MELBOURNE – Formula One world champion Max Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez were among drivers criticising the officiating at a chaotic Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, which finished under a safety car after the race was restarted three times.

The Dutchman won his second race of the season at Albert Park, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso third, following a series of incidents that led to only 12 cars finishing.

The victory was Verstappen’s maiden win in Melbourne and Red Bull’s first in Australia since Sebastian Vettel’s 2011 triumph.

On a fine, sunny day, Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin was fourth ahead of Perez.

Verstappen said the decision to restart the race from the grid a second time, for what should have been a two-lap sprint to the finish, led to multiple collisions that took four cars out of the race.

“I think if we would have had a safety car and then just have a normal rolling start, we wouldn’t have had all these shunts, and then you have a normal finish,” he said.

“They (race officials) created the problems themselves at the end of the day.”

Mexican teammate Perez, who battled from last on the start line to finish fifth, said restarting the race from the grid rather than under a safety car was an incentive for drivers lower down the field to gamble in the opening corners, putting other drivers in jeopardy.

“It’s people taking massive risks and it was quite difficult for me,” he said.

F1 has boomed in popularity after a thrilling 2021 season was decided by a controversial officiating decision on the last lap of the final race.

But the increased interest from casual fans – lured in part by Netflix documentary Drive To Survive – has led critics to argue the authorities are seeking to manufacture drama in the closing stages of races.

“The whole point of red-flagging, it feels like it was just to put on a show,” McLaren’s Lando Norris, who finished sixth, said.

“So we’ve gone all the way to Australia, put in so much hard work, drive 56 laps perfectly.

“And because they try and put on a show, (you can) just get unlucky and everything can get taken away from you all of a sudden.

“I just think it needs a small rethink.”

Haas had protested against the seventh-place finish of their driver Nico Hulkenberg’s after the late stoppages threw the race into confusion. But the stewards dismissed the protest.

The German was fourth at the third and final red flag. After lengthy deliberations, the stewards decided the race would end according to the grid positions during the restart with a lap behind a safety car minus the cars that had crashed.

That meant Hulkenberg finished seventh, according to the race’s provisional classification.

The stewards agreed to consider the Haas protest but ruled that the race director had acted appropriately, with a prompt decision needed, and dismissed it.

However, the stewards have ordered Australian GP organisers to urgently produce a “remediation plan” after a large group of spectators invaded the track during the race.

Spectators managed to break through security and access the track towards the end of the race, with some reaching the car driven by Hulkenberg as it was parked at the exit of Turn 2.

But seven-time world champion Hamilton was ecstatic at making the podium.

“I’m driving as best I can and working as hard as I can. But still, considering we’ve been down on performance and in straight pace, for us to be up there fighting with Aston is amazing,” he said.

Rookie Oscar Piastri, in the other McLaren, was an encouraging eighth at his home circuit in only his third race.

But it was a disastrous day for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the 2022 winner, who spun out on the first lap, while George Russell’s Mercedes caught fire on Lap 19 and his race too was over. REUTERS, AFP