The world champion started from pole and although he was passed by Mercedes pair George Russell and Hamilton at the start, he kept his composure to win a red flag race three times, with multiple crashes .
Hamilton came second ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonsowho made three out of three podiums this year.
“We got off to a really bad start, on the first lap I was careful because I had a lot to lose,” said Dutchman Verstappen, who won the season-opening race in Bahrain and finished second. in Jeddah a fortnight ago.
“After that, the pace of the car was fast. With those red flags, I don’t know, I don’t really understand. It was a bit of a mess but we had good pace and we won, so it’s important.”
It was a disastrous day for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, winner last year, who spun on the opening lap, while Russell’s car caught fire on lap 19 and his race was also over.
The victory was Verstappen’s first win in Melbourne and Red Bull’s first in Australia since Sebastian Vettel’s triumph in 2011.
His team-mate and winner in Saudi Arabia, Sergio Perez, sliced through the field to finish fifth after last qualifying due to brake issues, behind Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin.
Red Bull’s triumph came despite incredible late drama which saw a red flag come out when Verstappen had a comfortable lead over Hamilton and Alonso with two laps to go, meaning they had a bunch restart for an all-out attack until ‘at the end.
But it descended into chaos when Alonso was cut off by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz as they scrambled for position and spun, causing a tidal wave effect with several other cars in breakdown.
Sainz received a five-second penalty, eventually finishing 12th, and the race was stopped again.
It resumed after a long lap delay behind a safety car – with no overtaking permitted – in the previous start order with just 12 cars remaining.
“I didn’t expect to be second, so I’m very grateful for that,” said seven-time world champion Hamilton.
“I’m driving as best I can and working as hard as I can, but still, given that we lost performance and have a consistent pace, for us to fight with Aston is unbelievable.”
On a fine day, Lando Norris in a McLaren finished sixth, Niko Hulkenberg in the Haas seventh and rookie Oscar Piastriin the other McLaren, an encouraging eighth on its home circuit.
Alpha RomeoIt is Zhou Guanyu came ninth and AlphaTauri Yuki Tsunoda 10th.
“We had a rollercoaster of emotions today, a lot happened at the start and in the last half hour,” said Spain veteran Alonso.
“Mercedes was very quick and Lewis did an amazing job. I couldn’t keep up, but we’ll take third place.”
With Red Bull’s undeniable speed advantage, it was crucial for Russell and Hamilton to get off to a good start.
And that’s exactly what they did, with the two passing a hesitant Verstappen at turn one before Leclerc spun at turn 3 and the safety car exited.
They resumed with Hamilton pressing Russell before the safety car was deployed again on lap seven when Williams’ Alexander Albon lost control, leaving gravel on the track, with a red flag ultimately needed.
They started again from a standing start, with Hamilton initially keeping Verstappen at bay.
But it’s only a matter of time before the Dutchman steps in and takes the lead on lap 12.
Once again a safety car was needed when Russell’s car broke down, but Verstappen was now in charge and pulled away.
At the halfway point he was seven seconds ahead, with the battle appearing to be over second place between Hamilton and Alonso.
But there was more drama when Kevin Magnussen lost the rear tire of his Haas and the red flag came out in the death.
