Chinese racer Zhou Guanyu hit a career-high ninth finish at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, earning two points in the drivers' standings, at Albert Park in Melbourne.

Zhou was also ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who finished 11 and had no points.

Last year, Zhou finished 18th with six points in his rookie season with Alfa Romeo, with his best result being a 10th-placed finish during his debut Bahrain race. 

Max Verstappen was crowned winner of the Australian race after two late red flags and a slew of crashes threw the race into chaos before the Red Bull Racing driver was allowed a processional victory lap.

Verstappen was leading Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton with a few laps left when Kevin Magnussen crashed his Haas into a wall, leaving debris on the track and halting the race.

The cars returned to the grid with fresh tires for a two-lap sprint to decide the race, but in a chaotic restart, Williams driver Logan Sargeant rode into the back of AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries to knock both of them into gravel at turn one.

Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon then crashed into each other to leave a trail of debris on the track and trigger another red flag, the third and last of the race.

After lengthy deliberations, stewards decided the race would finish with one lap behind a safety car in the order of the previous start – minus the cars that had crashed out.

That allowed Verstappen to claim his second win of the season ahead of Hamilton with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso third.

Red Bull have now claimed all three grand prix wins in the new season, a record for the team, resuming their dominance after their runaway success in 2022.

"It was a bit of a mess, but we survived everything .... and we won, which of course is the most important (thing)," Verstappen said after his first victory at Albert Park and Red Bull's first since 2011.

"That's a really good weekend for us, we have to be happy with that."

Mercedes' day was soured with George Russell retiring early after losing power and rolling to a halt with his engine on fire.

"It's really unlucky for George today on our side," said seven-time world champion Hamilton.

"Otherwise, to get those points is really amazing today. I definitely didn't expect to be second so I'm so grateful for it."

"When it's not your day, it's not your day," wrote Russel via Twitter.

Lance Stroll finished fourth behind Alonso in a big day for Aston Martin, with Perez placing fifth.

(With input from Reuters)