Australian GP - Race

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Rolex Australian GP

Race 

March 24, 2024

Two weeks after suffering from appendicitis, Sainz emerged victorious in Melbourne.

After recovering from appendicitis for two weeks, Carlos Sainz of Ferrari secured a remarkable win at the Australian Grand Prix following Max Verstappen's sudden retirement early in the race.

Having sat out the previous race in Saudi Arabia, Sainz's participation in Melbourne wasn't confirmed until Friday. Nonetheless, he delivered a flawless performance to clinch his third victory in Formula 1.

"Ha-ha! It's amazing!" Sainz mentioned over the radio upon reaching the finish line, then proceeded to perform his usual rendition of. "Smooth Operator."

In 2025, Sainz, who will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari, won the race ahead of his current teammate Charles Leclerc, while Lando Norris from McLaren finished third.

The race concluded under a virtual safety car following a crash by Mercedes driver George Russell on the final lap, fortunately, Russell was unharmed.

Stewards determined that Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin contributed to Russell's crash by suddenly slowing down while Russell was closely following him. As a result, Alonso, who initially finished sixth, received a 20-second penalty, dropping him to eighth place and was also given three penalty points.

Mercedes, the former world champions, had a disappointing day when Hamilton had to retire on Lap 17 due to an engine failure.

Despite starting from pole position, Verstappen, the runaway championship leader, was forced to retire early with a brake fire, ending his streak of nine consecutive victories.

The issue with the Dutch driver's car occurred shortly after Sainz overtook him on Lap 2.

Sainz pulled off a skillful overtake on Verstappen around the outside of Turn 11, making use of the drag reduction system (DRS) to his advantage.

Verstappen mentioned that he was essentially driving with the handbrake engaged. "We can see so far in the data that as soon as the lights went off the right rear brake just stuck on, of course the temperature kept on increasing, so we were basically driving with the handbrake on," he said.

"And that's why already I felt the car was really weird to drive in some corners, very snappy, the laps to the grid the car was spot on and I was happy with what we were doing, but explains that if a brake is stuck on, that doesn't help.

"I'm disappointed with not being able to finish the race because I think we would have had a good shot at winning. The balance felt quite nice on that, absolutely great. Like I felt confident and like a good improvement compared to what I felt in the long reset when we did in practice. But yeah, some things you can't control," he added.

Verstappen remains at the top of the championship with 51 points, even though the competition is getting closer -- Leclerc has 47 points, Sergio Pérez has 46, and Sainz, who missed one race, has 40.

Following the leading trio, Australia's Oscar Piastri secured fourth place.

There was some controversy as Piastri was asked to yield to his teammate Norris at one point, although he also lost time by going wide at the second-to-last corner.

Verstappen's teammate, Pérez, had a disappointing race finishing in fifth place.

Pérez may be reflecting on what could have been if he hadn't dropped from third to sixth on the grid due to a penalty for obstructing another driver during qualifying on Saturday.

Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda continued his strong performance for Red Bull's junior team in eighth place, while Russell's late crash allowed Haas to finish with drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in the points.

Alex Albon, who effectively raced with Logan Sargeant's car, finished 11th, coming close to a points finish that led Williams boss James Vowles to a controversial decision two days prior.

Albon had damaged his chassis in free practice but was provided with Sargeant's for qualifying on Saturday.

Williams believed that Albon had the best chance of scoring points, but he couldn't overtake the Haas drivers.

Daniel Ricciardo finished 12th in another disappointing race for the Australian.

Ricciardo has found it challenging to match the performance of his Red Bull teammate Tsunoda this season.

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Australian GP 2024 F1 Race Results

1. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari (1:20:26.843)

2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (+2.366)

3. Lando Norris, McLaren (+5.904)

4. Oscar Piastri, McLaren (+35.770)

5. Sergio Pérez, Red Bull (+56.309)

6. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin (+1:33.222)

7. Yuki Tsunoda, RB (+1:35.601)

8. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin (1:40.992)

9. Nico Hülkenberg, Haas (+1:44.553)

10. Kevin Magnussen, Haas (+1 Laps)

11. Alexander Albon, Williams (+1 Laps)

12. Daniel Ricciardo, RB (+1 Laps)

13. Pierre Gasly, Alpine (+1 Laps)

14. Valtteri Bottas, Sauber (+1 Laps)

15. Zhou Guanyu, Sauber (+1 Laps)

16. Esteban Ocon, Alpine (+1 Laps)

Ret. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (+2 Laps)

Ret. Pierre Gasly, Alpine (+43 Laps)

Ret. Max Verstappen, Red Bull (+55 Laps)