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Event

Australian Grand Prix

Date
Sun 2nd April 2023 (UTC)
Sun 2nd April 2023 (Local)

Timestamp
2023-04-02T05:00:00

Time

05:00:00 UTC (15:00:00 Local)

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League
Formula 1

Season
2023

Round
3

Status
Match Finished

Location
Albert Park Circuit

Video Highlights

Play on YouTube

Description

The 2023 Australian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2023) was a Formula One motor race held on 2 April 2023 at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was the third round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship.

The race was won by Max Verstappen, with Lewis Hamilton in second and Fernando Alonso third. The event set at the time a new attendance record at the circuit for the weekend with 444,631 spectators, making it the most attended sporting event ever in Melbourne. It was the highest number since the 440,000 attendance recorded at the 2022 United States Grand Prix. The Grand Prix broke the record for most red flags, with three.

Background
The event was held across the weekend of 31 March – 2 April. It was the third round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship.

Championship standings before the race
Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen was leading the World Drivers' Championship with 44 points, one point from his teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and 14 from Fernando Alonso in third. Red Bull Racing, with 87 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Aston Martin and Mercedes, who both had 38 points.

Reports

Result List

01	Max Verstappen	2:32:38.371
02	Lewis Hamilton	+0.179s
03	Fernando Alonso	+0.769s
04	Lance Stroll	+3.082s
05	Sergio Perez	+3.320s
06	Lando Norris	+3.701s
07	Nico Hulkenberg	+4.939s
08	Oscar Piastri	+5.382s
09	Guanyu Zhou	+5.713s
10	Yuki Tsunoda	+6.052s
11	Valtteri Bottas	+6.513s
12	Carlos Sainz Jr	+6.594s
13	Pierre Gasly	DNF
14	Esteban Ocon	DNF
15	Nyck de Vries	DNF
16	Logan Sargeant	DNF
17	Kevin Magnussen	DNF
18	George Russell	DNF
19	Alexander Albon	DNF
20	Charles Leclerc	DNF

Result Description
George Russell passed pole-sitter Max Verstappen, who suffered wheelspin, to take the lead of the race, Hamilton passed him further round the circuit. Charles Leclerc spun into the gravel at turn three following contact with Lance Stroll, resulting in Leclerc's retirement from the race and the safety car being called out.

The race restarted on lap 4. Three laps later, on lap 7, Alexander Albon lost control of his car and crashed heavily at turn seven, causing the safety car to be called out again; Russell changed his tyres for fresh hard compounds, allowing his teammate Lewis Hamilton to inherit the lead. Carlos Sainz Jr. followed suit moments later. The race was red-flagged to allow marshals to clean up the debris left by Albon's car and gravel that had been strewn on track. As Russell and Sainz had just changed their tyres in the safety car period, this meant they lost out, as rivals were able to change their tyres during the stoppage.

Hamilton kept his lead at the second restart, but would soon lose the lead into turn 9 as Verstappen overtook him with DRS. Russell overtook Pierre Gasly for fourth on lap 14, with Sainz overtaking Lance Stroll on the following lap. On lap 18, Russell's power unit caught fire, causing Mercedes's first mechanical retirement of the season and causing a brief virtual safety car period. Verstappen would go on to lead the race comfortably, despite a brief moment on lap 46 where he understeered into the grass coming into the final corners. He managed to recover and maintain first, despite losing several seconds. By the closing stages of the race, Verstappen led by over ten seconds over Hamilton. The race was red-flagged once again on lap 55 after Kevin Magnussen's right-rear wheel made contact with the wall at turn two, damaging his rear suspension and causing the tyre to detach.

The race was restarted again with Verstappen keeping his lead. As the cars reached turn 1, Sainz pushed Fernando Alonso into a spin, the Alpines of Gasly and Esteban Ocon ended their races in the wall after a heavy collision, and Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant found themselves in the gravel and out of the race; Stroll, despite also running into the gravel, managed to recover his car and continue the race. The race was red-flagged for a third time.

The marshals restarted the race on the final lap in the order of the previous start, minus the cars that had been eliminated, as the cars had not yet the reached the first timing line. The race resumed via rolling start at the end of lap 58, which coincided with the chequered flag being shown at the finish line; Max Verstappen won his first Australian Grand Prix ahead of Hamilton and Alonso; Pérez finished fifth after a pit lane start. Oscar Piastri finished his home race in eighth and in the points alongside teammate Lando Norris, marking McLaren's first points finish of the season. AlphaTauri scored their first points of the season courtesy of Yuki Tsunoda's 10th-place finish. Lewis Hamilton scored his and Mercedes' first podium of the year.

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