Max Verstappen received the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday after two late crimson flags and a slew of crashes threw the race into chaos earlier than the Pink Bull driver was allowed a processional victory lap round Albert Park.
Double defending champion Verstappen was main Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton with just a few laps left when Kevin Magnussen crashed his Haas right into a wall, leaving particles on the monitor and halting the race.
The automobiles returned to the grid with contemporary tyres for a two-lap dash to determine the winner however in a chaotic restart, Williams driver Logan Sargeant drove into the again of AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries to knock each of them into gravel at flip one.
Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon then crashed into one another to depart a path of particles on the monitor and set off one other crimson flag, the third and final of the race.
After prolonged deliberations, stewards determined the race would end with one lap behind a security automotive within the order of the earlier begin – minus the automobiles that had crashed out.
That allowed Verstappen to say his second win of the season forward of Hamilton with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso third in a race through which eight of the 20 automobiles failed to complete.
Pink Bull have now received all three grands prix within the new season, a report for the staff, resuming their dominance after their runaway success in 2022.
“It was a little bit of a multitude however we survived every thing …. and we received, which after all is an important,” Verstappen mentioned after his first victory at Albert Park and Pink Bull’s first since 2011.
“That is a very good weekend for us, we’ve to be proud of that.”
The Dutchman has 69 factors within the championship race, 15 forward of staff mate Sergio Perez.
Alonso, third in all three races, is third within the standings on 45 factors.
Pink Bull, on 123 factors, have opened up an enormous lead within the constructors championship forward of second-placed Aston Martin (65) and third positioned Mercedes (56).
ON FIRE
Mercedes’ first podium of the season was soured with George Russell struggling his first retirement for the staff after dropping energy and rolling to a halt together with his engine on fireplace early on.
“It’s actually unfortunate for George right this moment on our aspect,” mentioned seven-times world champion Hamilton.
“In any other case, to get these factors is absolutely superb right this moment. I positively didn’t count on to be second so I’m so grateful for it.”
It was a darkish day for Ferrari with Charles Leclerc knocked out of the race on the first flip after being clipped by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
His Ferrari staff mate Carlos Sainz survived all of the carnage and was in line to complete fourth however a five-second penalty for making contact with Alonso left him demoted to twelfth and raging on the staff radio.
Stroll took fourth as an alternative in an enormous day for Aston Martin, with Perez putting fifth after beginning his race from the pit lane following his disastrous qualifying on Saturday.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was sixth forward of Haas’s seventh-placed Nico Hulkenberg.
McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri celebrated his first factors with an eighth-place end, whereas Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the highest 10.
Verstappen needed to get well from a poor begin as he misplaced his result in each Russell and Hamilton within the first three turns.
However after two early security automobiles and a crimson flag when Williams driver Alex Albon crashed out, Verstappen reclaimed the lead by passing Hamilton on the twelfth lap after Russell pitted for an early tyre change.
Verstappen opened up an enormous hole earlier than the late crimson flags noticed the race flip from procession to drama and again once more.
Drivers and staff bosses queried whether or not the crimson flags have been mandatory, or whether or not security automobiles might need saved loads of trouble.
“Clearly, outcomes like this are good for some groups and dangerous for others,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff advised reporters.
“We simply want to know going ahead when are crimson flags being pulled out and what’s a security automotive?”