Melbourne: Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz cruised to victory in the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday to cap Red Bull’s winning start to the season after three-time world champion Max Verstappen’s sensational failure to finish.
The Spaniard, who underwent appendicitis surgery two weeks ago, took the checkered flag 2.3 seconds ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, with McLaren’s Lando Norris a brave third.
It was his third Grand Prix win and first since Singapore last year.
“I’m happy to be here with Charles in number one. It shows that hard work pays off,” said Sainz, who missed the last race in Saudi Arabia and was then bedridden for a week.
“Life is crazy sometimes… the podium in Bahrain, then the appendix, the comeback, the win. It’s been a rollercoaster, but I’ve loved it and I’m extremely happy.”
While he celebrated, it was a disastrous day for pole-sitter Verstappen, who limped out with smoke billowing from his car after being overtaken by front-row partner Sainz on the second lap.
The Dutchman blamed a brake problem for his first retirement in two years.
“So far we can see from the data that as soon as the lights went out, the right rear brake came on,” he said.
“It just caused damage and it kept getting bigger, so it was also basically driving with the handbrake on.”
It was also a horror race for Lewis Hamilton in his inconsistent Mercedes, with the British seven-time world champion suffering an engine failure on lap 17.
To make matters worse for Mercedes, teammate George Russell crashed heavily on the last lap and the car ended up on its side. Russell climbed out unscathed.
Verstappen emphatically won the season’s opening two grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, both 1-2 with Red Bull, and was heavy favorite to make it three from three.
He was aiming to equal his record of 10 consecutive wins from last year – one more than Sebastian Vettel in 2013 – and was unbeaten in his last 18 starts from pole position.
But while Verstappen was favored to win, Ferrari proved highly competitive in practice and qualifying at the fast and flowing Albert Park track.
Despite not being fully fit, Sainz, whose place at Ferrari is due to be taken by Hamilton next year, dominated Q1 and Q2 and fired the warning shot.
Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren was fourth ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez. Fernando Alonso was sixth ahead of Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was eighth, with Haas duo Nico Hulkenburg and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10.
“Obviously it’s good mainly for the team, the first and second haven’t happened since Bahrain 2022,” said Leclerc. “Carlos had an incredible weekend coming back from surgery, he drove an amazing race.
Verstappen got off to a clean start and avoided Sainz as the lights went out, with Norris holding on for third as they jostled for position.
However, his lead was short-lived when Sainz opened DRS on the second lap and sliced past before smoke billowed from the Red Bull and the Dutchman retired.
Sainz led ahead of Norris and Leclerc before the first pit stops.
Sainz put on fresh rubber on lap 17 and had a 2.6 second lead over Leclerc at the halfway mark, closely followed by Piastri and Norris.
With no Verstappen to contend with, the Spaniard gradually built up a gap as Norris overtook Piastri to move into third.
Leclerc pitted again and returned fifth on the hards, but quickly returned to second.
Sainz also pitted for a second time and maintained his narrow lead for the journey home in front of 130,000 fans.
