Max Verstappen all smiles after first Australian GP win, praises car's 'quick pace'

Max Verstappen held off a revived Lewis Hamilton to steer his Red Bull to a chaotic win at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday and tighten his grip on the world championship.

The world champion began from pole and despite being passed by Mercedes pair George Russell and Hamilton at the start, he kept his cool to win a race red flagged three times, with multiple crashes.

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

READ: 2023 Australian Grand Prix remembered for red flags and continuous chaos

"We had a very poor start, lap one I was careful as I had a lot to lose," said Dutchman Verstappen, who won the season-opening race in Bahrain and came second in Jeddah a fortnight ago.

"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 was a disastrous day for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, last year's winner, who spun out on the first lap, while Russell's car caught fire on lap 19 and his race too was over.

Victory was Verstappen's maiden win in Melbourne and Red Bull's first in Australia since Sebastian Vettel's 2011 triumph.

His teammate and winner in Saudi Arabia Sergio Perez sliced through the field to come fifth after qualifying last due to brake issues, behind Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin.

The race-winning move by Max Verstappen on Lewis Hamilton!! ????‍??#AusGP #F1 @Max33Verstappen pic.twitter.com/9iry7Vo0f0

Late drama

The Red Bull triumph came despite unbelievable late drama that saw a red flag come out when Verstappen had a comfortable lead from Hamilton and Alonso with two laps left, meaning they had a bunched restart