Max Verstappen continued his dominant start to the 2023 season in an incident-packed Australian Grand Prix, which ended in a chaotic red flag induced restart two laps from the finish which resulted in a further red flag and rolling restart behind the safety car for the final lap.
Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries all ran into incidents on the second restart of the race, causing the third red flag of the Australian Grand Prix. Sainz later received a five-second time penalty for the contact between him and Alonso.
READ MORE: F1 2023 Australian GP – Race Report
Verstappen had passed Lewis Hamilton to take the lead of the race on lap 12 and extended a sizeable gap over the Mercedes driver but a second red flag on lap 55, caused by debris and a tyre on the track after Kevin Magnussen hit the wall, eliminated the gap.
![Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen [pictured with Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore] is stern in his belief Mercedes has acted correctly](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Alpine-Steve-Nielsen-Flavio-Briatore-120x86.webp)
Alex Albon spun into the gravel trap from sixth place, resulting in the first red flag stoppage due to gravel on the track. After the first restart, George Russell also retired from the race with a mechanical issue which resulted in a fire.
Charles Leclerc exited the race on lap 1.
[motorsport_result id=’104115′]
![Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen [pictured with Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore] is stern in his belief Mercedes has acted correctly](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Alpine-Steve-Nielsen-Flavio-Briatore-350x250.webp)
![Alpine Managing Director Steve Nielsen [pictured with Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore] is stern in his belief Mercedes has acted correctly](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Alpine-Steve-Nielsen-Flavio-Briatore-360x180.webp)
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