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Formula 1

Max Verstappen Rises Above the Chaos at the Messy Australian Grand Prix

Australian Grand Prix gave us the wildest race of this Formula 1 season so far, with another chaotic and controversial safety car finish. Defending champion Max Verstappen managed to come out victorious, leaving Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in the dust. The race was red-flagged on three separate occasions, most notably after when Kevin Magnussen's car made contact with the wall. The final red flag on the penultimate lap caused a lot of confusion, and it eventually forced the race to finish under the safety car, echoing the controversial end to the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This year’s Australian Grand Prix went down in history as the first-ever race to feature three red flags in Formula One history, and everyone seemed to be puzzled by this turn of events – including the winner. "I just didn't understand why we needed a red flag. If you had had a safety car and then a normal rolling start, we wouldn't have had all these shunts and then you have a normal finish. So they created the problems themselves at the end of the day," said Verstappen. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso also took the podium in Melbourne, but they’re still behind Verstappen and Sergio Pérez in current World Championship rankings.