Australian GP carnage as four cars crash out in chaotic restart

Four drivers were forced out after a chaotic restart at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday. Logan Sargeant, Nyck de Vries, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly all retired after two separate accidents which occurred after a red flag restart in Melbourne.

The restart came after a red flag was thrown because Kevin Magnussen collided with the wall in the closing stages. His tyre was ripped from the car and chucked onto the racing line which saw the race suspended. This led to a third race start with just three laps remaining.

However, seconds later Sargeant and De Vries clashed at turn one while Carlos Sainz ran into the back of Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari driver was issued a five-second penalty which was added on to his race time and demoted him back to P12.

As the cars frantically dodged to find space, the two Alpines of Ocon and Gasly then collided on the outside of turn one. Gasly had lost momentum after momentarily running onto the grass to avoid vehicles running wide. 

Ocon then attempted to pass his team-mate around the outside but was squeezed on the exit. Ocon hit Gasly’s rear right tyre which threw the pair into the wall, destroying their cars and ruining any chance of picking up points.

Team boss Alpine Szafnauer told Sky Sports F1: “(It’s) really, really sad to see. We had a really good race going and it’s just chaos with a start like this.

“It’s just a massive gamble with cars going all over the place and having to avoid them. I doubt Pierre even saw Esteban there.”

Meanwhile, Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez were also involved in incidents with trips through the gravel trap. After being spun off, Alonso immediately called for the FIA to revert back to the original order while also blasting the decision throw a red flag.

He said: “Stupid rule! How the hell you can put a red flag before? Because we don’t complete a lap, we go back to the same position like in Silverstone.” That was indeed the case, with Alonso keeping his P3 despite the fact he crashed out because the cars had not yet completed the first sector, meaning the order of the last restart remained the same.

It means Max Verstappen took victory in Albert Park after a comfortable drive amid the carnage. He dropped behind the Mercedes pair on the opening lap after a great start from George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

However, the ex-Williams star dropped into the midfield after stopping for new tyres moments before an earlier red flag. The Red Bull driver passed Hamilton moments after the second start and cruised to his second win of the season.