Max Verstappen

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton came home second ahead of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who made it three podiums from three this year.

The Australian Grand Prix featured plenty of chaos on Sunday but it was Max Verstappen who took home first place -- in his first victory at the track.

"Of course we are happy to win the race, but I think the race itself towards the end was a bit of a mess with all the calls," Verstappen said. "It left a lot of drivers confused as to why we needed a second red flag. [Verstappen was out sprinted](https://www.foxnews.com/sports/max-verstappen-starts-f1-title-defense-with-win-bahrain-grand-prix) to the first turn by Russell in a lively opening. On the restart on lap 55, Verstappen was able to hold off Hamilton to the first turn as bedlam unfolded behind his Red Bull, resulting in a reshuffle of the finishing order. Verstappen was pleased to clinch victory but queried the decision by stewards to issue a red flag after a crash on lap 55 of the 58-lap race instead of deploying a safety car. [Australian Grand Prix](https://www.foxnews.com/category/auto/formula-one) on Sunday in remarkable circumstances after a chaotic F1 race filled with drama from the green light to the checkered flag.

Max Verstappen may have won the Australian Grand Prix, but it wasn't an easy Sunday drive for anyone on the grid.

For the first time this season, it was a clean race for them after experiencing “rare issues” in Bahrain, as Norris called it, and an unlucky break in Saudi Arabia. Still, Mercedes seemed stronger in Australia, with Hamilton getting his first podium finish of the season. No. But the previous restart grid order was used, given that the drivers had not finished the first sector. Carlos Sainz tapped Fernando Alonso exiting turn one, sending the Aston Martin spinning as chaos unfolded behind them. As far as results go, Verstappen and Leclerc swapped storylines from last year when the Red Bull driver did not finish in Bahrain and Australia while the [Ferrari](https://theathletic.com/tag/ferrari/)driver won both of those 2022 races. That led to a half-hour waiting game to see how the grand prix would restart. [AlphaTauri](https://theathletic.com/tag/alphatauri/)) [Haas](https://theathletic.com/tag/haas/)) Kevin Magnussen later triggered the second red flag, and absolute mayhem unfolded at the restart. [Mercedes](https://theathletic.com/tag/mercedes/)) Here’s what you need to know from Melbourne:

Max Verstappen held off Lewis Hamilton to claim a maiden Australian Grand Prix victory after a chaotic race, which finished with a processional safety-car ...

Verstappen looked to be cruising to a comfortable win having reclaimed the lead after losing out to George Russell and Hamilton during a frantic opening, but Kevin Magnussen's crash and an ensuing second red flag of the race set up a two-lap sprint to the finish from a standing start. Max Verstappen held off Lewis Hamilton to claim a maiden Australian Grand Prix victory after a chaotic race, which finished with a processional safety-car lap following a wild late restart. - Red Bull driver looked to be cruising to win before late red flag set up two-lap sprint to finish, which was cut short series of collisions leaving race to finish with processional safety-car lap.

Lewis Hamilton has defended his overtake of Max Verstappen on lap one of a chaotic Australian Grand Prix after the reigning world champion questioned ...

"I think Red Bull are a little bit out of the picture so we need to continue to focus on ourselves. "We were right there and everything we've done this weekend has been good. I was surprised when I saw Lewis and Max stay out and I was pretty pleased when I saw that because it played right into our hands. "I would probably do the same if it was the other way around," he said. "I was fully up the inside and I think we both left space for each other. "Max (Verstappen) is in another league, his car is so fast.

Red Bull makes it three wins in three races in a day marred by crashes, renewing talk that it might be unbeatable this year.

