Oscar Piastri has scored his first Formula 1 Championship points in the most chaotic of circumstances as he ended the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix in eighth place.
 
In front of a record Australian crowd, it was a rollercoaster 59-laps at Albert Park as reigning champion Max Verstappen led Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso across the line under safety car conditions.
 
The final safety car period was one of many interventions across a highly entertaining race that finished as it started with carnage taking place across the board that continued to bring out red flags.
 
After a disappointing qualifying on Saturday, Piastri produced a mature drive on his home-debut as a consistent race saw him move up the field through a combination of drivers ahead crashing out and a reliable strategy.
 
Following a chaotic opening stint that saw Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon and George Russell out after 20 laps, Piastri had made up a handful of places to be knocking on the door of the points.
 
Verstappen had also dropped to third on the opening lap behind the two Mercedes of Russell and Hamilton before the latter was the new race leader when his younger teammate pitted.
 
A red flag on lap 9 after Albon’s crash then saw Hamilton remain the race leader, however it didn’t take long for Verstappen to regain the lead and take control of the race.
 
The middle stint saw very little drama occur as Sergio Perez’s charge through the field was the main highlight, while Verstappen comfortably built a solid 10 second lead over a battling Hamilton and Alonso.
 
Piastri was also running on his own for much of the race and looked destined to miss out on a points finish as he sat in P11, falling behind Esteban Ocon in 10th by 10 seconds but having built a healthy buffer between he and the 12th placed Kevin Magnussen.
 

The race was then turned on its head with just five laps to go when Magnussen himself crashed out, causing another safety car and a red flag.
 
Another standing start saw more chaos ensure as four cars crashed out on the opening turn, including Ocon and Pierre Gasly who were both ahead of Piastri, with the Australian somehow avoiding the chaos and ending up seventh.
 
With the red flag coming out again and the cars returning to the pits, the field was reverted to what the original standing order was, demoting Piastri back to 11th – however with the two Alpines now out, Piastri was the ninth car in line.
 
The race would then finish under the safety car and Piastri crossed the line in ninth, only for one last plot twist to occur as Carlos Sainz was handed a five second penalty, which saw the Spaniard drop out of the top 10 and elevated Piastri to eighth.

 
“Crazy race and the first race I’ve been involved in with three red flags,” Piastri told Sky Sports.
 
“Crazy race, happened to be in the points at the end of it. Pace in clean air was solid, got stuck behind Yuki for a while but happy to get my first F1 points.”
 
Piastri now moves to 13th on the overall standings with four points after three races.
 
It’s a three-week gap now for the Formula 1 World Championship, which continues at the end of the month with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 30 April.