From Albert Park
A fortnight after having surgery for appendicitis and sitting out the Saudi Arabian race, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has returned to claim an emphatic victory at the Australian Grand Prix, with teammate Charles Leclerc completing a one-two for the Scuderia.
The race was turned on its head early on, as pole sitter and the unbeaten in 2024 Max Verstappen had a brake fire on Lap 5 and bowed out of the lead, leaving the Spaniard in control.
From there, Sainz commanded the race via a two-stop strategy to finish 2.3-seconds clear of teammate Leclerc. With McLaren’s Lando Norris completing the podium ahead of Aussie Oscar Piastri.
“For me it’s been a strong weekend,” Piastri told The Roar post-race.
“A couple of mistakes when it mattered which is a bit frustrating but I think today has been a solid result.
“I think a little bit of an off in the middle of the end of the second stint and grained the tyres a little bit there as well – just struggled a bit in that part of the race, but I think apart from that it was a pretty strong day.”
The McLarens had the pace on the hard tyres, with Piastri running in third during the second stint; while the Woking team made the decision to invert the positions mid-race, as Norris was on younger tyres.
Mercedes had a mare of a race at Albert Park, with a double DNF to finish off a miserable weekend. Lewis Hamilton in his final Silver Arrows appearance in Melbourne suffered a suspected engine failure on Lap 17 – while teammate
George Russell crashed out on the penultimate lap at Turn 8 while chasing Fernando Alonso for sixth.
There were points for Red Bull at least through Sergio Perez, with the Mexican coming home in the top five behind Piastri. Aston Martin capitalised on the double Mercedes DNF to also secure Lance Stroll in seventh.
Aussie Daniel Ricciardo ended the race in twelfth, as well as a lap down with no real challenge to the points paying positions. That was despite teammate Yuki Tsunoda finishing in eighth – which was where he qualified.
Despite the disappointing result for Ricciardo, the popular Australian told The Roar post-race that he still felt relaxed this weekend and his performance had nothing to do with off-track distractions, which have hampered him in Melbourne in the past.
“I think it was my first year with Renault in particular,” he said.
“I felt like by the Sunday I was just drained and we tried to do too much. I just wore myself thin. I certainly didn’t feel like that this week… I don’t put any of my not awesome weekend results down to distractions or too much media appearances or whatever.
“I think everyone was great and respectful of the job we had to do (and) the crowd was cool.”
Ricciardo also commended Piastri for his top four finish, which is the equal-highest finish by an Australian in Melbourne.
“I couldn’t get points but obviously Oscar did a great top four,” he said.
“He’s a good kid. The more time I spend with him, I like him a lot and happy that he’s doing well for Aus.”
Ahead of the Haas duo, who both benefitted from Russell’s crash late to get Kevin Magnussen into the points to compliment Nico Hülkenberg in ninth.
Pit-stop errors again plagued the Sauber team, with both Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou having slow service the first time round. Both drivers only managing to finish ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who was last of the classified finishers.
The decision as well for Logan Sargeant to be benched to give his chassis to Alexander Albon – who wrote his off in FP1 – as well will come under scrutiny. The Thai driver was eleventh, but was outpaced by the Haas drivers.
This was the first retirement for Verstappen since the 2022 Australian Grand Prix and the end of the longest ever streak of points finishes in Formula One history. The Dutchman continues to lead the championship, albeit by only five points over Leclerc.
Ferrari have also closed the gap in the constructor’s championship to Red Bull, with only four points between them.
(with Ben Waterworth)
AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
1. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
3. Lando Norris (McLaren)
4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
5. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
7. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
8. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
9. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
10. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
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