Alonso	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	58	+0.769s	15
4	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	58	+3.082s	12
5	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	58	+3.320s	11
6	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	58	+3.701s	8
7	27	Nico Hulkenberg	HAAS FERRARI	58	+4.939s	6
8	81	Oscar Piastri	MCLAREN MERCEDES	58	+5.382s	4
9	24	Zhou Guanyu	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	58	+5.713s	2
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT	58	+6.052s	1
11	77	Valtteri Bottas	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	58	+6.513s	0
12	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	58	+6.594s	0
13	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPINE RENAULT	56	DNF	0
14	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	56	DNF	0
15	21	Nyck De Vries	ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT	56	DNF	0
16	2	Logan Sargeant	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	56	DNF	0
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	52	DNF	0
NC	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	17	DNF	0
NC	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	6	DNF	0
NC	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	0	DNF	0

* Provisional results. Note – Perez scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Sainz received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1143/australia/race-result.html

 

Click here for the 2023 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings here.

 

Round four of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Baku Street Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023 from Friday April 28-Sunday April 30.

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#F1 #AustralianGP Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen storms to pole. #AusGP

#F1 #AusGP FP2 & FP1 Round-up: @alo_oficial tops damp FP2 & @Max33Verstappen quickest in FP1.

#F1 @Rolex #AustralianGP 2023 Preview. @ausgp #Formula1 #AustralianGrandPrix