MAX VERSTAPPEN claimed victory in the Australian Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso after a huge PILE-UP at the end of the race.
A late red flag saw the race restart from the grid, with a number of cars getting caught up in a catalogue of crashes.
Max Verstappen won the Australian Grand Prix for the first time
Lewis Hamilton finished a close second
A huge pile-up occurred late on
This led to ANOTHER red flag, the third of the day.
With a lap to go the FIA then said the race will resume in the grid order, meaning the race would finish under the safety car.
This denied Hamilton and Alonso the chance to try and overtake Verstappen, seeing the Dutchman eventually win his second race of the season and claim his first win in Australia.
However, Verstappen had endured a slow start to the day, being overtaken by both Hamilton and George Russell on the opening lap.
The Mercedes duo had overtaken Verstappen on the opening lap after a sluggish start from the two-time champion.
However, an early safety car-turned-red flag after Alex Albon spun into the wall saw a pit call for Russell turn sour as the Brit’s race lead went up in smoke.
His car followed suit shortly after, bursting into flames and forcing him out of the race.
Russell bemoaned his luck on social media, saying: “When it’s not your day, it’s not your day.”
It came after George Russell’s car set on fire earlier in the race
A promising Mercedes start left them believing it might be their day, and a red flag with two laps to go put Hamilton in touching distance of runaway leader Verstappen, who had blown past him after the first red flag.
However, Hamilton could not conjure up a way past his rival before the race was neutralized upon at the end.
Lance Stroll took P4 thanks the extraordinary way the race ended, while Sergio Perez fought back from last to finish P5.
It also ended up being a strong weekend for McLaren, finally ending their point duct with P6 and P8 finishes from Lando Norris and home driver Oscar Piastri.
