Ferrari savors exerting pressure on Red Bull

Carlos Sainz (R) leads Max Verstappen during the Australian GP, Australia, March 24, 2024.

of enthusiastic Ferrari fans flooded Lygon Street in Melbourne, known for its Italian restaurants, to celebrate into the early hours of Monday following Carlos Sainz’s unexpected victory in the Australian Grand Prix.

The Italian Formula One team hopes to carry this momentum to Suzuka in two weeks, as Albert Park injected new energy into the championship.

Sainz and teammate Charles Leclerc’s 1-2 finish in Australia narrowed Red Bull’s lead to four points in both the drivers’ and constructors’ title races, marking a significant shift in momentum after Max Verstappen’s dominant performances in the Middle East.

Ferrari benefited from Verstappen’s race-ending brake issue at Albert Park, which ended Red Bull’s two-year streak of avoiding non-finishes on race day.

Despite their recent losses to Red Bull in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, Ferrari departs Melbourne pleased with the performance of their SF-24 car.

“This weekend is good evidence that when we are putting everything together, and I’m not sure that we’ll be able to do it every single weekend, we can put (Red Bull) a little bit under pressure,” said team boss Frederic Vasseur.

“It’s when they are under pressure that they will also have more mistakes. We have to continue in this direction.”

With triple world champion Verstappen topping the podium ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in the season’s first two races, Red Bull were blindsided by setup struggles from the get-go in Melbourne.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the team had not grasped the conditions, while Ferrari, clearly, had.