The end of the Australian Grand Prix descended into chaos with a late restart following a red flag, seeing a number of drivers crash out in a desperate late push for points and position.
The race in Melbourne was in its final throes with Max Verstappen on course for his second victory of the campaign, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, before Kevin Magnussen threw a sizeable spanner in the works.
The Danish driver lost a tyre and the resulting debris from his collision with the wall brought out the red flag, which set us up for a standing restart with just two racing laps to go.
With drivers having one last golden chance to move themselves up the standings before the chequered flag, though, we were perhaps naturally poised for some chaos and that is exactly what happened at lights out, with Fernando Alonso tagged by Carlos Sainz, both Alpine cars crashing out of the race, and Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries coming together at the rear of the field.
Pictures, though, quite often say more than words and you can relive the restart now with Sky Sports posting it on their F1 Twitter page:
VIDEO: Chaotic restart at Australian Grand Prix
Naturally, the likes of Fernando Alonso was particularly frustrated with him punted out of a podium place but, fortunately for the Spaniard, the decision was made that the running order, and final classification, would revert back to the order at the restart as another red flag was flown.
This is because the cars did not complete a sector after the restart, with another red flag quickly flying after the two Alpine cars came together, meaning the FIA did not have a reference point with which to establish an order.
That said, they had to go back to their last point of reference and that happened to be back on the grid before the lights went out, meaning Max Verstappen took victory ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
Blushes weren’t spared for Carlos Sainz, though, who was at fault with the incident with Alonso and he was given a five-second time penalty for the collision – dropping him right down the field as we crossed the line after another restart behind the Safety Car.
But your heart has to go out to Alpine, too, with Pierre Gasly on for good points and they now leave Melbourne with nothing scored.