It had been a bright day for the pink cars of Alpine, but it all went dark on the last restart after Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon — running fifth and 10th — came together in a chaotic few moments that scrambled the race order and took out six cars. “No, it cannot be, it’s unacceptable!” — Carlos Sainz, of Ferrari, after learning he was assessed a five-second penalty for spinning Alonso on a late restart. The decision was caused by debris on the track after Kevin Magnussen clipped the wall and destroyed his right rear tire. He took the lead from Max Verstappen on the first run but barely got a chance to enjoy the view as he soon came under pressure from his own teammate, Lewis Hamilton. His race ended before he could complete a lap, nudged off the track and into the gravel in a collision with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll on Turn 3. That was position was briefly in doubt, though, after he was spun by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on the last competitive restart of the day. (Ferrari’s forgettable day somehow got worse when a five-second penalty on Carlos Sainz for causing a last-lap crash sent him down to 13th, and Ferrari out of the points.) Within seconds, both were sliding along a wall in the grass, wondering how such a positive afternoon, and the promise of some valuable points, had gone so very wrong. But once Max Verstappen got his hands on first place at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, he never gave it back. The racing, at least for first place, was effectively over. Verstappen sure looked as if he could not be caught, opening a lead of more than 10 seconds at one point, lapping slower drivers with ease and then holding off a last-lap challenge on a final crash-laden restart. “We won, which is of course the most important.”

Max Verstappen won a chaotic Australian Grand Prix, the third round of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship, in a race that was red-flagged three times.

[PrimePrimeFormula 1 ](/f1/news/how-f1s-new-era-has-exposed-the-downside-of-its-most-important-rule/10450392/) That elevated Alonso back to third, ahead of Sainz – who was given a 5s penalty that dropped him from fourth to 12th. Further around the lap, Stroll went off too but continued. Both Alpines then collided and ended their races in the wall, with Before that, Hamilton had kept Alonso at bay for second, with Sainz falling away in the closing stages and Gasly had been right on his tail. Alex Albon ran sixth early on for [Williams](https://www.motorsport.com/team/williams/13/), ahead of Stroll. Verstappen’s lead vanished completely when the red flag flew as Magnussen went off at Turn 2 with four laps remaining, and his car and detached tyre needed recovering. At half distance, Verstappen led by 7s from the closely matched Hamilton and Alonso. Verstappen cruised past Hamilton with DRS on the ultra-fast run to Turn 9 and was already 2s clear when they next crossed the finish line. That meant a second standing start, with Hamilton starting on pole this time, ahead of Verstappen and the Astons. But Verstappen took control after a restart following [Alex Albon](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/alex-albon/109625/)’s big crash, passing Hamilton using DRS in the ultra-fast section ahead of Turn 9 – while Russell went out with an engine fire. Russell pitted for fresh hard tyres, dropping to seventh, allowing Hamilton to inherit the lead, ahead of Verstappen, Alonso and Stroll.

In a race that saw three red flags, Red Bull's Max Verstappen earned his first career Australian Grand Prix victory and the 37th win of his F1 career.

[Sergio Perez](https://frontstretch.com/tag/sergio-perez) recovered from a pit lane start to finish fifth, and [Lando Norris](https://frontstretch.com/tag/lando-norris) earned McLaren’s first points of the year with sixth. Seventh-place [Nico Hulkenberg](https://frontstretch.com/tag/nico-hulkenberg) broke down in turn 2 after crossing the finish line, and hometown star [Oscar Piastri](https://frontstretch.com/tag/oscar-piastri) earned his first career F1 points in eighth. A late braking move in turn 3 allowed his teammate Hamilton to claim second place from Verstappen, before contact with Stroll sent [Charles Leclerc](/tag/charles-leclerc) into the gravel trap and out of the race. Despite the chaos of the early stages, it was only a matter of time before Verstappen was back in his usual position. Originally from North Carolina and now residing in Los Angeles, he joined the site as Sunday news writer midway through 2022 and is an avid collector (some would say hoarder) of die-cast cars. 63, the first time Russell suffered a mechanical DNF since joining Mercedes at the start of 2022. Moments later, the race stewards threw the first red flag of the day to clear gravel from Albon’s incident away from the racing surface. The usually stoic Dutchman also had words for runner-up and ex-title rival Hamilton after a close call on the first lap, saying, “From my side, I just tried to avoid contact. The last half an hour, it was difficult to understand what’s going on, but the race itself it was good for us … Then, entering turn three, [Lance Stroll ](/tag/lance-stroll)out-braked himself and ended up in the gravel. Any cars (such as the two Alpines) incapable of completing the final lap under their own power would be excluded from the results. “To get those points is really amazing today,” said the seven-time champion.

