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The Australian Grand Prix was well worth staying up for - or getting up early, depending on your time zone - and was packed full of drama and entertainment right to the bizarre and chaotic finish. Max Verstappen came out on top, Lewis Hamilton looked delighted, but others were crestfallen as the dust settled at Albert Park - just in time for Monday's Melbourne ratings.
Charles Leclerc (Lap 1, Collision): 6/10
Charles Leclerc said this was the worst start he's ever had to a season - and all we can say is, that's actually the rose-tinted view of the current situation! It's really going horribly so far for the Ferrari driver. He might have been second in FP2 but that was in unpredictable wet conditions, and you have to look to his qualifying performance to see the real level of performance of the SF-23 at the moment - an altogether underwhelming seventh place, two places behind his team mate Carlos Sainz who is definitely having a (slightly) better time of things so far in 2023. It's hard to imagine that he would have been able to do much in the race, although the number of incidents, red flags and restarts could have given him a chance to scoop a surprise success; but being spun out on the first lap by contact with an Aston Martin means we'll never know one way or another.
Alexander Albon (Lap 7, Spin): 8/10
Alex Albon put in a brilliant performance in qualifying on Saturday, and the Williams absolutely deserved its top ten grid spot for Sunday's race just behind Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. With Leclerc spinning out and Albon getting the better of Stroll, Albon leapt up to sixth place on the first lap. It was all looking very promising for him, and then suddenly his race was over prematurely when he lost the rear end and slammed into the barrier to trigger the first of three red flags. "I went wide on the corner before and spiked the tyre temperatures, losing grip and going into the next corner a bit hot, so I think that's what happened," he said afterwards, kicking himself for missing out on a golden opportunity for big points this week.
