Australian Grand Prix Live! - All the latest from Albert Park for third race of the Formula 1 season!

Formula 1 | Australian Grand Prix

Albert Park | 02.04.2023

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ByThe Editorial Team

Updated 02/04/2023 at 07:41 GMT

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-LAP 58/58 - VERSTAPPEN WINS THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX The cars come over the line very slowly, but Verstappen takes the chequered flag ahead of Hamilton and Alonso. Sainz, who crosses the line in P4, has been classified as 12th because of the penalty, which promotes Tsunoda up into P10.

BREAKING REPORT

Thanks for joining this coverage, which included a very strange race ending!

Australian Grand Prix

Chaotic Australian GP finish sees Verstappen take victory ahead of Hamilton

02/04/2023 at 10:38

58/58

LAP 58/58 - VERSTAPPEN WINS THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

The cars come over the line very slowly, but Verstappen takes the chequered flag ahead of Hamilton and Alonso.

Sainz, who crosses the line in P4, has been classified as 12th because of the penalty, which promotes Tsunoda up into P10.

58/58

LAP 58/58 - ROLLING START

We are back out. The Safety Car will peel into the pits before the end of the lap, and the race will finish in this order, with no overtaking permitted.

PENALTY FOR SAINZ!

Sainz, who lines up P4 for this restart, has been handed a five second penalty for his collision with Alonso. This may see him not score a point today.

TEN MINUTES UNTIL RACE END

There will be ten minutes until the race ending officially behind the safety car in this order.

NEWS!

The race will restart in the order that they restarted the race on Lap 56 - minus the cars who are not able to go under their own steam.

So it means the top ten classification will be...

VER, HAM, ALO, SAI, STR, PER, NOR, HUL, PIA, ZHO

58/58

LAP 58/58 - STILL UNDER RED FLAG

People at the Haas team are arguing that the race should finish in the current order behind the safety car as we have yet to complete the full 58 lap race distance. Let's see what happens! With a lot of cars now out because of the chaos at the restart, it would change things dramatically!

58/58

LAP 58/58 - CONFUSION!

As the cars may not have passed the end of Sector One before the red flag came out, the race may end in the order that the cars lined up on the grid for the restart. Everyone is incredibly nervous at the moment as we wait to find out!

57/58

LAP 57/58 - HERE WE GO! LIGHTS OUT! BUT RED FLAG!

There is chaos! Verstappen leads into the first corner, but Alonso gets tagged by Sainz from behind and spins out! That incident also sees the two Alpines take avoiding action and hit each other going into Turn 3! It does not look like the two see each other.

Then intoTurn 3, Stroll goes into the gravel! There is a lot of debris on the track and we have another red flag!

56/58

LAP 56/58 - CARS ARE BACK OUT FOR FORMATION LAP

The cars are back out there! They make their way around the circuit before they line up the grid for the third standing start of this race. Things are looking exciting.

56/58

LAP 56/58 - RED FLAG!

We have a red flag! The race is suspended. This is the correct call, as it means that we have a one or two lap shootout to the flag at the end of the Grand Prix!

The reason for this red flag is because of rear rim debris on the track. The race will start again in around ten minutes.

54/58

LAP 54/58 - SAFETY CAR NUMBER THREE!

Magnussen has a tangle with the barrier into Turn 2, and loses his right rear tyre! It is on the circuit in a dangerous place on the racing line. The Haas has to pull over on the side of the circuit and that triggers a safety car as both the car and the tyre have to be removed.

With just four laps remaining, this race might just finish behind the safety car.

52/58

LAP 52/58 - GREAT MOVE FROM LANDO!

Norris makes the move stick at the third time of asking and gets past Hulkenberg at the penultimate corner. Great overtake!

48/58

LAP 48/58 - VERSTAPPEN MAKES A RARE MISTAKE!

The leader of the Grand Prix makes a mistake at the final corner! He locks the front tyres and goes off the track. That error has cost him a total of four seconds, but he still remains 7.5 clear of Hamilton in second.

43/58

LAP 43/58 - PEREZ NOW PAST NORRIS

Perez has now got past Norris with the help of DRS after a frustrating ten laps or so stuck behind the McLaren. The next lap, the Red Bull gets past Nico Hulkenberg in the Haas, and he is now up into P7 after starting from stone-dead last. Can he catch Stroll?

40/58

LAP 40/58 - NOTHING MUCH TO REPORT

We have 19 laps remaining here at Albert Park. It has come to the point in the race where the drivers are beginning to worry about the life of their harder compound tyres.

Verstappen continues to set fastest laps, and his around 9.8 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Meanwhile, Hamilton in P2 continues to hold of Alonso, who is 1.7 seconds behind the Mercedes driver. You feel that this could potentially go down to the wire here.

Sainz is in P4, with Gasly just behind in fifth.

30/58

LAP 30/58 - VERSTAPPEN EIGHT CLEAR OF HAMILTON

Verstappen has continued to pull out the gap out in front. It now stands at over eight seconds.

Meanwhile, Alonso has closed the gap down on Hamilton to 1.2 seconds. Pete Bonnington, Hamilton's engineer, has come on the radio to tell his driver to be careful not to overheat his hard tyres as he prepares to defend his position to the Aston just behind.

25/58

LAP 25/58 - AGGRESSIVE MOVE!

Sainz dummies Gasly down into Turn 3, and makes the move stick! What a great, and aggressive move. The Alpine has proven to be difficult to pass so far, so this is good news for Ferrari. He is up into P4 now. Can he catch Alonso up the road?

20/58

LAP 21/58 - PEREZ IS CLAWING HIS WAY THROUGH THE PACK

The Mexican is making his way through the field with a series of good overtakes. This time he gets past Ocon down the back straight and into the fast chicane. A great move. He is now up into P11, with Piastri and Tsunoda just ahead of him up the road.

The next lap, Perez gets past the McLaren of Piastri and he is now up into the points.

18/58

LAP 18/58 - RUSSELL IS OUT!

George Russell pulls over to the side of the main start/finish straight as fire steams out of the back of the Mercedes car.

What a torrid afternoon for the Briton, who made such a great start at the beginning of the race. Virtual Safety Car deployed.