Sainz wins Australian GP as Verstappen retires

Carlos Sainz led a Ferrari 1-2 finish at the Australian GP, as brake issues forced Max Verstappen to retire early on. Sainz secured his third F1 win just two weeks after undergoing surgery for appendicitis, which caused him to miss the Saudi Arabian GP.

McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the podium in third place, ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri.

1. Sainz wins, 2.366 secs ahead of Leclerc
2. Norris on podium
3. Verstappen suffers first DNF in two years

Verstappen retires from Australian GP

Verstappen made a smooth getaway from pole position, but complained that he’d “lost the car” on the second lap, giving Sainz the perfect chance to pass him on the run between Turns 9 and 10.

Just moments later, the right-rear brake of his RB20 caught on fire, forcing Verstappen to crawl into the pitlane. This is his first retirement in two years; the last one was during the 2022 Australian GP.

Sainz takes victory ahead of Leclerc

After moving into the lead on Lap 2, Sainz started pulling away from Norris, Leclerc and Piastri behind him. Leclerc pulled off the undercut to take second place and a Virtual Safety Car, triggered after Lewis Hamilton stopped due to an engine problem, brought him closer to Sainz.

But Sainz held on to the lead and once again started building an advantage. “It was a really good race; I felt really good out there,” said Sainz, who still doesn’t have a seat for 2025, following Hamilton’s shock move to Ferrari next year.

“Of course, [I’m] a bit stiff, especially physically, it wasn’t the easiest, but I was lucky that I was more or less on my own and I could manage my pace, manage the tyres, manage everything. I’m happy to be in a one-two with Charles here. It shows that hard work pays off. Life sometimes is crazy, what happened at beginning of year, then the podium in Bahrain, then the appendix, the comeback, the win... it’s a rollercoaster but I loved it and I’m extremely happy.”

With Leclerc finishing second, Ferrari secured its first 1-2 finish since the 2022 Bahrain GP.

No points for Mercedes

Piastri got the jump on Norris during the first round of pit stops, but was later asked to move aside for his teammate. He ended up finishing his home race in fourth place, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Mercedes, meanwhile, walk away from Melbourne with no points. Hamilton had retired early on due to an engine issue, and George Russell crashed out on the penultimate lap while trying to pass Alonso. However, Alonso was hit with a 20-second time penalty post-race due to "potentially dangerous" driving. This dropped Alonso to P8 and promoted his teammate Lance Stroll to P6.

Yuki Tsunoda handed RB their first points this season, after finishing seventh. The Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top 10.

2024 F1 championship standings

Verstappen still holds on to the championship lead, four points ahead of Leclerc. Perez is just one point behind Perez in third place, with Sainz a further six points adrift.

F1 will now head to the Suzuki circuit for the Japanese GP on April 5-7.

2024 Australian GP results

Also see:

Verstappen wins Saudi Arabian GP; Bearman scores points on F1 debut

FanCode to stream F1 in India; packages start at Rs 49