McLaren Racing F1 Australian GP race - Double points for the team is a great result 02.04.2023: Australian Grand Prix Albert Park, Melbourne 31 March - April 2nd 2023 Sunday, April 2nd 2023 As it happened • The Safety Car is deployed on the opening lap after Leclerc was edged off track. • Lando moves up two positions to

Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park, Melbourne
31 March - April 2nd 2023
Sunday, April 2nd 2023






As it happened



• The Safety Car is deployed on the opening lap after Leclerc was edged off track.


• Lando moves up two positions to P11 while Oscar gains three, up to P13.


• Nine laps in and the Red Flag is waved. Albon retires which puts Lando (P9) and Oscar (P10) into the top 10.


• Following a standing restart, both drivers retain their positions.


• Both Lando and Oscar are passed by Sainz but Lando regains position by passing Tsunoda.


• Russell stops on track. Both drivers back in the points with Lando P8, and Oscar P10.


• Oscar is overtaken by Perez and Ocon, moving back to P12.


• Oscar passes Tsunoda heading into Turn 9 and gets P11.


• Having held off Perez for some time, Lando is passed by the Red Bull for P8.


• Perez passes Hulkenberg and after a few laps trailing the Haas, Lando follows suit.


• With four laps to go, a Safety Car is deployed.


• A Red Flag is waved and all cars return to the pit-lane.


• A chaotic restart ensues with multiple collisions at Turn 1 forcing another Red Flag. Lando is P6 and Oscar is through to P7.


• The grid did not complete a sector before the Red Flag meaning a restart would see positions revert back to how they lined up at the previous restart.


• Finishing the final lap behind the Safety Car, Lando comes home in P7 with Oscar in P9, promoted to P6 and P8 after a 5-second time penalty for Sainz.



Lando Norris

Started     13th
Finished     6th
Fastest lap     1m21.173s on lap 46 (+0.938, 9th)
Pit-stops     3, lap 8 [Mediums/Hards] (during red flag), lap 55 [Hards/Softs] (during red flag) and lap 57 [Softs/Softs] (during red flag)



"A very good race. We had good pace throughout, stayed out of trouble with no mistakes. The team did a very good job. I think the pace today was stronger than our qualifying pace yesterday, so things came together nicely. Just a well-executed race.


“I’m happy with all of that, and it's the first points for us this season. It's nice to get on the board and it's a good end to the first few races before we have a bit of a break and then head into Baku and the next batch of races. I’m happy, so a big thanks to the whole team and everyone back at the factory for all the hard work as usual and we’ll keep pushing.”



Oscar Piastri

Started     16th
Finished     8th
Fastest lap      1m21.335s on lap 53 (+1.100s, 12th)

Pit-stops     4, lap 8 [Mediums/Hards] (during red flag), lap 54 [Hards/Softs] (3.95s), lap 55 [Softs/Softs] (during red flag), and lap 57 [Softs/Softs] (during red flag)



“P8, I didn’t expect that at the start of the day! I’ll definitely take it. Obviously a crazy, crazy race but we stayed in there when it mattered. I’m so happy to get my first points in Melbourne and want to thank all of the home fans and papaya fans for all their support this week. Double points for the team is a great result and thank you to everyone who got us there.”





Andrea Stella

“An eventful race today in Melbourne. We managed to stay out of trouble and were able to score our first points of the season. Even without the three red flags, it was good to see that we were in condition to race well and make good overtaking moves, so there’s plenty of positives.


 At the same time, we know we have to stay realistic and have a lot of hard work ahead. Both trackside and back at the factory, we’ll use the energy from this double points result to make us even more determined to deliver a quicker car. Thank you to everyone trackside, at the MTC and our colleagues at HPP for their hard work.”





-McLaren also photos