This is why Verstappen's grid restart was perfectly legal

It was initially thought that he made a subtle movement which took his Red Bull outside of his grid position, giving him an unfair head-start over his rivals in the last-gasp dash to the finish.

Verstappen eventually won a chaotic and confusing conclusion in Melbourne but there was nothing wrong with the way he did it.

• F1 2023 Australian Grand Prix - Full Race results from Round 3
• Verstappen accuses Hamilton of ‘not respecting’ rules in first-lap battle

David Croft explained on Sky: "There are people on social media saying Verstappen should have got a penalty for the final restart for being outside of his grid box. He wasn’t, I’ve seen the photos.

"His front tyres were making contact with the line. If you’re over the line it is a penalty. If you’re touching it, as he was, then you’re fine."

Karun Chandhok added: "In his grid box, in first gear, he moved further forwards. People are wondering: ‘Did he move out of his grid box?’

"However, even in that second movement, his tyre was still making contact with the line."

Crofty explained that breaking the rule would involve "any part of the contact patch of the front tyres is outside of the lines at the time of the start signal".

The Red Bull driver explained the incident: “To be honest I braked a bit late and then I lost my reference a bit.

“Then I looked and saw that I had a bit more space so moved a little bit more forward and it was really on the limit. But on the limit is on the limit, it’s not over the limit.

“The sun was also quite difficult in the end, with the visibility. It was quite tough.”