A late red flag creates a frenetic finish at the Australian Grand Prix

It looked like the Australian Grand Prix was winding down to an almost lazy finish. With under five laps remaining, Max Verstappen was running well ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonso.

Then, the game changed.

Kevin Magnussen of Haas left his car a bit wide on Lap 54, and his right rear tyre struck the wall. The tyre bounced off the car, and debris flew all over the track in Melbourne. First a yellow flag flew, and then a virtual safety car was announced, and then, the game completely changed.

Red flag.

It was the second red flag of the Australian Grand Prix, the first having come out early in the race when Alex Albon spun through the gravel and caused a stoppage.

The red flag sent some shivers through the pit wall over at Red Bull. While Verstappen had been the strongest car throughout most of the Grand Prix, and was running ahead of hte field at the time of the red flag, if there was one weakness to his race, it was how he did on starts. At the start of the Australian Grand Prix George Russell in P2 got off to a much better start than Verstappen, and ultimately took the early lead.

Then after the red flag earlier in the race, Verstappen again got off to a slow start, this time behind Lewis Hamilton. A few laps later Verstappen and the powerful RB19 were able to charge past Hamilton’s Mercedes. But with just a few laps remaining, if Verstappen had another slow start, would he have enough time to make up the difference?

The other issue? Tyres. With the early red flag all the teams made the decision to switch to the hard compound. But with the red flag, teams faced the decision to either finish under well-worn hards, or perhaps switch to a soft compound for the final laps of the race.

Another new concern? The angle of the sun. With the numerous delays already in the race, drivers were now dealing with the setting sun. For this reason, race officials had pushed up the start time of the Australian Grand Prix so drivers were not fighting the glare in their eyes in the closing stages.

However, the delays throughout the race had forced them to endure the angle of the sun yet again.

When the red flag flew, this was the top ten, in order: Verstappen, Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz Jr., Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll, Sergio Pérez, Lando Norris, Nico Hülkenberg, and Esteban Ocon. It was to be a standing start to conclude the Grand Prix, and all the teams made the decision to switch to soft compounds for the final two laps of the Grand Prix.

A two-lap shootout to decide the winner of the Grand Prix. Would Verstappen grab his second win of the season? Would Hamilton finally grab a victory again? Would Alonso secure that elusive “33 soon?”

Off the start Verstappen took the lead, and then there was absolute, total chaos behind him. Described as “carnage” by the commentators in the booth, there was a collision between Alonso and Sainz that sent Alonso spinning through the gravel. Behind them, the rest of the field stacked up, with eventually both Alpines coming into contact with each other, Gasly and Ocon out of the race.

Here’s a look at the restart:

The chaos swept up a number of drivers:

That brought out yet another red flag, and even more questions. How would the field be classified? Would there be yet another restart?

Race control then posted a restart order: Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Sainz, Stroll, Perez, Norris, Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri, and Zhou Guanyu.

However, the decisions were not done. Race stewards then instituted a five-second penalty on Sainz for his contact with Alonso, which dropped him out of the points, and opening the door for Yuki Tsunoda, who had finished in 11th place in each of the first two races of the season, to finally get into the points:

That made it a brutal day for Ferrari, given that Charles Leclerc was knocked out of the race on the opening lap.

The rolling start took place, Verstappen took the checkered flag, and the Australian Grand Prix finally drew to a close. It was his first victory in Melbourne.

Here is the final classification for the top ten:

And the full field:

Perhaps the biggest losers in all of this? Alpine. Despite both Ocon and Gasly being in the top ten at the late restart, both drivers were knocked out of the race. A rather bitter pill for the team.

Now, the teams have a long break ahead of them, before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix set for the final weekend of April.

That’s a long time for some of these drivers, and teams, to wonder what might have been.