F1 2023 race results and standings from the Australian Grand Prix

Thomas Maher
Mercedes' George Russell leads Red Bull's Max Verstappen into Turn 1 at the Australian Grand Prix. Melbourne, April 2023.

Mercedes' George Russell leads Red Bull's Max Verstappen into Turn 1 at the Australian Grand Prix. Melbourne, April 2023.

Here are the complete results from a chaotic 2023 Australian Grand Prix from Melbourne’s Albert Park, where Max Verstappen has won.

Having taken pole position on Saturday, Verstappen lost out to a fast-starting George Russell off the line into Turn 1 before Lewis Hamilton also got ahead of the Red Bull driver through Turn 3.

Settling into third, Verstappen’s job was made a little easier by Mercedes choosing to pit Russell under an early Safety Car after Alex Albon crashed his Williams with debris being scattered over the racing line. With Russell shuffled down to seventh, Mercedes’ strategy gamble didn’t pay off as Race Control opted for a red flag to allow for a proper clean-up.

At the restart, Verstappen almost lost out to Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin but held onto second place as Hamilton settled into the lead. The Dutch driver stalked the seven-time World Champion and, once DRS was activated, stormed past Hamilton and set about building an unassailable lead.

Aside from a late-race error where he slid off onto the grass at the penultimate corner, Verstappen was untouchable for the rest of the race, while Hamilton had to fend off the attentions of Alonso for the entirety of the Grand Prix as the Spaniard was able to stay within two seconds of the Mercedes to keep the pressure on.

But chaos began to unfold with three laps to go, as the race was red-flagged again as Kevin Magnussen ripped his right-rear wheel off with a wall strike at Turn 2, meaning a full-blown standing start for the final two laps.

The next restart resulted in absolute carnage, with several collisions as Sainz spun Alonso out at Turn 2, while both Alpines collided metres later to take themselves out of contention. Lance Stroll, negotiating his way through the mess to climb into third, then outbraked himself into Turn 3 and ran into the gravel to fall down to 12th place.

Logan Sargeant and Nyck De Vries were also caught up in an incident, due to Sargeant locking up and colliding with the rear of the AlphaTauri. Sergio Perez, having fought his way into the points, had to take avoiding action across the grass to fall back down to the rear of the field.

Under the red flag, a length deliberation from Race Control saw the decision taken to resume the final lap under the Safety Car with the cars sent back out in the same order as the previous restart – restoring Alonso into third, Stroll back into fifth, and Perez into sixth.

Sainz, who was given a five-second time penalty for colliding with Alonso, finished fourth on track but was classified in 12th once he crossed the line as a result of the field being nose-to-tail – promoting Stroll and Perez up, while Lando Norris finished sixth for McLaren.

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Haas, Oscar Piastri eighth in his home race in the second McLaren, while Zhou Guanyu was ninth for Alfa Romeo with Yuki Tsunoda claiming the final points position in his AlphaTauri.

Aus GP: Max Verstappen overcomes Mercedes to win a manic and thrice red-flagged Australian GP

Australian Grand Prix race results

1 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing 58 Laps
2 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +0.179
3 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +0.769
4 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +3.082
5 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +3.320
6 Lando NORRIS McLaren +3.701
7 Nico HULKENBERG Haas +4.939
8 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +5.382
9 Guanyu ZHOU Alfa Romeo +5.713
10 Yuki TSUNODA AlphaTauri +6.052
11 Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo +6.513
12 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +6.594
13 Pierre GASLY Alpine DNF
14 Esteban OCON Alpine DNF
15 Nyck DE VRIES AlphaTauri DNF
16 Logan SARGEANT Williams DNF
17 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas DNF
18 George RUSSELL Mercedes DNF
19 Alexander ALBON Williams DNF
20 Charles LECLERC Ferrari DNF