One of the craziest races in Formula 1 history. Chaos, spectacle, accidents, departures and restarts at the Australian Grand Prix 2023: a race with a thousand twists and turns between accidents, red flags (three) and green lights (four) with a single certainty, namely Max Verstappen. The Flying Dutchman dominates Albert Park Melbourne, albeit by a much smaller margin than in other races, which sparks some hope for his rivals in the future, crossing the finish line behind the safety car in front of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and to Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.
The Ferrari race was a nightmare, which started very badly with the knockout at the start of Charles Leclerc rammed by Lance Stroll and ended worse with the five-second penalty to Carlos Sainz for the impact with his Spanish compatriot Alonso in the penultimate start. A penalty that threw the Ferrari driver from fourth to twelfth position making him furious in the post-race. Russell’s Mercedes, which started well but ended up in flames in a GP that lasted almost 3 hours, was also offside.
A Sunday morning for motor enthusiasts who got up early that immediately came to life thanks to an endless series of twists and turns on the Melbourne city track: First the Stroll-Leclerc contact, which during the first lap put the the Monegasque driver – at second zero in just three GPs – then the bad accident involving Alex Albon, up until then sixth with Williams. The Thai driver lost control of the car in the stretch from turn 6 to turn 8, hitting the crash barriers hard and bouncing around the track and the race direction decided to bring the safety car onto the track. The exit of the safety car immediately made the teams react: Mercedes decided to stop George Russell – at that moment leader of the race in front of teammate Hamilton and Max Verstappen – and Ferrari did the same with the Ferrari of Sainz, placed in fourth position. The move, which could have proved to be excellent at a strategic level, however turned into a sensational boomerang for both the English and the Spanish when Race Direction decided to display the first of the three red flags of this crazy race.
It starts again with Verstappen who takes the lead of the race ahead of Hamilton and Alonso with Sainz’s Ferrari making a comeback up to fourth position: the Dutchman remains first until a few laps before the end of the race when anything really happens. Three laps to the checkered flag, Magnussen’s Haas hits the wall, breaks the right rear suspension and loses its tyre. No safety car, race direction decides for the red flag, the second of the day after Alex Albon’s accident at the start of the GP: he will recover from the grid, with only two laps to complete. Many drivers protested via radio with their respective walls over the decision: the cars once again line up on the grid. It is the third departure of the day. Verstappen and Hamilton take off, Alonso takes off, Sainz believes in overtaking and sees a podium within reach that would have been unattainable before the stop given the gap from his compatriot who is hit by his Ferrari.
Stroll passes both of them but goes very long at the next corner and goes off the track, Perez and Ocon’s Alpine also go out, hitting the other Gasly’s Alpine on his way back. It’s total chaos. The two French cars are out, Verstappen and Hamilton lead the race ahead of Sainz, third at that point. But another red flag is immediately called, race stopped, theoretically only one lap left. Here the stewards decide for a new last start, penalizing Sainz by five seconds and bringing Alonso back to the podium by making the single-seaters that survived one of the craziest and most spectacular GPs ever parade to the finish line.
Read the full article on ANSA.it