F1 2023 news LIVE: Lewis Hamilton counters after Max Verstappen overtake criticism and latest Ferrari news

Starting 2nd on the grid, the British driver introduced previous Max Verstappen to take the lead of the race, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton likewise squeezing past the Red Bull driver to take 2nd.

An early crash for Alex Albon led to Russell pitting, prior to a warning implied the 25-year-old fell to seventh for no benefit as the remainder of the field altered tires in the pit lane.

Russell recuperated to 4th when the action started once again, however a power system failure led to his retirement and the 25-year-old needed to quickly leave the car with the back of his Mercedes on fire.

“When it’s not your day it’s not your day, I guess,” he informed Sky F1.

“The pace has been great all weekend. Had a great qualifying, and start was great, first stint was really well managed.”

“I’d have been good thereafter. We probably could have won today, it would have been difficult for him [Verstappen] to pass with Lewis between both of us.”

Hamilton ended up second to race winner Max Verstappen in a disorderly race in Melbourne regardless of continuing to feel “uncomfortable” and being not able to “connect” with his Mercedes.

The result was Hamilton’s finest outcome of the season as the 37-year-old had the ability to hold back the difficulty of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to end up 2nd on the podium.

And there seemed additional motivating indications for Mercedes with George Russell combating at the front of the race prior to his hopes were rushed by engine failure.

Hamilton’s 2nd location surface extended his streak of 17 seasons with a podium however the seven-time champ provided a reality check as he went over how far Mercedes still require to go to challenge Verstappen and Red Bull.

“I kind of hate it. I don’t like the restarts. I guess, maybe in the first quarter of the race, I understand it,” the McLaren driver said.

“(In) the second half, and especially with four laps to go, I feel like you ruin a lot of things. And I don’t feel like it’s fair for a lot of people who have done a good job and they get taken out.

“We come all the way to Australia, but it’s so much hard work to drive 56, 55 laps perfectly. And, because they try and put on a show, you just get unlucky, and everything can get taken away from you all of a sudden.

“So I just think that side of it, I just think it needs a small rethink.”

Three warnings, 8 DNFs and an unusual surface to among the most amazing races in Formula One history. Here is how the Australian Grand Prix unfolded.

Max Verstappen begins on pole ahead of the Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso begins 4th, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz 6th, and their colleagues Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc are seventh and 8th. Verstappen’s Red Bull colleague Sergio Perez begins with the pitlane after engine problems in certifying.

George Russell takes the lead, taking Max Verstappen down the within into turn 1, and after that Lewis Hamilton does the very same down into turn 4. But Charles Leclerc is gotten of the race by Lance Stroll! The safety car emerges. Verstappen grumbles over group radio that Hamilton “pushed him off the track” however there is no examination into the occurrence.

Alex Albon is going along well in 6th when he loses control and crashes out. Another safety car required.

Russell pits as Hamilton avoids and leads, though the seven-time world champ is not happy. “This has put me at a massive disadvantage,” Hamilton informs his group. But he’s incorrect as the warning comes out due to gravel on the track, suspending the race and sending out everybody to the garage where they can alter their tires, and it implies Russell has relapsed to initially to seventh for no good factor. The race reboots from the grid and Hamilton keeps the lead.

P1-10: Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso, Stroll, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Russell, Tsunoda, Norris, Piastri.

1) Max Verstappen (25 points)

2) Lewis Hamilton (18 points)

3) Fernando Alonso (15 points)

4) Lance Stroll (12 points)

5) Sergio Perez (10 points + 1 point, fastest lap)

6) Lando Norris (8 points)

7) Nico Hulkenberg (6 points)

8) Oscar Piastri (4 points)

9) Zhou Guanyu (2 points)

10) Yuki Tsunoda (1 point)

17) Kevin Magnussen – DNF

20) Charles Leclerc – DNF

The Mercedes group principal, speaking after the disorderly race in Melbourne, firmly insists clear thinking from race control need to be released for each race-changing choice.

“Both red flags we didn’t see coming,” he said. “Restarts are a great entertainment factor, but we need to understand going forward when a red flag is being put out and when it is a safety car or a VSC. For those incidents you could have applied either.

“Formula One is so successful because it is sport and we follow the rulebook and that gives great entertainment, as long as it is clear how it is being interpreted. Whether you call a VSC or a safety car or you red-flag it, as long as we understand in terms of us being able to plan and in having the same rules for everyone, then that is OK.”

“We just need to define what it is,” said Wolff. “Restarts are mega, but when they come as a surprise and you can’t really understand, then maybe not so much. I am generally in favour of making great entertainment, but the rulebook of the sport is the key DNA so let us define together what is a safety car, what is a VSC and what is a red flag.”

Lewis Hamilton remained in a state of shock after a group of fans climbed up the border fence and created a method onto the circuit prior to completion of Sunday’s disorderly Australian Grand Prix.

A busy and amusing race, won by Max Verstappen, saw an F1 record of 3 warnings tossed and carnage take place at the end of the race, with fans climbing up the border fencing and a group making their method inside the fence too as fast-moving vehicles sped past them on the circuit.

Hamilton, who ended up second, made the indicate his race engineer Peter Bonnington: “There’s people on the track, man, some fans have got on.”

Some of the 131,000 advocates at the Albert Park Circuit even reached Nico Hulkenberg’s abandoned Haas at the exit to turn 2, after the German had a failure after the chequered flag.

The FIA, F1’s governing body, said that “security measures and the protocols which were expected to be in place for the event were not enforced resulting in an unsafe environment for the spectators, drivers and race officials”.

Comment by Kieran Jackson

Surely, the paradox was not lost on some. An soaking up, highly-charged grand prix weekend down under begun with bickering over the future of the Formula 1 race weekend. So much so in reality, amidst a prospective modification of the sprint weekend structure, that ruling world champ Max Verstappen threatened to leave the sport.

By Sunday night, with the race outcome lastly validated simply previous 11pm in Melbourne, driver argument had actually relied on the throwing of warnings and the FIA’s validation for such actions. Three warnings were included an action-packed race: an F1 record.

And who existed searching, going back to the paddock for the very first time because that day? That’s right, Michael Masi: the highly-criticised Australian at the helm for the Abu Dhabi debate which concluded the 2021 season.

Masi existed at Albert Park in his brand-new function as the chairman of the Australian Supercars series yet was spotted welcoming, to name a few, Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley on Thursday. Needless to state, any welcome was not so warm at Mercedes.

Since that bungling of the safety car treatment, which led to Verstappen winning his very first World Championship and Lewis Hamilton losing out on a record-breaking 8th crown, F1 has actually discovered itself in a wrangle.

But viewer Will Sweet, 31, said he was lucky to prevent a “horrendous” injury and contacted Formula One and its governing body, the FIA, to make certain it does not take place once again.

Lewis Hamilton has actually countered after Max Verstappen firmly insisted the Mercedes driver didn’t follow the guidelines after his first-lap overtake at the Australian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver voiced his annoyance at the occurrence after the race, stating “it’s quite clear in the rules what you’re allowed to do on the outside, but clearly it’s not followed.

Yet Hamilton struck back, stating: “He braked early and I braked late and I was fully up the inside and I think we both left space for each other. I didn’t run him off the road and he didn’t turn in on me. So we didn’t touch and that’s racing.”