Red Bull dominance and a record-breaking podium - Australian GP stats and facts

Australian GP podium — Photo: © LAT Images

Australian Grand Prix

Red Bull dominance and a record-breaking podium - Australian GP stats and facts

Max Verstappen took home the trophy at the end of the Australian Grand Prix, but there were a host of other records broken

Harry Smith

Tuesday 4 April 2023 18:31

F1 returned to the streets of Melbourne for an action-packed Australian Grand Prix weekend. Here are the stats and facts to take home from a thriller in Melbourne.

Max Verstappen made personal history with a 37th career victory, while his experienced counterparts Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso completed a momentous podium.

Here are the key findings from an eventful Australian Grand Prix.

Podium of champions

Emerging from a chaos-filled Australian Grand Prix on the podium were three of F1's most decorated drivers.

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Max Verstappen (80), Lewis Hamilton (192). and Fernando Alonso (101) became the most decorated podium in the history of the sport on Sunday with the trio having claimed a collective 373 podium finishes.

The trio also boast a staggering 11 F1 world titles between them with Alonso and Verstappen both adding two titles apiece to Hamilton's record-equalling seven.

Australia's podium also marked the first to contain three world champions since the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix, in which Hamilton was joined by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso take to the Australian Grand Prix podium

On the board

Yuki Tsunoda's P10 finish and McLaren's successful afternoon ensured that all ten teams have now scored points after just three rounds of the season.

This is a testament to the close nature of the midfield battle in 2023.

New heights for Verstappen

Verstappen set a series of new personal records when he took to the top step of the podium in Melbourne.

The Dutchman has now moved level with Ayrton Senna on 80 career podiums with just six drivers boasting more than the 25-year-old.

Verstappen's 37th career victory marked Red Bull's first in Australia in over a decade, ending a wait that has been ongoing since 2011.

And the Dutch star successfully extended his points-scoring streak to 22 races, marking a new personal record.

Red flag madness

There has been no shortage of fallout following a red-flag-filled Australian Grand Prix weekend.

The 2023 Australian Grand Prix marks the first time in F1 history that a Grand Prix has produced three red flags.

Kevin Magnussen collided with the wall in Melbourne, bringing out a red flag

New horizons for Aston Martin

Aston Martin watched on as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll brought home P3 and P4 finishes for the team in Melbourne.

The Silverstone-based outfit has now scored 65 points after just three rounds in 2023, surpassing 2022's season-long tally of 55 points.

This feat has largely been helped by Alonso's hat-trick of podiums, with the legendary Spaniard enjoying his first non-night race podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Mercedes a fixture in Melbourne

Lewis Hamilton will have been pleased to deliver a P2 finish for Mercedes, but Sunday's result means that the legendary Brit has now finished second-best on six occasions in Australia.

Hamilton's podium did create history though. The seven-time champion has now occupied an F1 podium in 17 different F1 seasons, making him the first driver to ever achieve this milestone.

Mercedes, however, kept up their staggering record of finishing on every Australian Grand Prix podium since the start of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014.

No mullet luck for Bottas

Valtteri Bottas has embraced the Australian culture in 2023, but the mullet-sporting Alfa Romeo driver saw his incredible Australian Grand Prix run come to an end.

A disappointing weekend down under ensured that Bottas failed to score points at the Australian Grand Prix for the first time since his F1 debut in 2013.

Valtteri Bottas is sporting a mullet in 2023

Points scarce for the Scuderia

A first-lap DNF for Charles Leclerc and a five-second time penalty for Carlos Sainz killed Ferrari's afternoon in Melbourne.

With neither driver scoring points, Ferrari failed to notch in Australia for the first time since 2009 on Sunday.

The Scuderia have picked up a measly 26 points from the first three races of 2023, marking their worst start to a season at this stage since the hybrid era began.