Verstappen makes a comeback for the ages and wins the Australian Grand Prix, but not without some controversy.

Max Verstappen strolled back to victory at the Australian Grand Prix two weeks after falling all the way to second place at the Saudi Arabian GP.

The team is now 30 points behind Mercedes (56 – 26) and in fourth in the standings. From what had looked like a stellar weekend turned into a lost opportunity, and the virtual safety car gave teams another opportunity to pit and a break in the action. Alpine proved to be the biggest loser, with both drivers losing out on top-10 finishes and accumulating a substantial bill for Ocon and Gasly wrecking each other. The problem is the cars did not make it through a timing sector before the red flag came out, so the scoring reverted to the order at the start of lap 56. When Alonso jumped from Alpine to Aston Martin, the move looked to be lateral. After the restart, Verstappen made the perfunctory pass on Hamilton and assumed the top spot. [George Russell](/tag/George-russell) used his front-row start to pip Verstappen on lights out and took over the lead, even stretching out the gap. He was bringing the chaotic juju that changes a race from a standard affair to something resembling havoc and inanity. [Charles Leclerc](/tag/Charles-leclerc), who found himself punted into the gravel on lap 1 after Stroll tagged him, ending his day. [Lando Norris](/tag/lando-norris), who has suffered through a terrible start to 2023, wound up sixth on the day, with [Nico Hulkenberg](/tag/nico-hulkenberg) securing a surprise seventh. [Fernando Alonso](/tag/fernando-alonso) rounded out a podium of champions, with 11 combined between the three of them. His win, the second in 2023, stretched his lead over teammate [Sergio Perez](/tag/Sergio-perez) (69 – 54).

Some Formula 1 fans have complained that Max Verstappen wasn't penalized at the end of the Australian Grand Prix, though it's a case of grasping at straws.

The fourth race on the 2023 Formula 1 schedule is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 30 at 7:00 a.m. The big break in between races is due to the fact that the Chinese Grand Prix had been scheduled at Shanghai International Circuit for Sunday, April 16. Starting in 14th place in Belgium last year, he was still the betting favorite to win, which is simply unheard of. This suggestion is based on how close he lined up to the front of his grid box. Verstappen dropped from first to third place at the start and had a bad restart after the first red flag. Technically, he would have won even if he hadn’t held on, since the order was reverted to what it was before that restart anyway.

Three red flags, three standing starts, and at least three distinct crashes on the final green flag lap of the race could not stop Formula 1's reigning ...

Finishing results were determined by the order on the restart, minus the cars that had crashed out on the restart that was not scored. It led to a bigger issue, too: that extra lap under safety car ended up deciding most of the race, as it meant the restart procedure would begin on lap 56 rather than 55. The race was mathematically over by any sense of the word, but officials waited a very long time for clean-up as they discussed how the disastrous third restart would be officiated and how the race would end. The race was resumed under safety car to finish just one lap, as a full restart procedure would require that warm-up lap and then a second lap of actual racing and there were not enough laps left in the race. A lap into the safety car procedure, F1 officials upgraded the stoppage to a red flag. The real mess started much later, when Kevin Magnussen came to a stop on track with just 3 tires on lap 54 of 58.

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.

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.

Reigning Drivers' Champion Max Verstappen has hit out at the FIA after the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday produced one of the most chaotic races in F1 history. The race featured not only safety cars but also three red flag moments. Advertisement.

After claiming his second victory of the F1 2023 season this past Sunday in Australia, Max Verstappen has increased his points tally to 69 out of a maximum of 78. Verstappen was not the only driver that criticized Verstappen believes that the Australian GP was this chaotic because of FIA’s own doing.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has faced criticism for expressing his dislike of the glitz and glam of Formula 1 despite earning millions from sponsorships, ...

It's better to be known as an honest sinner than a lying hypocrite. Max Verstappen was recently observed criticizing the showmanship and glamor that he has ...

What good is the Ford deal, though? ADVERTISEMENT i just keep saying to myself…. “I don’t like everything else around it. It has always been this way ever since advertisement became a thing and the world became a consumer-driven market. But what were the exact words of Verstappen?