Australian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen wins a surreal race marked by three red flags

Formula 1 headed to the Albert Park circuit in Australia for its third round of the season, after two earlier races held in the Middle East. While Max Verstappen took pole position, all eyes will be on the surprise of Saturday: the Mercedes in 2nd and 3rd position.

Ranked last in qualifying, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez started from the pit lane after breaking the Parc Fermé regulations: battery and ECU change on the Red Bull, modified suspension settings on the Alfa Romeo. On the other hand, Mercedes changed George Russell’s gearbox due to a sensor issue, without resulting in a penalty for the British driver, who finished second.

George Russell takes the lead shortly after the lights go out, followed by Lewis Hamilton who also disregards the Dutchman’s priority. Let us note Max Verstappen’s complaint on the radio: « He pushed me off the track! I was ahead at the apex, he pushed me to the outside ».”

On his side, Charles Leclerc goes off track after being hit by Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, and gets stuck, causing the deployment of the safety car on the first lap. A big disappointment right from the start for the Monegasque.

Esteban Ocon takes advantage of this to go through the pits and make a tire change to switch to the hard compound. Alpine’s strategy is probably to go all the way to the end of the race with these tires. Speaking of tires, three quarters of the grid are on medium compounds, with the exception of the last five, who are on hard compounds, and Pierre Gasly, who is on softs.

Premier drapeau rouge

On the 6th lap, Lewis Hamilton decides to step up his game and tries to attack his teammate, as the DRS is finally enabled after this eventful start of the race. However, Alex Albon makes a mistake and triggers another Safety Car, as the track is littered with gravel. George Russell takes advantage of this opportunity to change his tires and opts for the hard compound, just like Ocon did on the 1st lap.

After a few minutes, the management decides to raise the red flag following this accident which damaged the safety barriers. The Thai driver fortunately emerges unscathed, despite a high-speed impact.

This flag is very bad news for George Russell, who had just pitted, as now everyone can change their tires during this interruption. The Briton will start in 6th position, while his teammate will start first. Disappointment also for Carlos Sainz, who had also pitted and will start in 11th place.

At the restart, in a standing start form, Hamilton keeps his position, but the Dutchman eventually takes first place from him one lap later with the help of DRS, and quickly pulls away from the Brit. The Red Bull is on another level. Meanwhile, Russell has gained two positions, now 5th. Behind, there is a little battle between Gasly, Stroll, and Sainz. The Spaniard is very hungry and overtakes the Canadian without difficulty before setting off towards the Frenchman.

Russell’s car on fire

On lap 17, a battle between two world champions, Hamilton and Alonso, takes us out of the slow pace that the race has been taking. And then, a new twist: George Russell’s car is on fire. The British driver stops on the track and triggers a virtual safety car.

At lap 25, Carlos Sainz makes a great overtaking move on Pierre Gasly and now sits in fourth place, just outside the podium spots. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez is slowly climbing up the grid and is now in the points in 9th position behind Norris, but he can’t seem to easily pass the McLaren driver. Ocon, on the other hand, overtakes Piastri and also finds himself in the points, trailing the Mexican.

While Max Verstappen seemed to be dozing off in front, he locks up his front tires on lap 48 and goes off into the grass. Tension fills the faces at Red Bull, as the Dutchman loses a few seconds of his commanding lead and his tires may have suffered. He is now 7.5 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

Second and… third red flag

On lap 54, Kevin Magnussen takes us out of this monotonous race after hitting a wall and losing a tire which ends up on the track, along with numerous debris. The safety car is therefore deployed towards the end of the race. The Mercedes mechanics are ready to change Hamilton’s tires for the occasion, which could be a great opportunity for him to overtake Verstappen. The Dutchman has everything to lose in this situation… And then, another twist of events: the red flag is waved, just two laps before the end. An opportunity not to be missed for the British driver.

So we are entitled to a mini sprint to conclude this crazy race, which resumes with a standing start. Max Verstappen makes a good start this time, as does Hamilton, but behind them, it’s carnage. Alonso gets hit by Sainz and spins out. Two Alpines, an AlphaTauri, and a Williams are also destroyed in multiple collisions at the start: Pierre Gasly missed his braking point and collided with his teammate, ending their race against the wall. Logan Sargeant collided with Nyck de Vries at the first corner. On the other hand, Perez went straight into the gravel at the first corner, but he remains in the running. Therefore, it’s a new red flag, one lap before the end.

The race management ultimately decides on a rolling start to finish this Grand Prix, which takes on surreal tones, with Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, and Sainz leading, as the previous classification is applied for the restart, excluding those who retired. Thus, we conclude with a podium in the aforementioned order. Max Verstappen emerges as the winner of this race, which will undoubtedly go down in history. It is worth noting Carlos Sainz’s five-second penalty for his collision with Alonso, despite the race management having nullified the previous lap before the final red flag.

The ranking of the Australian Grand Prix