Max Verstappen wins Australian Grand Prix ahead of much-improved Lewis Hamilton after chaotic finish

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took the chequered flag at a chaotic Australian Grand Prix to seal his second win of the 2023 Formula One season at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne. After a total of three red flags, multiple safety cars, and a series of crashes late on, there was a lot of confusion that delayed the finish to the race, but the reigning world champion eventually took a deserved victory. Ad Lewis Hamilton secured second place for his first podium finish of the season in the Mercedes, and Fernando Alonso once again rounded off the top three in the Aston Martin.

Australian Grand PrixVerstappen takes pole position from Russell and Hamilton as Perez crashesA DAY AGO Verstappen, who started on pole position, did not have the best of starts, and was jumped by both Mercedes cars on the first lap. On the same lap, Charles Leclerc was tagged from behind by the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll into Turn 3, which saw the Ferrari go into the gravel trap, which ended his race and brought out an early safety car. A second safety car was deployed on Lap 7, as Alex Albon saw his Williams go into the wall at Turn 7.

A lap later, race control opted to show a red flag to halt proceedings due to gravel on the circuit. George Russell, who led the first part of the race, was a major loser out of it, as Mercedes had opted to pit him under the safety car. The call dropped him to seventh.

Hamilton initially led the pack at the restart, but his lead did not last long, as Verstappen eased past the Mercedes with the help of DRS down the back straight. Russell’s afternoon then went from bad to worse, as the Mercedes driver was forced to retire with a power unit failure on Lap 18. With Verstappen pulling out a gap of 7.5 seconds over Hamilton