In the first Formula 1 race to be red-flagged three times, Verstappen equalled Senna’s tally of podiums with his first Albert Park win and Alonso recorded his team’s first podium in Australia since 1999. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2023 Australian Grand Prix!
VERSTAPPEN WINS THE 2023 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
Max Verstappen won a heavily interrupted 2023 Australian Grand Prix, recording the 37th victory of his Formula 1 career. Verstappen’s win marked his 80th podium finish, equalling Ayrton Senna for seventh in the all-time list of most top three finishes.
Red Bull recorded their first victory at the Australian Grand Prix since 2011, when Sebastian Vettel won the race. Red Bull become the fifth team to have taken multiple victories at Albert Park. This was the team’s 95th Grand Prix victory in total.
Though badged a “RBPT-Honda” engine, Verstappen’s victory marked the first for a Honda-powered car at Albert Park. The last victory for the Japanese manufacturer in Australia came at the 1992 Australian Grand Prix, which Gerhard Berger won with McLaren.
The 2023 Australian Grand Prix marked Verstappen’s first victory at Albert Park. The Melbourne circuit becomes the 23rd at which Verstappen has taken victory, equalling Michael Schumacher for second in the list of most tracks at which a driver has won in Formula 1.
Verstappen scored for a 22nd consecutive race, setting a new personal best for most races in a row in which he has scored. It is the sixth longest points streak in F1 history.
The 2023 Australian Grand Prix marked Max Verstappen’s 17th win in car number 1. It saw him overtake Ayrton Senna as the driver with the most wins in car number 1.
This was the sixth consecutive race to be won from pole position. The last time six consecutive races were won from pole position was between the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and the 2020 British Grand Prix.
Thanks to the race ending under Safety Car conditions, Max Verstappen won the 2023 Australian Grand Prix by 0.179 seconds – the ninth smallest win margin in Formula 1 history. It’s the smallest winning margin since the 2002 United States Grand Prix.
Verstappen became the first Albert Park polesitter who did not lead at the end of the first lap to go on and take back the lead and win the race.
HAMILTON RETURNS TO THE PODIUM
Lewis Hamilton finished as runner-up in the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, becoming the first Formula 1 driver to finish on the podium in 17 different seasons.
Hamilton led five laps of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix. That saw him become the first driver to have led a lap in 17 different Formula 1 seasons. He breaks the record of 16. Schumacher has held the overall record since 2004.
This was the fifth time in his last six Australian Grand Prix appearances that Hamilton has finished as runner-up.
Hamilton’s podium finish made this the 250th Grand Prix in which a Mercedes driver scored points.
Second place for Hamilton saw Britain equal Germany as the nation to have had the most podium finishes at Albert Park. Both nations have now had 22 top three finishes at the track.
The 2023 Australian Grand Prix marked the 34th time that Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have finished first and second, extending the record for the most 1-2 finishes for a pair of drivers in F1.
Hamilton became the first driver to record ten podium finishes at the Australian Grand Prix.
THREE PODIUMS IN A ROW FOR ALONSO
For the first time since the 2013 Belgian, Italian and Singapore Grands Prix, Fernando Alonso finished on the podium for a third consecutive race. It’s also the first time since 2013 that Alonso has finished in the top three at the Australian Grand Prix.
With Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso on the podium, the 2023 Australian Grand Prix was the first time that three drivers who had previously been crowned World Champion finished in the top three since the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix, when Hamilton finished on the podium alongside Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso have finished on the podium together once before at the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix, before Verstappen won his first title.
For both Hamilton and Alonso, this was their 13th points-scoring appearance at the Australian Grand Prix. They therefore equal Kimi Raikkonen as the drivers to have scored on the most occasions at Albert Park.
Alonso’s podium was the 118th podium finish for a Spanish driver in Formula 1. That saw Spain equal Austria for ninth place on the list of most top three finishes for a nation.
Fernando Alonso recorded the Silverstone-based team’s first podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix since Heinz Harald-Frentzen finished second for Jordan in 1999.
Alonso became the fourth driver to record six podium finishes at Albert Park.
THE POINTS SCORERS
Lance Stroll finished the 2023 Australian Grand Prix in fourth place, recording his best result since finishing on the podium at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.
Stroll’s points see him move ahead of Daniil Kvyat to fifth on the list of most points scored without taking a Formula 1 victory.
