Max Verstappen had another extraordinary performance to win the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne. Though he suffered a lot against George Russell and Lewis Hamilton during the first laps, the Dutch star regrouped to claim the checkered flag for the second time in the 2023 F1 season.
It was a very important weekend for Max Verstappen and Red Bull after all the problems at Jeddah during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. A mechanical problem sent him to the 15th spot in the starting grid and he had to produce a masterful comeback finishing in second place just behind his teammate Checo Perez.
Fortunately for Max Verstappen, the Australian Grand Prix was a different story and the world champion extended his lead in the 2023 Driver Standings. However, some very controversial decisions by FIA at Melbourne almost took away from him what should have been a comfortable victory.
2023 Australian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen criticizes FIA for red flag decisions
The Australian Grand Prix was certainly chaotic. The race was stopped three times for different incidents and the last two red flags sparked controversy around the world. With just two laps remaining, Kevin Magnussen lost the right tire of his car and Race Control took a very suprising decision.
A red flag appeared and FIA determined there will be a standing start with just two laps remaining to finish the Australian Grand Prix. Then, madness arrived. Carlos Sainz made contact with Fernando Alonso and made him lost his place at the podium. Furthermore, the two Alpine cars collided leaving Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon out of the race. No one knew what would happen when FIA announced another red flag.
At first, FIA was thinking on a free rolling restart to finish the race. Of course, all the drivers were shocked about it after what just had happened. Then, FIA announced the rolling restart would be behind a safety car, so no takeovers were allowed. Alonso recovered his third place and Carlos Sainz took a five-second penalty for the incident.
In all this process, when the red flag was confirmed with two laps to go, Max Verstappen could have been easily the victim of an overtake by Lewis Hamilton who was in second place. Verstappen had a huge lead which suddenly disappeared. Then, FIA was thinking to do a restart all over again though that choice finally came with a safety car.
"I'm very happy to have won, but the race towards the end was a bit of a mess. I just didn't understand why we needed a red flag. It left a lot of drivers confused. If we would have had a safety car and then a normal rolling start we wouldn't have had all these shunts and then you would have a normal finish. So, they (FIA) created the problems themselves. I think it left a lot of drivers confused about why we needed a red flag. We'll talk about it."
Other drivers thought exactly the same thing. "Nothing against them (FIA), but the people who make decisions don't know what's going on inside the car. The whole point of red-flagging, it just feels like it was to put on a show. Someone does something stupid at Turn One, locks up and your race is over because they just want to make the show more exciting" were the words of Lando Norris.
