F1 news LIVE: Lewis Hamilton raises alarm after fans spill onto track at Australia GP

A spectator at Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix suffered a cut to his arm when struck by a piece of debris from Kevin Magnussen’s car, putting the spotlight on organisers’ safety protocols.

The spotlight is on the safety protocols of organisers at Albert Park after fans spilled onto the track before the race, won by Max Verstappen, concluded on Sunday night.

But spectator Will Sweet added to concerns as he told Australian radio station 3AW that he was standing with his fiancee on a packed hill just off turn two at Albert Park during Sunday’s race, when the Haas driver’s car hit the track-side barrier - sending his tyre and debris flying into the air.

“It slapped me in the arm and I was just standing there bleeding,” he said.

“My arm was covering where my neck would’ve been, but if that had hit my fiancee it would’ve got her in the head.”

Three red flags, eight DNFs and a bizarre finish to one of the most extraordinary races in Formula One history. Here is how the Australian Grand Prix unfolded.

The grid

Max Verstappen starts on pole ahead of the Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso starts fourth, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz sixth, and their teammates Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc are seventh and eighth. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez starts from the pitlane after engine troubles in qualifying.

Lap 1/58: Mercedes burst past Verstappen as Leclerc crashes out

George Russell takes the lead, taking Max Verstappen down the inside into turn 1, and then Lewis Hamilton does the same down into turn 4. But Charles Leclerc is taken out of the race by Lance Stroll! The safety car emerges. Verstappen complains over team radio that Hamilton “pushed him off the track” but there is no investigation into the incident.

Lap 7/58: Albon crashes out of the race — red flag 🚩

Alex Albon is going along nicely in sixth when he loses control and crashes out. Another safety car needed.

Russell pits as Hamilton stays out and leads, though the seven-time world champion is not happy. “This has put me at a massive disadvantage,” Hamilton tells his team. But he’s wrong as the red flag comes out due to gravel on the track, suspending the race and sending everyone to the garage where they can change their tyres, and it means Russell has slid back to first to seventh for no good reason. The race restarts from the grid and Hamilton maintains the lead.

P1-10: Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso, Stroll, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Russell, Tsunoda, Norris, Piastri.

George Russell insists he could have won the Australian Grand Prix had events not turned drastically against him.

Starting second on the grid, the British driver launched past Max Verstappen to take the lead of the race, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton also squeezing past the Red Bull driver to take second.

An early crash for Alex Albon resulted in Russell pitting, before a red flag meant the 25-year-old dropped down to seventh for no advantage as the rest of the field changed tyres in the pit lane.

Russell recovered to fourth when the action got going again, but a power unit failure resulted in his retirement and the 25-year-old had to speedily exit the car with the rear of his Mercedes on fire.

“When it’s not your day it’s not your day, I guess,” he told Sky F1.

Max Verstappen called the bizarre conclusion to Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix a “confusing mess” and accused Formula One’s stewards of bringing the chaos on themselves.

Verstappen survived the mayhem to take his second victory from the opening three races and extend his championship lead over team-mate Sergio Perez to 15 points.

Lewis Hamilton finished second to claim both his and Mercedes’ first podium of the year, with Fernando Alonso third for Aston Martin. Perez drove back from last to fifth, while George Russell retired with an engine failure.

Verstappen’s first triumph on Melbourne soil was placed in danger on lap 54 of 58 when Kevin Magnussen’s right-rear tyre flew off his Haas after he smashed into the Albert Park wall.

With debris on the asphalt, the stewards stopped the race for a second time following Alex Albon’s earlier smash.

Comment by Kieran Jackson

Surely, the irony was not lost on some. An absorbing, highly-charged grand prix weekend down under started with bickering over the future of the Formula 1 race weekend. So much so in fact, amid a potential change of the sprint weekend structure, that reigning world champion Max Verstappen threatened to walk away from the sport.

By Sunday evening, with the race result finally confirmed just past 11pm in Melbourne, driver debate had turned to the throwing of red flags and the FIA’s justification for such actions. Three red flags were thrown in an action-packed race: an F1 record.

And who was present looking on, returning to the paddock for the first time since that day? That’s right, Michael Masi: the highly-criticised Australian at the helm for the Abu Dhabi controversy which concluded the 2021 season.

Masi was present at Albert Park in his new role as the chairman of the Australian Supercars series yet was spotted embracing, among others, Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley on Thursday. Needless to say, any welcome was not so warm at Mercedes.

Since that bungling of the safety car procedure, which resulted in Verstappen winning his first World Championship and Lewis Hamilton missing out on a record-breaking eighth crown, F1 has found itself in a wrangle.

