maximum verstappen He became the champion and hard-fought his second win of the season. Australian Grand Prix. Red Bull driver despite bad start with two Mercedes losing positions and after unscathed from three red flags in 58 laps, he was able to impose his law in Melbourne, In front of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Fernando AlonsoHe is on the podium for the third time in a row with Aston Martin. Carlos Sainz YesHe played Asturian in the second start with a strange result and He was penalized with 5″ and placed 12th. After the spectacular fight in Albert Park, the World Cup, which is facing a three-week hiatus due to the cancellation of the Chinese GP, and will return in Baku at the end of April.
A ‘bulky’ start was expected in Australia and the first trade was a surprise. Verstappen, who started on pole for the second time this seasonsurpassed by both mercedes, After a great maneuver by George Russell, who took the lead in the race. Very aggressive Charles Leclerc was blocked by Alonso as he tried to climb from seventh place on the grid, received a side blow from Lance Stroll and fell to the ground. Monegasque was forced to retire, while teammate Carlos Sainz took advantage of the confusion from Fernando to win the position and finish fourth, with a smart starting approach.
After a few minutes in the virtual safety car, the race resumed with Russell ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz and Alonso. But then the second ‘theatrical coup’ took place. an accident Alex Albon, The car that crashed into Williams on lap six caused another virtual safety car at the start.. Ferrari called Sainz and Mercedes called Russell, and at full ‘pit stops’ the commissioners red flagged the race to remove the remnants of the Albon crash and repair damage to the crash barriers. No! shouted Carlos, dropped to eleventh at the start, Russell ‘inherited’ the lead ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen and Alonso as Russell dropped to seventh. Mercedes is on fire.
The seven-time champion remained ahead at the new start, but held out little. After twelve laps, Verstappen launched an attack that overtook Hamilton from the outside before he had a chance to defend himself.
Alonso started to follow Lewis, Sainz and Russell as Max quickly swept into his rivals. They continued their special comeback. The man from Mercedes was pressing to return to the front row when his W14 began to burn, possibly due to an engine failure that knocked out another favorite Melbourne theorist. Russell’s great performance undoubtedly had an undeserved end. “When today isn’t your day, it’s not your day,” the British wrote in their network.
Checo Pérez eliminated early from battle After his crash in qualifying on SaturdayHe started the grand prix from the pit lane and managed to get into the ‘top 10’ mid-race without making too much ‘noise’, avoiding all of the leading events, and is already seventh. Quick lap hit with 15 laps left.
Sainz surprised Gasly with a sensational pass that allowed him to regain fourth place by attempting to ‘hunt’ Alonso. The Spaniard was running just over a second behind Hamilton and was manning the tires to finally get his chance. During, Verstappen extended his lead by more than 10 seconds, but behind him was an intense podium challenge in which five pilots wore “handkerchiefs”.
The race stabilized for several laps, during which Mercedes tried to appease Hamilton to keep the tires on the wall and warned him of Alonso’s strategy. Without any pressure, Verstappen locked the front wheels and went to the grass, although he managed to save the dangerous situation.
End of ‘heart attack’
An accident by Kevin Magnussen (Haas) in the final part of the Grand Prix filled the track with the remains of the car. The race direction once again chose to show a red flag, It gives way to one of the shortest races in history, reduced to just two laps in a high-tension result.
Totally ‘knife’, two Spaniards in the top four on reboot. Impossible better for show. But what marked a pure adrenaline-filled sprint race caused a huge uproar with an incident between Alonso and Sainz. The Madrid man got off to a bad start, found Fernando and could not recover from the blow.. The frenzy continued with a few exits from the track and a spectacular crash involving the Alps, which ended with Gasly and Ocon staying on the wall and Stroll stagnant.
ANDChaos caused a new red flag to place third before completing sector one. Alonso protested over the radio such a risky ending and demanded clarification of the rules, even recalling the precedent at Silverstone a year ago, while FIA officials debated what to do next and how to define positions. The state of not taking action again on the track. Finally, keeping order before the incident involving Alonso and Sainz, they decided to hold one final lap after the safety car, thus ending the grand prix with Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso on the podium. Sainz received a hefty 5 second penalty in these conditions, which put him in 12th place.