Sydney, 2 April 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull kept his nerves to win a chaotic Formula One Australian Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and after the race was interrupted three times.

It was Verstappen's first win in Australia and second this season. Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin completed the podium in third despite a late collision with Carlos Sainz of Ferrari.

"It was a bit of a mess but we had good pace and we won, so that's important. It's great to win here, my first win [here] as well," championship leader Verstappen said.

The first red flag came out early in the race after Alex Albon lost the back of his Williams entering Turn 6 and hit the barriers.

Verstappen was second behind Hamilton at the time and struggled at the restart, but the Dutchman soon found his pace and didn't need much time to make a move on Hamilton to take the lead and immediately build a gap.

But once Verstappen seemed set to seal the victory, there was a second interruption with two laps remaining after the Haas of Kevin Magnussen clipped a wall and lost the right rear tyre.

Ruling body FIA decided for a standing restart, but a multiple-car crash lead to chaos and a third red flag.

Race direction ultimately settled for a resumption behind safety car in the order of the previous start minus cars out, meaning FIA considered the cars didn't get through the first sector and any overtake didn't count.

Verstappen didn't get a good race start and was overtaken by the Mercedes of George Russell into Turn 1, with Hamilton also getting to the Dutchman by Turn 3.

"We had a very poor start, lap 1 I was careful as I had a lot to lose. After that, the pace of the car was quick," Verstappen said.

The order remained following a safety car period after the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was beached on the gravel and had to retire before completing the first lap.

The safety car was again deployed and soon followed by a red flag after Albon, who was surprisingly sixth, hit the barriers.

As Russell had pitted for new tyres still under the safety car, Hamilton was leading the race when it was interrupted. The seven-time world champion got another good start for Mercedes, while Verstappen again struggled.

The Dutchman fought back to take the lead and survived the chaotic restart after the second red flag caused by Magnussen, but Nyck De Vries of Alpha Tauri, the Williams of Logan Sargeant, and the Alpine cars of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were out.

Hamilton claimed his first podium of the season and "didn't expect to be second," but said he still feels "uncomfortable in the car."

"I'm driving as best as 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.

Team-mate Russell had an unfortunate day after the great start as he was forced to abandon the race once his engine caught fire.

Alonso, meanwhile, lost several positions after a collision with Sainz in the second restart, but since the lap was dismissed, he retained his third-place position, while Sainz received a five-second penalty.

"We had a rollercoaster of emotions today, many things going on at the beginning, and the last half an hour," the two-time world champion said.

Verstappen leads the drivers' championship ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, who finished fifth after starting from the pit lane.

F1 now heads to Azerbaijan on April 30, when the first sprint race of the season will take place. The big gap between races is due to the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix because of ongoing difficulties presented by the Covid-19 regulations in the country.