Carlos Sainz wins the Australian Grand Prix, taking advantage of Max Verstappen’s technical problems

Carlos Sainz, in his final season at Ferrari, confidently took advantage of Max Verstappen’s challenges to win the Australian Grand Prix. The brakes of the three-time world champion’s car jammed immediately after the start, which led to him retiring from the race. Second was another Scuderia driver, Charles Leclerc, third was Lando Norris from McLaren.

After the race, Carlos Sainz, simply beaming with happiness (not surprising, because in Australia he won only the third victory in his career), talked about how unpredictable life can be at times, and that there is still room for miracles in it. You can understand the Spaniard’s mood. A couple of weeks ago, he was forced to withdraw from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix because his appendicitis was inappropriately inflamed, which required surgical intervention. Sainz was quickly discharged from the hospital, but a few days ago there was no confidence that he would have time to recover in time for the Australian race. You still need to understand what overloads are experienced by Formula 1 racers, whose cars cannot be considered comfortable. Racing them after surgery is something else. But Sainz entered the race and did the right thing.

For him, everything was decided already in the debut of the race. The Spaniard started second behind Max Verstappen. He retained the lead at the start, and the spectators were already preparing to choke on the signature, but already boring to everyone, dish of the Dutchman, who usually simply drives away from his pursuers somewhere into infinity. But no, Verstappen couldn’t tear himself away. And Sainz later noted that he quickly realized that the enemy was vulnerable, overtook him and “drove alone, monitoring both the engine operating mode and tire wear.” “Life in general is a funny thing. First, a good start to the season in Bahrain (third place.— “Kommersant”), then this operation, recovery, and now victory. Exciting, but I like it. I’m even thinking about recommending that other riders have their appendix removed before the start of the season,” the Spaniard joked after the race.

Well, on Verstappen’s Red Bull, the rear right wheel was smoking mercilessly. A forced entry into the pits and a retirement followed. A rare occasion for Verstappen. For 43 races in a row, the Dutchman consistently finished, always in the points zone (and most often even in first place). Interestingly, the Dutchman’s previous retirement was also recorded in Albert Park – in 2022. As for the reasons that prevented Verstappen from reaching the finish line, he said there was a problem with the brake of the right rear wheel. It’s jammed. “Even on the warm-up lap everything was fine. But immediately after the start I realized that the rear of the car was unbalanced. It turned out that the brakes were jammed and the temperature began to rise. It’s like driving with the handbrake depressed. The retirement was inevitable,” Verstappen said after the race. “However, we haven’t encountered technical problems for a very long time.” This was bound to happen sooner or later. Now it’s important to just understand why the brake stuck and not make any more mistakes.”

And Ferrari, which was well prepared for the Australian stage, had a double celebration – Charles Leclerc was second at the finish line. Like Sainz, Leclerc did not face attacks from opponents and drove in autopilot mode, not feeling any real pressure from Lando Norris walking behind (McLaren also had a good day – Oscar Piastri finished behind Norris). Another question is why he didn’t really try to catch up with his partner? Couldn’t, or didn’t want to, or wasn’t recommended to him? Ferrari most likely won’t say anything about this. Be that as it may, Sergio Perez, the second number one of Red Bull, also noticed the speed of the Scuderia. The Mexican’s race did not go well, he was only fifth. But, in his opinion, even if Verstappen had remained on the track, he still would not have held the red cars. A controversial statement, of course, given how noticeably the Mexican is inferior to Verstappen in class.

Here, it’s probably worth remembering the Singapore Grand Prix of last year. This was the only unsuccessful race for Red Bull all season (all its other drivers won). Verstappen was only fifth, Perez eighth. But already at the next stage everything fell into place. The Dutchman won the remaining seven rounds of the championship and added two more victories to the series this year. So Verstappen remains the leader of the championship. However, Leclerc is only four points behind him.

Alexander Petrov