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Tyres NorthamptonTwo unbelievable final laps at F1's Australian Grand Prix left a bitter taste in the mouths of fans, drivers, and teams as questionable decision-making and four crashed cars ended an otherwise enjoyable race. Red Bull's Max Verstappen won from a pole position start, but anyone who looked at the starting vs finishing order would miss the many crazy stories that ran through the race.
Verstappen had to earn his win after the reigning champion fell from his P1 starting position to the fast-starting Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. After a Russell retirement and a pass for the lead, the Dutch driver faced the lottery of a late-race standing restart where his won could so easily have disappeared.
A surprisingly buoyant Mercedes team ran 1-2 through the race's early stages, with Russell's better start from P2 enough to edge by Verstappen into Turn 1 and Hamilton inching ahead into the Turn 3 braking zone. The front three raced hard but had no order change. Albert Park had four DRS zones available on race day for the first time, and Russell gave Hamilton regular DRS to negate Verstappen's speed advantage.
Last year's Australian hero Alex Albon couldn't emulate the same success of running 57 laps on Pirelli's hard tyre in 2023, instead crashing on Lap 7 after taking the Turn 6 right-hander too fast. The resulting safety car had teams scrambling to take advantage, with Mercedes crucially pitting Russell to gain a free stop and an edge over Verstappen.
Ferrari also looked to benefit from the slowdown with Carlos Sainz in a recovery day for the Italians following a Lap 1 crash for Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque racer turned in on Lance Stroll on the opening lap to end his long-haul trip to Australia in the Turn 3 gravel trap. Although Mercedes and Ferrari made the right call, Russell and Sainz soon lost out.
The safety car turned into a surprising red flag stoppage to allow marshals time to clean up the gravel and debris from Albon's crash. Every driver returned to the pit lane, free to swap their Pirellis and take their mandatory tyre change with no time loss.
The restart saw Hamilton lead Verstappen, with Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin trying to edge by the Red Bull at Turn 1 before settling for a third P3 in three 2023 races.
Without Russell's DRS to aid him, Hamilton soon fell to Verstappen on the long left-hand run into the Turn 9 chicane as the Red Bull's superior speed showed its strength again. Meanwhile, Russell overtook Pierre Gasly and had closed in on Alonso in his bid to return to the front, but his race came to a fiery end with an old-school engine failure in the final sector.
A virtual safety car period followed before the race focus switched further back to Sergio Perez's fight through the order. While Verstappen led Hamilton and Alonso at the front, the Mexican had started a spirited fightback from a pit lane start after crashing out in qualifying.
Perez had reached P12 by Russell's retirement and began recovering as many points as possible with an overtake every lap on midfield rivals for three laps running. After a slight stall in progress without DRS to help him, the Mexican passed Lando Norris and a high-flying Nico Hulkenberg to sit in P7 before Melbourne's final twist.
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Kevin Magnussen smashed the Turn 2 exit wall with only five laps remaining, and, as with Albon earlier, the resulting safety car period switched into a red flag, but with only two laps left to run. Confusion and disbelief filled the team radio, with even Hamilton and Alonso, who might fancy a win, seeming dismayed at a third race 'start'.
Chaotic scenes followed the final grid restart of the day, with Sainz tagging Alonso at Turn 1 to spin the Aston Martin around, Logan Sargeant crashing into Nyck de Vries under braking to end both rookies' days, Pierre Gasly, who was running an excellent P5, veering into teammate Esteban Ocon to leave both Alpine cars destroyed, and Stroll going straight on at Turn 3 before red flag number three halted proceedings.
Confusion at what just happened turned into confusion about what would happen. A lengthy delay eventually had a fourth race restart, with the safety car leading the remaining 12 drivers around for the race's final lap. The stewards issued Sainz a penalty for his contact with Alonso and, together with the Alpine retirements, Oscar Piastri, Guanyu Zhou, and Yuki Tsunoda found themselves leaving Australia with points after running in the bottom 10 just two laps prior.
With F1 now facing four weeks off before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the end of April, there'll be plenty of debate regarding Australia's final moments and whether a safety car finish would suffice. Irrespective, Max Verstappen heads into F1's early break leading the championship by 15 points to bolster the chances of his third world championship.