Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz ended Red Bull’s winning start to the season with victory at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday after three-time world champion Max Verstappen failed to finish. The Spaniard, who missed the final race after undergoing appendicitis surgery two weeks ago, took the checkered flag 2.3 seconds ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, with McLaren’s Lando Norris taking a bold second Three. It was Sainz’s third Grand Prix win and first since Singapore last year. But it was a disastrous day for pole-sitter Verstappen, who limped out with smoke billowing from his car after being overtaken by front-row partner Sainz on the second lap.
“I was smoking, blue smoke, on fire, on fire,” the Dutchman said on the team radio before retiring for the first time in more than two years, seemingly due to a rear brake problem.
It was also a horror race for Lewis Hamilton in an unstable Mercedes, with the British seven-time world champion suffering engine failure on lap 17.
To make matters worse, teammate George Russell crashed seriously on the last lap and the car rolled over. Russell crawled out unscathed.
Verstappen went 1-2 with Red Bull in the season-opening two grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and emerged as a three-win favorite.
He is aiming to equal his record of ten consecutive wins set last year – one more than Sebastian Vettel in 2013 – and remain unbeaten in his last 18 starts from pole position.
Although Verstappen was favored to win, Ferrari proved extremely competitive in practice and qualifying at the fast and flowing Albert Park track.
Despite not fully recovering, Sainz took the lead in both Q1 and Q2, before Verstappen swooped in in Q3.
“P1 baby, P1 baby, it’s great. Life is a roller coaster sometimes,” said Sainz, whose seat at Ferrari will be taken over by Hamilton next year.
‘It’s not physically easy’
“Very happy, I felt really good there. Of course, it’s not easy physically, but I’m lucky that I’m there more or less on my own and I can pace myself.”
As the weather cleared, Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren was fourth, ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull. Fernando Alonso was sixth, ahead of Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was eighth, with Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen completing the top ten.
“Of course it feels good for the team, it hasn’t happened the first and second time since Bahrain in 2022,” Leclerc said.
“Carlos had an incredible weekend coming back from surgery and had a great race.”
Verstappen got off to a good start and overtook Sainz as the lights went out, with Norris holding on to third as he battled for position.
But his lead didn’t last long, as Sainz turned on his DRS to overtake on the second lap and took the lead.
“I just lost the car – it’s really weird,” Verstappen said on the radio before smoke started pouring out, heading to the pits and retiring.
The race took on a different character, with Sainz ahead of Norris and Leclerc, with Perez trailing in sixth.
The pit stops began on lap eight, with Hamilton pitting, followed by his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, both starting on the soft tyres, with almost everyone else on the mediums.
Sainz pitted on lap 17.
After completing the pit stop, Sainz led Leclerc by 2.6 seconds at half-way point, followed by Piastri and Norris.
With no Verstappen to contend with, the Spaniard gradually widened the gap, with Norris passing Piastri into third.
Leclerc pitted again when his tires began to fail and he finished fifth on the hard surface, but was quickly back to second thanks to fresh rubber.
Sainz also pitted again and maintained a slim lead in front of 130,000 fans.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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