Verstappen’s DNF Leads Sainz to Victory in Australia

Carlos Sainz took the victory at the Australian Grand Prix, followed by teammate Charles Leclerc to complete a one-two finish for Ferrari.

After Max Verstappen retained the lead at the start of the race, it appeared it would be yet another race of dominance from the Red Bull driver. Instead, things quickly fell apart.

Sainz passed Verstappen on lap two, a surprising turn of events. Verstappen noted a, “weird,” slide from his RB20. Suddenly, smoke began pouring out of his right rear tire. Significantly off the pace, Verstappen was forced to retire only four laps into the race.

Post race, Verstappen said his right rear brake was stuck on from the moment the lights went out. The constant heat from the brakes being activated eventually caught it on fire.

“It’s a mechanical sport, these things unfortunately happen,” Verstappen said. “It’s most important of course that we understand why it happened.”

Taking Advantage

Verstappen’s issue played right into the hands of Sainz, who dominated the rest of the race. Two weeks ago, Sainz was sitting in the paddock after recovering from appendectomy. Two weeks later, he was standing on top of the podium for the Australian Grand Prix.

“The unknown of when am i going to be back, am I going to be back in full form, how long is it going to take me to get back up to speed and confidence, and then suddenly you come back and win,” Sainz said. “What a rollercoaster but life is good sometimes.”

Other teams capitalized on Verstappen’s misfortune as well. McLaren finished third and fourth behind the two Ferrari’s. RB took home points after Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh. Haas rounded out the last two spots of the top ten, giving the American team their first double points finish since July of 2022.

However, one team squandered the opportunity.

Mercedes’ Misery in Melbourne

Mercedes had a disaster of a race. Lewis Hamilton suffered an engine failure on lap 17 while running 11th. That left George Russell as the lone Mercedes remaining. On the last lap, while chasing down Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin for sixth, Russell crashed out.

Alonso was handed a 20 second time penalty for the incident, dropping the Aston Martin to eighth. Race officials deemed that Alonso slowed over 100 meters sooner than what was typical for the entry to turn six. This move was considered “potentially dangerous” given the high speed nature of the corner. Russell, who was directly behind Alonso when this occurred, lost the rear and slammed into the barriers.

“Really don’t know what happened to be honest,” Russell said. “I was half a second behind Fernando on the entry to the corner, then suddenly before the apex I was right on his gearbox.”

Regardless of Hamilton’s engine failure or Russell’s crash, Mercedes had poor pace compared to Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren. Races with Verstappen out of the picture are a rarity, and Mercedes failed to take advantage of it in Australia.

Full Race Results

1. Sainz – Ferrari
2. Leclerc – Ferrari
3. Norris – McLaren
4. Piastri – McLaren
5. Perez – Red Bull
6. Stroll – Aston Martin
7. Tsunoda – RB
8. Alonso – Aston Martin
9. Hulkenberg – Haas
10. Magnussen – Haas
11. Albon – Williams
12. Ricciardo – RB
13. Gasly – Alpine
14. Bottas – Sauber
15. Zhou – Sauber
16. Ocon – Alpine
17. Russell – Mercedes
18. Hamilton – Mercedes
19. Verstappen – Red Bull
20. Sargeant – Williams (DNS)

The Japanese Grand Prix is next at Suzuka Circuit on April 7.

Image courtesy of F1.com

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