Verstappen claims maiden Australian GP victory

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen has claimed his maiden Australian Grand Prix victory, which marks the 37th win of his career.

Meanwhile, the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team veteran and seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton took his first podium of 2023 by finishing second after the Dutchman.

At third place was seasoned driver Fernando Alonso, who has surprisingly performed well after switching teams from Alpine F1 Team to Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team.

The race started with Verstappen kicking off from pole. However, Hamilton’s teammate George Russel, quickly powered to take the lead in Turn 1 — and by Turn 3, the race was led by the two Silver Arrow cars as Hamilton slipped past Verstappen at this point.

Unfortunately, a collision — that merited a Safety Car to be deployed — soon unfolded behind the race leaders.

Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was tagged by Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Lance Stroll and the Monagesque was pushed into the gravel trap where he was forced to retire.

The race was resumed at the end of lap three and the drivers kept their position with the two Brits — Russel and Hamilton — at first and second place respectively and Verstappen at third.

On lap seven, though, the Safety Car appeared again, this time for Williams F1’s Alex Albon, who lost control of his car and crashed.

The situation prompted the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team to pit Russel to switch to hard tires. Scuderia Ferrari followed suit and boxed Carlos Sainz, who also switched to hard tires.

Both race drivers emerged from the pit lane at seventh and 11th place, respectively.

However, pitting their drivers proved to be a bad call for both Merc and Ferrari as debris and a substantial amount of gravel on the track resulted in a red flag and the race was suspended. On that note, the rest of the field got an opportunity to change tires ahead of a standing restart.

After the dust settled, Hamilton ended up in first place followed by Verstappen and Alonso.

Verstappen — aided by the Drag Reduction System (DRS) — swooped past Hamilton to take the lead.

On Lap 18, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed for Russell. The Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team driver pulled over at the pit exit with flames at the rear of his car.

Another incident happened on lap 54 when Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen hit the barriers in Turn 2. The Safety Car was once again released, but the debris on the track prompted another red flag.

When the race restarted, Verstappen made a good start to hold the lead ahead of Hamilton, but behind the top two Alonso was clipped by Sainz and the spinning Aston Martin sent Alpine’s Gasly wide.

With chaos reigning the red flags were shown again.

“The remaining cars filed back to the pit to await Race Control’s ruling on how the race would finish. And when the decision came it was straightforward. The grid would form based on the previous starting order with the crashed cars removed. With a single lap remaining the cars would be led across the line by the Safety Car and with no overtaking allowed until the finish line, Verstappen's second win of the season was assured,” the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) wrote in a press release.

Photos from Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and Formula 1

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