WRAP | Max Verstappen wins eventful and chaotic Australian Grand Prix

5min remaining in Q1: Verstappen is quickest with a 1:17.469. He is followed by Alonso, Stroll, Russell, and Albon. 

The drivers at risk of elimination: Sargeant, Bottas, Piastri, and Magnussen. Perez is classified as last.

Home hero Oscar Piastri fails to make it into Q2. He is one of five drivers eliminated at the end of Q1.

Max Verstappen is the quickest driver in Q1, followed by Russell and Hamilton. With Perez out of the equation, drivers know there is a chance to make an impression on both qualifying and the race.

Verstappen is quickest at the end of Q2 with a 1:17.056. He is followed by Alonso, Sainz, and Leclerc.

The eliminated drivers: Ocon, Tsunoda, Norris, Magnussen, and De Vries.

Max Verstappen delivered a cracking lap to take pole position for tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver delivered the lap of the weekend in the closing minutes of the session, besting the two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso qualified fourth in his Aston Martin.

Max Verstappen claimed pole on Saturday for the Australian Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes' George Russell, but his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez had a torrid time will start last.

In overcast and cool conditions, Lewis Hamilton in the other Mercedes was third ahead of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso in a tight session that went to the wire. Last year's winner Charles Leclerc seventh in the Ferrari, with his teammate Carlos Sainz fifth.

It was a huge performance from Mercedes, who have struggled this season, with their speed clearly improving as they again bettered Ferrari. Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin will start sixth ahead of Leclerc with Williams' Alexander Albon a shock eighth.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly was ninth with Nico Hulkenberg in a Haas rounding out the top 10.

22nd career pole

It is second pole of the year for Verstappen, and the 22nd of his career, after the season-opening race in Bahrain, which he went on to win. He started from 15th in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago after mechanical problems, but sliced through the field to come second behind Perez.

The 25-year-old knocked out his rivals with a flying lap at the death of 1:16.732, 0.236 secs ahead of Russell.

"I think the last run was very good, the whole weekend has been tough to get the tyres in the right window," said Verstappen, who has never won in Australia and will start on pole for the first time at Albert Park.

"Very happy to be on pole, already looking forward to tomorrow. I think we have a good race car but it is tricky on the tyres, so going to be an interesting race for sure."

But Mexico's Perez - one point behind Verstappen in the championship standings - had a horror of a day, struggling with grip and balance. He left the track four times during the third practice and it didn't get any better in qualifying when he locked up and careened into the gravel at Turn 3 on his first lap.

He beached his car and it had to be removed by a crane, with the session red flagged.

"It was the same issue again," the dejected Perez said on the team radio.

Russell was ecstatic with Mercedes' performance, saying "we weren't expecting that, that's for sure".

"What a session for us. The car felt alive, and to be honest I'm disappointed I didn't get pole as the car felt awesome," he added.

Verstappen topped Q2 from Alonso and Sainz with Alpine's Pierre Gasly a casualty. AlphaTauri pair Nyck De Vries and Yuki Tsunoda also missed out, along with Kevin Magnussen in his Haas and McLaren's Lando Norris. Verstappen was also fastest in Q1 ahead of Russell and Hamilton.

Along with Perez, Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, Williams' Logan Sargeant and rookie McLaren driver Oscar Piastri all failed to get out of Q1.

- AFP

Lap 45/58: Perez is a man on a mission! He just passed Norris with ease and is chasing down Hulkenberg, who he passes for 7th.

Hamilton is 10 seconds behind Verstappen, but 1.5sec ahead of Alonso.

The 2023 Australian Grand Prix will forever be remembered as one of the wildest races in Formula 1 history. While Red Bull's Max Verstappen took the victory, the headlines belonged to the chaos that ensued in the race's closing stages.

Kevin Magnussen hit the wall on Lap 54 of 58, forcing Race Control to red-flag the race a few laps later. The action resumed on Lap 57, but crashes between Turns 1 and 2 brought out another red flag, and questions were asked if there'll be one final run to the flag on the race's final lap.

Race Control confirmed the final lap of action, with Verstappen leading Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-AMG), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), and the rest of the grid off the line and to the chequered flag.

The race, generally completed within 90 minutes on the provision that it's clean, took more than two-and-a-half hours from flag to flag.Verstappen won, with Hamilton and Alonso completing the podium.

Top 10: 

1. Max Verstappen

2. Lewis Hamilton

3. Fernando Alonso

4. Lance Stroll

5. Sergio Perez

6. Lando Norris

7. Nico Hulkenberg

8. Oscar Piastri

9. Zhou Guanyu

10. Yuki Tsunoda

Max Verstappen held off a revived Lewis Hamilton to steer his Red Bull to a chaotic win at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday and tighten his grip on the world championship.

The world champion began from pole and despite being passed by Mercedes pair George Russell and Hamilton at the start, he kept his cool to win a race red flagged three times, with multiple crashes.

Hamilton came home second ahead of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who made it three podiums from three this year.

"We had a very poor start, lap one I was careful as I had a lot to lose," said Dutchman Verstappen.

"After that, the pace of the car was quick. With these red flags, I don't know, I don't really understand. It was a bit of a mess but we had good pace and we won, so that's important."

It was a disastrous day for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, last year's winner, who spun out on the first lap, while Russell's car caught fire on lap 19 and his race too was over. The victory was Verstappen's maiden win in Melbourne and Red Bull's first in Australia since Sebastian Vettel's 2011 triumph.

His teammate and winner in Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago Sergio Perez sliced through the field to come fifth after qualifying last due to brake issues. The Red Bull triumph came despite unbelievable late drama that saw a red flag come out when Verstappen had a comfortable lead from Hamilton and Alonso with two laps left, meaning they had a bunched restart for an all-out attack to the finish.

But it descended into chaos when Alonso was clipped by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz as they jostled for position and sent into a spin, which caused a flow on effect with multiple other cars coming to grief.

Sainz was given a five-second penalty, eventually finishing 12th, and the race was stopped again. It resumed after a lengthy delay for single lap behind a safety car - with no overtaking allowed  - in the order of the previous start with only 12 cars left.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton was ecstatic at making the podium.

"I'm driving as best I can and working as hard as I can but still, considering we've been down on performance and in straight pace, for us to be up there fighting with Aston is amazing," he said.

On a fine, sunny day, Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin was fourth ahead of Perez. Lando Norris in a McLaren was sixth, Niko Hulkenberg in the Haas seventh and rookie Oscar Piastri, in the other McLaren, an encouraging eighth in only his third race and on his home circuit.

- AFP