Verstappen risked losing the victory by being off the grid box

Max Verstappen prevailed again in Australia, his Red Bull once again superior, but the Dutchman risked losing the first place on the podium by placing his car wrong at the start with two laps to go.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
02 April 2023 Sunday 02:25
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Verstappen risked losing the victory by being off the grid box

Max Verstappen prevailed again in Australia, his Red Bull once again superior, but the Dutchman risked losing the first place on the podium by placing his car wrong at the start with two laps to go. Despite the dubious position of the defending champion in his drawer, the FIA ​​stewards did not open an investigation after the completion of the Grand Prix at Albert Park.

The race, which was a roller coaster, took a new twist with two laps to go, when an accident by Kevin Magnussen caused the red flag to be displayed, the third of the race. All the cars once again occupied the starting grid and Verstappen, although touching the white line that delimits the space, placed his Red Bull a few centimeters ahead, even moving the car a little further at the last moment.

The image of Verstappen, which has flooded the networks, has not caused, in principle, a sanction, something that other pilots did suffer due to a similar situation. Fernando Alonso received a five-second penalty at the previous Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for placing his Aston Martin slightly to the left of the starting box and Esteban Ocon suffered the same penalty in Bahrain.

The new start resulted in another accident, in this case between Ocon and Gasly that caused a definitive red flag and resulted in the race, with one lap to go, ending with the presence of the safety car on the track until the checkered flag. In this way, the differences were minimal at the finish line, so a penalty for Verstappen would have relegated him to seventh position.

The great beneficiary of a penalty for Verstappen would have been Lewis Hamilton, second in the race, who would have been declared the winner of the Grand Prix while Alonso would have climbed from third to second position. However, the boss of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, did not fuel the controversy: "For me, he is on the line."