AUSTRALIAN GP – Carlos Sainz delivers “smooth operation” with two tenth victory ahead of Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz took a dominant win ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc winning the Australian Grand Prix by two-tenths in the closest finishes this season. Sainz swept past Max Verstappen on lap two at the Clark Chicane, as the three-time champion struggled with brake failure before retiring on lap four.
The Spaniard then controlled the race and set himself up for victory as he passed Leclerc and Lando Norris at the pit stop seizing control. Sainz had in Singapore last year dined Verstappen a record bringing a run of wins, and is the only driver other than the world champion to win since May last year.
The prancing Ferrari driver stalked the charging bull, which had dominated the opening races, and on the next lap Verstappen made a mistake at Turn Three allowing Sainz to close up. Leclerc also managed to undercut the Mercedes early on at the first stops, before retaining second during the pit stops.
Verstappen immediately came on the radio to say he had “lost the rear – weird”, and before long it was apparent why. A lap later, he swore over the radio and said: “The car is loose.” And a lap after that smoke started to pour from his right rear wheel.
He limped into the pit lane, with his brakes now on fire, a clump of material flew out of his wheel onto the grass. Underlining the strength of Red Bull in the last two years, it was his first retirement since this race two years ago. Like two years ago, Sainz like Leclerc took full control of the race and then looked unstoppable as he went on to win.
Sainz has had a remarkable bounce back, two-weeks ago his missed Jeddah after undergoing appendix surgery, and took full advantage of the opportunity as he calmly controlled the race from the front to stay clear of Leclerc. But despite downplaying expectations going into the weekend, he has strung together a strong weekend and was second on the grid.
Sainz was once again the driver to deny the Dutchman victory and chances of equalling his own record of winning ten races in a row, and just three races into a season he started knowing he would lose his seat at Ferrari at the end of it to Hamilton.
His victory provides further evidence that Ferrari has got on top of the tyre issues which has held them back. Sainz’s race sums up his weekend, as he grew in confidence as though following the surgery in Jeddah, as he moved ahead building his advantage over Verstappen then teammate Leclerc following both his stops.
Even before retiring Verstappen was kept honest by Sainz, through the first stint he was never far behind. In practice on Friday Red Bull looked unconvinced of their dominant race performances in Sakhir and Jeddah, it looks likely impossible that Red Bull can better 2023, they would need to win all remaining twenty-one races.
Verstappen told Sky Sports, “What we can see so far from the data is that as soon as the lights went off the right-rear brake just stuck on. It just caused the damage and it kept on increasing so it was also basically driving with the handbrake on.”
While it was also a solid drive for Leclerc, who started fourth to second delivering Ferrari’s first one-two since Bahrain 2022. It also puts Sainz into the 2025 market as the only driver to beat Red Bull since the start of 2023, having already lost his Ferrari seat to Hamilton and opportunities at Red Bull and Mercedes next year.
Norris was third finishing three and a half seconds behind Leclerc and comfortably ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, as the team continued their strong start in what is a close midfield battle. Earlier in the race, the team had instructed Piastri to allow Norris passed, but then the Melbourne-born driver.
It also backs up the theory that behind Red Bull the battle behind between Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes is incredibly close this season. While Ferrari took the maximum, it was a nightmare race for their closest rival in the battle for second Mercedes.
Although Mercedes where unable to fight for victory with Lewis Hamilton joining Verstappen in retirement with his own engine failure on lap sixteen, while George Russell crashed out gaining a penalty for a move that was “potentially dangerous” at Turn Six.
Russell had been trying to pressure Fernando Alonso in the closing stages before locking up, that sent him onto a one-way ticket to a heavy crash into the barrier and admitted his move was “potentially dangerous.”
Russell told Sky Sports “I’m not going to accuse him of anything until we see further. I was right behind him for many, many laps. I was half a second behind him before the corner. Then, suddenly he slowed up dramatically and got back on the power. I wasn’t expecting it and he caught me by surprise.”
Mercedes leaving Melbourne pointless in what could be a close fight between, them, Ferrari, and McLaren for the best of the rest.
Sergio Perez was fifth in a battle with no one not being near the front of the field left him unable to progress forward as he claimed one place. He had been hampered during the stops, not a statement he needs as he secure his future at Red Bull, he will have wanted to take victory.
Sainz said, “It was a really good race. I felt really good out there. Of course a bit stiff and especially physically it wasn’t the easiest but I was lucky I was more or less on my own and I could manage my pace, my tyres, manage everything, and it wasn’t the toughest race of all.”
Leclerc added “It feels good mostly for the team of course. It’s amazing to know we can do that. I struggled a bit more in the second stint with the first hard. I didn’t manage the tyres well But then the last stint was more positive. First and second was the best we could do.”
Norris “I’m very happy and proud of the team because P3 and P4 is a lot of points in the championship. So that’s the first thing. We missed out on Charles, I think our pace was a little bit better. He undercut us in the first stint so maybe a little bit of hope for second place, I think our pace was strong enough today.”
Perez finished comfortably ahead of his former teammate Lance Stroll, with the RB of Yuki Tsunoda splitting the two Aston Martins as he was five seconds ahead of Alonso.
The Mexican once he had passed Russell and Alonso was unable to find his way past the two, after a visor tear-off was lodged in his floor. That resulted in disrupted airflow and the following loss of downforce meant he was unable to chase the McLaren’s.
Perez perhaps not delivering what Red Bull needed when Verstappen retired, but Albert Park can at times give classic races.
Haas continued to exceed their own expectations with both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finishing in the points. Alex Albon missed out on the points as he finished just under a second behind the two Haas’s.
Williams had controversially withdrew his teammate Logan Sargeant after the British-Thai driver wrote his car off in FP1, they did so believing that Albon was their best opportunity of points, but it did pay off as he was nearly a second behind Magnussen, both a lap down.
Daniel Ricciardo finished his home race twelfth finishing a second ahead of Pierre Gasly. The Sauber’s of Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou split the two Alpine’s with Esteban Ocon sixteenth.