Author: Barkha Roy
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen emerged victorious at the Australian Grand Prix after an F1 race full of drama from start to finish. Although the Red Bull team was expected to win, the last few stages of the competition at Albert Park were chaotic and made the victory very hotly contested. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished second, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took third place.
Of the 20 participants, eight didn’t finish the race, and Oscar Piastri, from Australia, made the most of the confusion. He finished in a respectable eighth place and entered the championship points table for McLaren, earning his first points.
Verstappen was pleased with the win, but questioned the decision regarding the red flag on lap 55. He struggled against competition from Hamilton when the race restarted, despite a reasonably good lead.“Today was quite confusing,” he said.
Hamilton, however, was pleased with Mercedes’ progress. This followed an impressive performance in qualifying two days earlier.
He said: “Getting a second and third place in qualifying yesterday surprised us and gave the whole team a big boost of energy.”
At the restart on lap 55, Verstappen held Hamilton off at the first corner, with a big drama unfolding behind him. Alonso, who had been following Hamilton from third position, was hit by the car of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the first corner.
Sainz received a five-second penalty which left him in 12th. Alonso, however, later clarified that he felt the punishment for his rival was a bit too much.
Several other incidents led to the departure of Nyck de Vries, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc and George Russell. Verstappen lost the lead to Russell in the opening stint, but regained it and secured his first win.