Max Verstappen took home his second victory of the 2023 Formula 1 season after a chaotic Grand Prix Sunday that saw seven drivers fail to finish the race.
After Saturday’s qualifying session, Verstappen started on pole position followed by George Russell and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. His Red Bull teammate, and current closest competition in the Drivers’ Championship, Sergio Perez started the race in last position after a mechanical issue knocked him out of qualifying on his first lap.
After a sluggish start, Verstappen found himself trailing both Mercedes within a few turns. Within that same time, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc beached his car in a gravel safety runoff and end his race, capping off a weekend to forget for the Italian faithful.
For the next several laps, Russell led the race followed closely by Hamilton and Verstappen when suddenly Williams’ Alex Albon lost the rear end of his car and went spinning into the wall. The accident ended his day and race control immediately deployed a safety car to slow down the field as his car was cleared from the track.
This turn of events sent race leader George Russell diving into the pit lane to snag a cheap stop for new tires, sacrificing race position for less time on what would likely be his only stop.
Hamilton, however, stayed out and inherited the race lead along with Verstappen. Then, in a surprising move, race control red-flagged the race, citing the large amount of gravel needing to be cleared from Albon’s accident. This meant every car needed to return to the pit lane while they finished their work.
Teams are free to change tires, front wings, or any manner of work on their cars during a red flag stoppage.
Russell would be the biggest loser of this decision as Hamilton and Verstappen were able to change tires during the stoppage and would begin at the front when the race recommenced.
After the track was cleared, the drivers lined up at the starting line for what is called a “standing start,” which is identical to a Grand Prix start. Once again, Verstappen had a poor start and Hamilton maintained his lead.
Further down the order, Perez was quietly moving his Red Bull up from last. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was having a sensational day moving up into the top five, defending and attacking well. Both Aston Martin drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, were also in top positions with the former securely in third and the latter battling a bit further down.
The hometown favorite, Oscar Piastri of Mclaren, and his teammate Lando Norris, were having a middling outing for most of the afternoon, hovering on the bubble for a points-finish.
Verstappen quickly recovered from his poor standing start and passed Hamilton with ease, demonstrating the unbelievable straight-line speed of the 2023 Red Bull. Verstappen would never look back.
Hamilton, for his part, drove brilliantly and held Alonso just out of Drag Reduction System (DRS) range.
As the race entered its final few laps, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen inexplicably drove into the barrier coming out of a turn and losing his right-rear tire. This prompted another red flag stoppage as race control cleared the tire and debris off the track.
Verstappen finally found his footing in the second standing start and was able to hold off Hamilton, but behind the two champion drivers chaos ensured.
First, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who had raced superbly all day, caught the rear tire of Alonso, sending his fellow Spaniard spinning and tumbling down the order. Gasly ran off the track in a failed attempt to attack the car ahead of him and when upon reentering crashed into his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon, destroying both cars and letting major points for the French team slip away.
Stroll was also tagged in the chaos, costing him numerous spots in the order.
The large crash of the two Alpines precipitated yet another red flag stoppage, but since the drivers had not completed the first sector of the track, they would line up in the order of the last standing start. This allowed Alonso to retain his position in third place and move others, like Stroll, up the order as well.
With one lap left, race control set the order and had the cars finish the race under a safety car, essentially determining the finishing order.
In the end, Verstappen took home the victory with Hamilton and Alonso sharing the podium with him. Stroll finished fourth, Perez fifth, and Norris sixth.
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg finished a respectable seventh followed by Australian Piastri scoring his first points in Formula 1 at his home grand prix.
Formula 1 will take several weeks off and recommence in Baku at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on April 30.
This Formula 1 column is brought to you by Elliott Griffin, principal of Griffin Communications. To read his previous coverage on all things F1, click here.