SAINZ’S ROLLERCOASTER ROAD TO VICTORY
When Carlos Sainz boarded the plane to head to Melbourne, Australia, for the Australian GP, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to drive the Ferrari when he got there. He had spent 7 days in bed recovering from the appendicitis operation he had in Saudi Arabia, which prevented him driving in the grand prix there. Reserve driver, 18-year old Oliver Bearman, was brought in for that race and made a sensational F1 debut, finishing 7th, while Charles Leclerc was 3rd in the other Ferrari.
Bearman was in Melbourne just in case his services were needed, but Sainz took part in all three practice sessions, and put his Ferrari into second place on the grid, behind world champion Max Verstappen.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks, a lot of days in bed waiting for this moment to see if I could be here today,” Sainz said after qualifying.
“To make it to this weekend and then put it on the front row after leading through qualifying, I was almost not believing it, especially after how tough it’s been.”
In Sunday’s race, Verstappen led the opening lap, but on lap two ran wide and Sainz was through into the lead. Verstappen seemed comfortable staying behind Sainz, but on lap 5 his brakes caught on fire and his run of 46 consecutive races without a DNF, were over. Ironically his last retirement came in the same race in 2022. Large sections of the record crowd on hand for the race sadly applauded the world champion’s demise, presumably because they have had enough of the Red Bull driver winning endlessly.
Sainz went on to take his third F1 victory, and with Leclerc finishing second, it was the first Ferrari 1-2 finish since 2022. He was notably slow getting out of the car in parc ferme, but soon warmed to the task of celebrating with the team that has chosen Lewis Hamilton to join Leclerc at Ferrari next year, in a snub that is coming back to bite the team in many ways.
“What a rollercoaster! I’m extremely happy!” Sainz said about his victory. “I felt good in the car from lap 1 and after overtaking Max, when I was in free air, I started setting a strong pace that took me all the way to the finish line, bringing home the first win of the season.” he said in the team’s official report. “This team deserves this one-two, we did a fantastic job all weekend, from FP1 to the last lap. We executed a perfect race, and nailed the strategy and the mechanics were incredible delivering precise and quick pit stops every single time. Congratulations to everyone! Let’s carry this momentum to Japan! Vamos!”
It would be understandable if Sainz felt bittersweet about his third win with the team, given they have effectively sacked him from the end of this season. In the press conference, Leclerc who finished second, and Lando Norris who finished third for McLaren, were asked if they felt Sainz was underrated.
“I think everybody knows Carlo’s worth in the paddock. He’s one of the highest-rated drivers in the paddock,” Leclerc said. “And he’s been extremely strong every time he was in a Formula 1 car. I’m not too worried about his future because I’m sure that many, many team principals are-he doesn’t say for surethey are speaking to him,” Leclerc said.
“Yeah there’s no reason anyone should think he’s underrated, “Norris said. “I think for the people who know him, know what he’s capable of doing, know his effort level, his approach and dedication to wanting to be one of the best, exactly like he’s proved today, and over the last couple of weeks.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Sainz modestly said, sitting between Leclerc and Norris. “
“I guess I agree here with my two favourite teammates! There are some kind words there, but I agree with them.”
“If they want to underrate me, I’m fine with that, I don’t care honestly, but I care about the people that know the sport well and about my teammates, the people who have seen my data, seen how I work, seen my speed, and that’s the thing I care about, and I don’t feel underrated by them.”
One of those team principals is Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who has been riding a bit of a rollercoaster himself in terms of negative publicity surrounding the complaint against him from his former Personal assistant for inappropriate behavior. The text messages between Horner and his PA have been doing the media rounds, and this publication has seen them. They hint of a possible affair between the two, but whether they are genuine, nobody can say.
Rumours that Verstappen might leave Red Bull if Helmut Marko was to leave, is pure conjecture, but Max was certainly annoyed that his car let him down finally.
Asked about that, Horner said it was normal for a driver to be upset about a DNF.
“It was a brake issue, “Horner explained. “It looks like the brake has bound on pretty much from the start of the race, and that’s why, as Max described it, was like having a handbrake which caused him to have a couple of moments. And then of course the heat’s building and building and building and then of course the resultant fire.”
“Obviously a driver’s going to be frustrated when he gets out of a car from retirement, but I think he’s been very, very gracious with the team and all the mechanic.”
When asked if Red Bull, for whom Sainz drove as part of the Torro Rosso team from 2015 to 2017, might rejoin the team, Horner didn’t sidestep the question.
“Based on a performance like that, you couldn’t rule the possibility out,” he said. “You’ve had a very fast unemployed driver win today,” he quipped.
He added that the DNF hurt the whole team, and they would be looking to see what caused it.
“Remarkable after three races that he’s still leading the World Championship even with that DNF. But as I say, a lot of lessons to take out of today.”
Horner also explained that as Perez’s car incurred some floor damage during the race, it meant he lost a significant amount of downforce, which may have accounted for him only finishing fifth.
Leclerc acknowledged that Sainz “did a solid job today. On my side, I had a good first stint and we managed to get ahead of Lando during the pit stop. I struggled a bit with graining on my first set of hards and had a stronger pace on the last stint on the second set of hards, managing the gap to Lando.”
Norris was pleased with the podium for McLaren, and with his teammate Oscar Piastri finishing 4th, it was a good points day for McLaren. Team orders were applied requiring Piastri to let Norris by because he
seemed to be quicker. The Aussie fans didn’t like it, but Piastri was philosophical about the switch.
“I don’t think there was much I could have done on my side, so yeah, I’m pretty happy.” he said.
The only real action on track for a change of positions in the closing laps, was between Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, and George Russell in the Mercedes. Having seen his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, retire from the race with a mechanical issue, Russell was trying to close on Alonso, when he went off, hitting the wall and ending up in the .middle of the track
“I’m OK after the accident fortunately. I don’t really know how to explain what happened. I was half a second behind Fernando 100 metres before the corner and then suddenly he came back towards me extremely quickly. It was clear he had braked earlier than he had done on previous laps and then got back on the throttle. I wasn’t expecting that, and it caught ne by surprise. I hit the wall and had a dramatic few seconds after that.”
The race stewards summoned Alonso after the race and decided braking early and then accelerating was “potentially dangerous” and gave him a 20 second time penalty, dropping him from 6th to 8th.
Alonso did not agree with the steward’s decision.
“In F1, with over 20 years of experience, with epic duels like Imola 2005/ 2006/Brazil 2023, changing racing lines, sacrificing entry speed to have good exits from corners is part of the art of motorsport. We never drive at 100% every race lap. And every corner, we save fuel, save tyres, brakes, so being responsible for not making every lap the same is a bit surprising.”
Signs at tracks warn motor racing is dangerous, but decisions like this one from the race stewards is a further step in the dumbing down of F1.
But the last words must go to race winner Sainz, who has given his Ferrari team every reason to think they’ve made a huge mistake going for Hamilton as a driver next year, when the Spaniard showed he is every bit as good as any driver on the grid, and won just two weeks after undergoing surgery and being bed ridden for seven days.
“Life sometimes is crazy, what happened at the beginning of the year, then the podium in Bahrain, the appendix, the comeback, the win…it’s a rollercoaster but I loved it and I’m extremely happy.”