F1 Australian Grand Prix: Sainz wins in Ferrari one-two after fire forces Red Bull’s Verstappen to quit race
- Verstappen last just three pals, tells Red Bull engineers ‘I have smoke … fire, fire, brake, my brakes’
- Carlos Sainz takes first win of the season just weeks after having appendix removed, Charles Leclerc second, Lando Norris third
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix in a Ferrari one-two on Sunday, in a race thrown wide open by the early retirement of world champion Max Verstappen.
Sainz, who had appendicitis surgery just two weeks ago, took the chequered flag 2.3 seconds ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, with McLaren’s Lando Norris a bold third.
Verstappen started from pole but was passed by Sainz on lap two before smoke started billowing from a rear wheel on his Red Bull and he limped to the pits.
“The car is loose,” Verstappen told his team as he battled with understeer, and soon after was heard on the radio telling Red Bull engineers, “I have smoke … fire, fire, brake, my brakes.”
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was another early retirement with an engine failure on lap 17. To add to Mercedes’ woes, teammate George Russell crashed heavily on the last lap with the car ending on its side. Russell climbed out unscathed.
While Verstappen was favoured to win, the Ferraris had proved highly competitive in practice and qualifying on the fast and flowing Albert Park track.
Despite not being fully fit, Sainz topped Q1 and Q2 to fire a warning shot before Verstappen pounced in Q3.
“P1 baby, P1 baby, it’s amazing. Life’s a roller coaster at times,” said Sainz, whose seat at Ferrari is to be taken by Hamilton next year.
“Very happy, I felt really great out there. Of course it wasn’t easy physically, but I was lucky I was more or less on my own out there and I could manage my pace.”
On a fine day, 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 pair Nico Hulkenburg and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10.
“It feels good mostly for the team of course, first and second didn’t happen since Bahrain 2022,” Leclerc said. “Carlos has had an incredible weekend to come back from his surgery, he’s done an amazing race.”
China’s Zhou Guanyu, who started the day at the back of the grid, finished 15th, a place behind Sauber teammate Valterri Bottas.
It was the first time Verstappen had retired from a race since he was forced out of the 2022 Australian Grand Prix
The Dutchman emphatically won the opening two races of the season as Red Bull took one-twos in both and was red hot favourite to make it three wins in 2024.
He had also been aiming to match his own record set last year of 10 consecutive wins – one more than Sebastian Vettel in 2013.
“What we could see so far in the data is as soon as the lights went off the right rear brake just stuck on, and of course the temperature kept on increasing,” Verstappen told reporters as the race continued around him.
“So it was also basically driving with the handbrake on and that’s why already it felt the car was really weird to drive in some corners. It was just very snappy.”
