Australian GP Results: What Happened In This Chaotic Race?

Your Sports Illustrated report of the Australian Grand Prix.

With the Australian qualifying catching a few drivers out as they struggle to turn on their tyres, the Albert Park promised to be one of the most interesting races so far. And it definitely lived up to expectations!

Mercedes surprised us with a 2-3 qualifying result yesterday with George Russell clinching the first row, but Red Bull wasn't so lucky with Sergio Perez starting from the pit lane today thanks to leaving the track in Q1 and beaching his RB19.

Standout Moments

Turn 1 saw George Russell take a good lead over Max Verstappen with Lewis Hamilton quickly following. Charles Leclerc went off the track on the T3 after a small collision with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, beaching his Ferrari and bringing his race in Australia to an early end with a safety car. 

We saw a slurry of cars hit the pits for medium tyres, with Perez instead choosing hards to try and build up some places from the back.

On restart, it was evident that the Red Bull was not going to let the Mercedes drivers pull away with Verstappen, but before only seven laps and a brilliant qualifying from Alex Albon, the Williams driver left the track, hitting the wall and ending his race early. George Russell used this opportunity to lap for hard tyres, leaving Hamilton as the race leader ahead of Max Verstappen but a red flag threw this strategy into the bin leaving Russel in P7 on the restart.

A standing start restarts the race with Hamilton, Verstappen, and Alonso on hards. But due to the British driver keeping such a huge gap between himself and the safety car causing a commotion at the back, he quickly went under investigation, but he was perfectly within regulation.

Verstappen quickly outpaced Hamilton under DRS taking the lead quickly and pulling out of DRS range forming a gap of over two seconds very quickly. In the meantime, Russell pushed up the pack to P4 but a power unit failure ended his race on the 18th lap. A virtual safety car was deployed thanks to him being able to stop off the track on the pit exit.

It didn't take long for Verstappen to create a huge gap between himself and the rest of the pack, but in the meantime, Lando Norris had moved up 5 places since the start of his race showing great stamina against Perez's RB before eventually bowing out to the car's powerful DRS. Meanwhile, Sainz slowly started putting the pressure on Alonso, pushing the Spaniard to defend, losing a bit of time on Hamilton.

Lap 48 saw Max Verstappen lock up at the front, losing 4 seconds to Lewis Hamilton who was also picking up his pace to match Alonso's attack. He still held a huge gap over the Brit, but it showed a little weakness in the chainmail of the RB19.

Kevin Magnussen's race came to an end as he hit a wall, losing his rear right wheel on lap 54. The wheel of the Haas, sat in the middle of the track, caused a safety car and eventually a red flag, the second of the race. This wasn't taken kindly by the drivers with a lot of them complaining, especially Max Verstappen who suddenly became aware of the fight he now had on his hands. 

With the race restarted, Piere Glasy and Esteban Ocon took each other out, and in total, six cars left the track including Fernando Alonso. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton retained their 1-2 positions respectively. Fortunately for the Aston Martin driver, this lap was void, so the cars were placed back in the order of the restart, minus the cars that couldn't continue under their own power, and guided through the last lap under safety car. 

A penalty for Carlos Sainz for hitting Alonso takes him out of the points.

Absolute chaos, and we loved it. Especially when the race ended with another red flag as Nico Hulkenberg's Haas fails. He still finishes in P7. 

Results

1. Max Verstappen
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Fernando Alonso
4. Lance Stroll
5. Sergio Perez
6. Lando Norris
7. Nico Hulkenberg
8. Oscar Piastri
9. Zhou Guanyu
10. Yuki Tsunoda
11. Valtteri Bottas
12. Carlos Sainz