Chaotic, crazy, calamitous, the 2023 Australian GP is the first race in F1 history to have three red flag periods and is certainly not a race that will be forgotten very soon especially for another farcical performance from the FIA.

Red Bull: Another relatively easy win for Verstappen once he had dispatched the Mercedes cars. Perez fought valiantly from the pit lane up to P5 after being a strong beneficiary of the chaotic events throughout the race (even if he was caught up in some of it).

Mercedes: A tale of two halves for Mercedes as Hamilton cruised to a P2 finish mostly avoiding the pandemonium behind while his teammate failed to finish the race. Despite a great start taking the lead of the race, an engine fire put pay to Russell’s podium hopes.

Aston Martin: A podium for Alonso that very nearly did not come to pass after the red flag chaos in the closing laps. Stroll also benefited from the carnage to come in right behind in P4.

McLaren: From starting in the lower reaches of the grid to a double points finish, McLaren have successful managed to stay out of trouble and capitalise on others’ struggles in Melbourne. Norris drove very well to take P6 while home hero Piastri took his first F1 points at his home circuit in P8.

Haas: A good day for Haas as Hulkenberg scored points for the American outfit in P7 although Haas’ attempts to appeal the result to try and improve this fell on deaf ears. Magnussen was less successful, hitting a wall and sending a tyre flying leading to all the chaos in the closing stages.

Alfa Romeo: Another unlikely points scorer in Alfa Romeo. Originally disadvantaged by events in the early stages, later occurrences led to the Alfa Romeo cars moving up the order massively to P9 and P11.

AlphaTauri: Rounding off the unexpected points scorers was Yuki Tsunoda who ended up P10 after the Sainz penalty. De Vries was sadly caught up in the closing lap chaos and was one of the many not to finish the race.

Ferrari: A dismal day for Ferrari as Leclerc failed to get past the first lap after early contact and Sainz fought well throughout the race only to be slapped with a highly impactful 5 second penalty that dropped him from P4 to P12.

Alpine: You’ve got to feel sorry for Alpine today. Gasly was running so well up in the top five yet ended up not finishing after making contact with his teammate who also failed to finish the race. No penalties were awarded but the team in pink now have a massive damage bill.

Williams: A day of woe for Williams as Albon failed to capitalise on his epic qualifying crashing out early on and causing the first red flag. Sargeant was involved in a collision of his own after another safety car restart and also didn’t finish.

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