This is the first time that the Silverstone-based team have finished with both cars in the top four as well as the first time that both of the team’s cars have scored at the Australian Grand Prix since 2017.
Aston Martin have now scored more points in the first three races of the 2023 season than they did in the entirety of the 2022 season.
Driving from the pit lane to fifth place, Sergio Perez scored points for the 16th race in a row. It’s the longest points-scoring streak of the Mexican’s career, beating his previous best of 15 consecutive top ten finishes between the 2016 German Grand Prix and the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix.
This is the first time that both Red Bull drivers have finished in the top five at the Australian Grand Prix since 2012.
With sixth place, Lando Norris recorded his first points finish since the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when he also finished sixth.
Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh for the fifth time in his last six Australian Grand Prix appearances.
Hulkenberg’s seventh place marked his best result since the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020. His seventh place finish also ensured that he moved ahead of Nick Heidfeld and into second on the list of drivers who have made the most Grand Prix starts without taking a victory.
On home turf, Oscar Piastri finished in eighth place and picked up the first points of his Formula 1 career. Piastri is the second Australian driver to record his maiden points finish at his home event, after Mark Webber – who finished fifth in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix.
Zhou Guanyu finished in ninth place, recording his first points finish since the 2022 Italian Grand Prix.
Zhou gained eight positions from where he started in the 2023 Australian Grand Prix – the most positions he’s gained in his career to date.
After finishing 11th in all of the last three races, Yuki Tsunoda finally picked up his first point since the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
Tsunoda’s point saw him overtake Takuma Sato as the Japanese driver to have scored the second-most points in Formula 1. Only Kamui Kobayashi sits ahead of him in that list.
With McLaren and AlphaTauri picking up points in the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, the 2023 season is the first in which ten teams have scored after only three rounds since 1981.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Picking up a 5-second time penalty ahead of the final restart, Carlos Sainz crossed the finish line in fourth but would be classified only 12th. With team-mate Charles Leclerc retiring, this was Ferrari’s first point-less appearance at the Australian Grand Prix since 2009. It’s the first time the Scuderia have failed to score since the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
This was the first time Sainz has failed to score in a race which he has finished since the 2021 French Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz was the only driver who finished the 2023 Australian Grand Prix in a worse position than where he started.
Valtteri Bottas finished 11th in the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, making this the first Melbourne race in which Bottas has failed to score since 2015, when he did not start the race after sustaining an injury in qualifying. His debut in 2013 is the only other time the Finn has failed to score here.
THREE RED FLAGS AS EIGHT DRIVERS RETIRE
No fewer than eight drivers retired from the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, making it the first race since the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix to have as few as 12 finishers.
Charles Leclerc was the first driver to retire from the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, recording his second retirement in the first three races of the season. This was the first time Leclerc failed to finish at Albert Park.
Leclerc became the first driver to record a first lap retirement at the Australian Grand Prix since Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean in 2015.
Alex Albon was second to retire after crashing out of the race. His crash brought out the red flags. Like Leclerc, he recorded his second retirement of the season and his first DNF at the Australian Grand Prix.
Albon’s crash made this the third Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park to be red-flagged, after the 1996 and 2016 races.
George Russell stopped on the pit straight with a power unit failure, becoming the third retirement of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix. Russell’s DNF marked Mercedes’ failure to finish in Melbourne since Lewis Hamilton retired from the 2014 Australian Grand Prix.
This was Russell’s first retirement since the 2022 British Grand Prix.
Kevin Magnussen became the fourth driver to retire from the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, with his crash bringing out the second red flag of the race.
Four drivers were eliminated at the race’s third restart. Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant ended up in the gravel at Turn 1, each recording the first retirement of their Formula 1 careers. The two Alpine drivers also retired after contact, recording the team’s first double DNF since the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix.
This was the Enstone team’s first double retirement at the Australian Grand Prix since 2015, when the team was in their Lotus guise.
Pierre Gasly’s retirement ended a 14-race finishing streak for the French driver.
Both Williams drivers failed to finish the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, recording their first double retirement at Albert Park since 2011.
The 2023 Australian Grand Prix was the first Formula 1 race to feature three red flag periods, as well as the fifth to feature three standing restarts. The 1987 Austrian Grand Prix, the 1990 Belgian Grand Prix, the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix and the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix are the other four races which featured three standing starts.