Two weeks after having emergency appendicitis surgery in Saudi Arabia, Carlos Sainz arrived in Australia, saw, ran and won. Yes, he won! He overthrew Max Verstappen. Once again he, the only non-Red Bull driver who was able to beat the untouchable Dutchman last year, once again brought the three-time champion to his knees, who had to retire due to a breakdown. Something unprecedented.
The Ferrari driver from Madrid, with his third victory in F1, rises to fourth place in the World Championship and becomes the main rival for the title that the three-time champion will have in 2024, in which he was threatening another rollercoaster.
And just in the year of Sainz’s goodbye from the Ferrari team, he preferred to sign Lewis Hamilton and keep Charles Leclerc.
“Life is like a roller coaster, it’s incredible. Thank you, Ferrari,” the man from Madrid exclaimed on the radio, who two weeks ago had missed the Arabian race while lying in a hospital.
The start did not bring any surprises or big changes, in which Verstappen maintained the privileged position of the pole from the harassment of Sainz, who could not disturb him. Norris, Leclerc, and Piastri remained in their positions, although Checo Pérez lost a position, surpassed by Russell. While Alonso fell two positions behind, from tenth to 12th, surpassed by Bottas and Hamilton, although he was able to recover the Finn’s position and place himself behind the Englishman from Mercedes.
When Verstappen began to throw, the big surprise occurred. On the second lap, Sainz saw a gap on the right of the Red Bull and slipped through. He didn’t think twice. The energetic car, strangely, came out of turn 6-7 poorly and the Madrid native overtook the Dutchman to take the lead.
The three-time champion made it known that something had happened to him. “I have lost the car; “It’s really strange,” he communicated by radio to his team.
The Dutchman’s misfortune did not end there. Two laps later, lap 4, the Red Bull began to lose speed and smoke. Verstappen was upset. “Smoke, smoke, my brakes, my brakes!” He shouted into the radio, while the car lost speed, was overtaken by its rivals, and had to retreat towards the garages. It was the three-time champion’s first withdrawal due to a breakdown since Australia 2022, precisely then due to a gasoline leak that also manifested itself with flames.
It was no less than 43 races since Verstappen had not abandoned a race, of which he had won 35. Australia 2024 would no longer count.
Without Verstappen on the track, Sainz found himself with free space to build his lead and ride to victory. The Madrid native began to open up a gap with Norris (4.4 seconds behind on lap 11) and Pérez (5.9 seconds behind) behind. Ferrari was preparing a protection strategy for him. He reserved the first stop for lap 16, which he completed without incident.
It was then that the second surprise was revealed, which would benefit Fernando Alonso: the abandonment of Lewis Hamilton. The Englishman reported “engine breakdown” of his Mercedes and parked on the side of the track, without hindering, the stewards decreed “Virtual Safety-car”, so the Asturian from Aston Martin, who had not yet carried out the pit-stop, had the stop free. He advanced from 9th place to 5th, behind Norris.
They also benefited from Virtual Leclerc and Piastri, who had already stopped moments before, so the Monegasque was able to place second behind his already escaped teammate, and the Australian from McLaren climb to third place, overtaking his neighbor Norris, fourth. Alonso was fifth, ahead of Pérez, the one who lost the most.
Fifth position lasted eight laps for the Asturian, as the Mexican was flying with his Red Bull. On the 28th lap he overtook the Aston Martin to take the position. Meanwhile, in front, McLaren ordered a change of positions, so Norris passed Piastri and climbed into virtual third place, behind Leclerc, acting as Sainz’s squire.
The final stretch of the race hardly offered any substantive changes. Sainz maintained his great advantage over his teammate Leclerc, so that Ferrari secured a double, which he had not tasted for two years, in Bahrain 2022.
The man from Madrid made the second pit stop without problems, on lap 41/58, and had no surprises in the last 17 laps until the finish line.
Norris completed the last place on the podium, ahead of his teammate Piastri, while Checo Pérez was fifth, ahead of Fernando Alonso. The Asturian progressed from 10th at the start (12th in the first lap) to sixth place, which he retained from Russell’s harassment. The Englishman from Mercedes ended up injured in turn 6 of the last lap.
Russell’s accident led to a final Virtual Safety-car that altered Sainz’s arrival.
The man from Madrid had the detail of braking and asking Ferrari to bring Leclerc closer to celebrate the arrival at the finish line together. Greatness and generosity of Sainz also in the victory.