Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix featured tons of chaos at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, where Max Verstappen ultimately survived to come out on top.
The race began in chaotic enough fashion, as Lance Stroll made contact with Charles Leclerc on just the third turn of the first lap, forcing the event’s defending winner to retire before the race had even really gotten underway in earnest.
That was just the beginning of the circus, too. The race would go on to see three red flags and eight total cars retired before Verstappen finally closed it out.
The most chaotic of the red flags occurred on the restart of the second-to-last lap of the race, when Alpine Racing drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon crashed into each other.
Both Gasly and Ocon were firmly entrenched in the top ten with two laps remaining and were ensured of capturing points for their team prior to the crash, which scuttled all of that.
Additionally, on the same lap, Carlos Sainz was assessed a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso. That penalty resulted in Sainz finishing outside the top ten.
Overcoming all the twists and turns, Verstappen ended up capturing his first career Australian Grand Prix win. Lewis Hamilton finished second while Alonso placed third.
Sergio Perez, who experienced technical issues affecting the brake balance on his car, slid off the track in the first round of qualifying and started the race from the pit before climbing all the back to P5 while also securing the fastest lap and taking Driver of the Day honors.
The Red Bull team has now secured three consecutive first-place finishes. There are still 20 more races in 2023, but with Ferrari continuing to sputter along, it will be interesting to see if any other team is able to step up to challenge Red Bull upcoming.
