Ferrari’s 1-2 finish energises F1
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz ended Red Bull’s Formula 1 winning streak on Sunday when the Spaniard took advantage of Max Verstappen’s early retirement to win the Australian Grand Prix, just two weeks after missing the previous race in Saudi Arabia due to an emergency appendectomy.
Sainz, who started on the front row alongside Verstappen, kept his place into turn one, but passed the Dutchman on lap two for the lead and took control once his rival retired two laps later with a fiery mechanical failure.
Verstappen had won the first two F1 races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and was on a nine-race winning streak.
Sainz finished ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc for Ferrari’s first 1-2 result since the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, with Mclaren’s Lando Norris finishing in third for his first podium at Albert Park.
His team-mate, Australian Oscar Piastri, was fourth.
Sainz, who will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari from 2025, was thrilled to get his third career win against the odds, his first since last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
“I felt really good out there,” he said. “Of course, (I felt) a bit stiff, especially physically. It wasn’t the easiest, but I was lucky that I was more or less on my own so I could just manage my pace, manage the tyres, manage everything.
“Life sometimes is crazy, you know. What happened at the beginning of the year, then the podium in Bahrain, then appendix, the comeback, the win, it’s a roller coaster. But I loved it.”
Leclerc, on the podium for the second straight race, was encouraged by Ferrari’s pace, and their ability to take the fight to rivals Red Bull during their period of dominance.
“We knew that pole position and the race win was possible because we had very good pace,” he said. “That is a very encouraging sign. However, if you look at the first three races, two out of the first three races, they (Red Bull) had the upper hand, so we still have a lot of work to do.”
Norris said it wasn’t a surprise that he was able to earn his first podium since Brazil last year.
“I think our pace has been good all weekend,” he said. “We put things together very nicely.”
The race finished under the virtual safety car, ensuring there was no racing for most of the final lap, after Mercedes driver George Russell crashed. Red Bull’s Sergio Pe´rez closed out the top five, and made up just one place from where he started in sixth, after he was handed a threeplace grid penalty for impeding Nico Hu¨lkenberg in qualifying.
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso finished sixth on the road, but fell to eighth after the stewards gave him a 20-second time penalty and three penalty points on his licence, for “potentially dangerous” driving in battling Russell on the final lap.
Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda earned RB, the team formerly known as Alphatauri, their first points of the season — with six points for seventh, having been elevated by Alonso’s penalty.
American team Haas earned their first double points finish since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, with Hu¨lkenberg and team-mate Kevin Magnussen closing out the top-10 in ninth and 10th, respectively. — AP