Lewis Hamilton was in a state of disbelief after a group of fans climbed the perimeter fence and forged a way onto the circuit before the end of Sunday’s chaotic Australian Grand Prix.

A hectic and entertaining race, won by Max Verstappen, saw an F1 record of three red flags thrown and carnage ensue at the end of the race, with fans climbing the perimeter fencing and a group making their way inside the fence too as fast-moving cars sped past them on the circuit.

Hamilton, who finished second, made the point to his race engineer Peter Bonnington: “There’s people on the track, man, some fans have got on.”

Some of the 131,000 supporters at the Albert Park Circuit even reached Nico Hulkenberg’s abandoned Haas at the exit to turn two, after the German had a failure after the chequered flag.

The FIA, F1’s governing body, said that “security measures and the protocols which were expected to be in place for the event were not enforced resulting in an unsafe environment for the spectators, drivers and race officials”.

The Mercedes team principal, speaking after the chaotic race in Melbourne, insists clear reasoning from race control must be published for each race-changing decision.

“Both red flags we didn’t see coming,” he said. “Restarts are a great entertainment factor, but we need to understand going forward when a red flag is being put out and when it is a safety car or a VSC. For those incidents you could have applied either.

“Formula One is so successful because it is sport and we follow the rulebook and that gives great entertainment, as long as it is clear how it is being interpreted. Whether you call a VSC or a safety car or you red-flag it, as long as we understand in terms of us being able to plan and in having the same rules for everyone, then that is OK.”

“We just need to define what it is,” said Wolff. “Restarts are mega, but when they come as a surprise and you can’t really understand, then maybe not so much. I am generally in favour of making great entertainment, but the rulebook of the sport is the key DNA so let us define together what is a safety car, what is a VSC and what is a red flag.”

A spectator at Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix suffered a cut to his arm when struck by a piece of debris from Kevin Magnussen’s car, putting the spotlight on organisers’ safety protocols.

The spotlight is on the safety protocols of organisers at Albert Park after fans spilled onto the track before the race, won by Max Verstappen, concluded on Sunday night.

But spectator Will Sweet added to concerns as he told Australian radio station 3AW that he was standing with his fiancee on a packed hill just off turn two at Albert Park during Sunday’s race, when the Haas driver’s car hit the track-side barrier - sending his tyre and debris flying into the air.

“It slapped me in the arm and I was just standing there bleeding,” he said.

“My arm was covering where my neck would’ve been, but if that had hit my fiancee it would’ve got her in the head.”

Lewis Hamilton hailed a “remarkable” podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix after admitting he is still struggling to get to grips with his Mercedes car.

Hamilton finished second to race winner Max Verstappen in a chaotic race in Melbourne despite continuing to feel “uncomfortable” and being unable to “connect” with his Mercedes.

The result was Hamilton’s best result of the season as the 37-year-old was able to hold off the challenge of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to finish second on the podium.

And there appeared to be further encouraging signs for Mercedes with George Russell fighting at the front of the race before his hopes were dashed by engine failure.

Hamilton’s second place finish extended his streak of 17 seasons with a podium but the seven-time champion delivered a reality check as he discussed how far Mercedes still need to go to challenge Verstappen and Red Bull.

Three red flags, eight DNFs and a bizarre finish to one of the most extraordinary races in Formula One history. Here is how the Australian Grand Prix unfolded.

The grid

Max Verstappen starts on pole ahead of the Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso starts fourth, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz sixth, and their teammates Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc are seventh and eighth. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez starts from the pitlane after engine troubles in qualifying.

Lap 1/58: Mercedes burst past Verstappen as Leclerc crashes out

George Russell takes the lead, taking Max Verstappen down the inside into turn 1, and then Lewis Hamilton does the same down into turn 4. But Charles Leclerc is taken out of the race by Lance Stroll! The safety car emerges. Verstappen complains over team radio that Hamilton “pushed him off the track” but there is no investigation into the incident.

Lap 7/58: Albon crashes out of the race — red flag 🚩

Alex Albon is going along nicely in sixth when he loses control and crashes out. Another safety car needed.

Russell pits as Hamilton stays out and leads, though the seven-time world champion is not happy. “This has put me at a massive disadvantage,” Hamilton tells his team. But he’s wrong as the red flag comes out due to gravel on the track, suspending the race and sending everyone to the garage where they can change their tyres, and it means Russell has slid back to first to seventh for no good reason. The race restarts from the grid and Hamilton maintains the lead.

P1-10: Hamilton, Verstappen, Alonso, Stroll, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Russell, Tsunoda, Norris, Piastri.