- By Andrew Benson
- ` F1 correspondent in Melbourne
March 24, 2024, 05:31 GMT
Updated 1 hour ago
image source, Getty Images
image description,
Most recently, Verstappen retired from the Australian Grand Prix in 2022
Carlos Sainz led Charles Leclerc to a Ferrari one-two at the Australian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen's dominance in Formula 1 faltered.
On the second lap, Sainz took the lead on the world champion's Red Bull before the Dutchman retired after just four laps due to brake damage.
The Spaniard then controlled the race as Leclerc passed McLaren's Lando Norris in the first pit stop phase.
The race ended under a virtual safety car following an accident involving George Russell.
The Mercedes driver, chasing Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin for sixth place, lost control at turn six on the final lap and suffered an accident, leaving the car on its side and held in the air because it was on the left front wheel landed. Russell was uninjured.
Alonso and Russell were called to the race stewards after the race because it was suspected that the Spaniard had braked twice before the corner and accelerated again in between.
It was a difficult end to a sobering day for Mercedes, which appeared to confirm their status as contenders – Lewis Hamilton retired after 16 laps with an engine failure.
Norris led Oscar Piastri to a McLaren three-pointer ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez, who remained anonymous on a day when he was unable to capitalize on Verstappen's retirement.
Sainz is in total control
In front of a record crowd of 132,106 in Melbourne – and a weekend high of 452,055 – Sainz was in confident form, just 16 days after an appendectomy that forced him to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The 29-year-old, who described the “strange” feeling of “everything inside moving more than normal” after his operation, chased Verstappen on the first lap. And after Verstappen made a mistake in turn three on the second lap, Sainz was able to overtake the Red Bull on the winding “straight” to turns nine and ten.
Verstappen immediately radioed and said he had “lost the rear – strange”, and it soon became clear why.
A lap later he was cursing over the radio and saying, “The car is loose.” And a lap later, smoke started pouring out of his right rear wheel.
Verstappen slowed and as he entered the pit lane with his brakes burning, a chunk of material flew from his wheel onto the grass.
It was his first retirement since this race two years ago, underlining Red Bull's strength over the last two years.
This meant that Sainz was in control and he never showed any signs of giving up the Grand Prix.
Sainz was the only non-Red Bull driver to win last year when he triumphed in Singapore in a race that ended with him holding off a train of cars containing Norris, Lewis Hamilton and Russell.
Now he has become the man to end Verstappen's chances of equaling his own record of ten consecutive wins – and after just three races in a season he began to know that he would ultimately lose his place at Ferrari to Hamilton .
Sainz had Leclerc's standards from the start of qualifying and was never in danger in the race.
He took advantage of Leclerc being stuck behind Norris in the first stint to gain a lead.
Ferrari brought Leclerc to a relatively early stop on the ninth lap to beat him past Norris, a strategy that was successful when the McLaren stopped five laps later and came up behind the Ferrari.
Sainz stopped on lap 16 and finished just a second ahead of his teammate. He slowly built a lead that expanded to almost nine seconds before Leclerc made his second stop.
image source, Getty Images
image description,
Russell rounded off a bad weekend for Mercedes with an accident near the end of the race
A good day for McLaren, but not for Perez
Norris couldn't do anything against the Ferraris, but it was still a strong weekend for McLaren.
The same cannot be said for Perez, who complained about Red Bull's decision to let him drive long in the first stint.
Perez was able to overtake Russell and Alonso, but as he was ahead of the Spaniard, a tear strip from another driver's visor got caught in his floor, in a position that Red Bull said disrupted the airflow so much that he lost significant downforce. After that he could no longer do anything against the McLarens in front of him.
Russell's crash resulted in Mercedes' pointless exit from Australia, with Aston Martin's Lance Stroll moving up to seventh, ahead of RB's Yuki Tsunoda and Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.
Alex Albon, who received his teammate Logan Sargent's Williams for the weekend after a serious accident on Friday, finished eleventh; the Haas drivers were simply too strong for him in his search for a point.
image source, Getty Images
image description,
Record attendance at the ever-popular race in Melbourne
Comments are closed.