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2024 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

Sainz surges to epic victory in Oz after Verstappen’s mechanical failure on Lap 4; Leclerc second for a Ferrari 1-2; Norris P3 & Piastri P4 for McLaren; Perez P5 in lone surviving Red Bull, as Mercedes suffer double DNF

In his first race back after missing the Saudi Arabian GP two weeks ago with appendicitis surgery, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz demonstrated epic grit and determination, as well as superb skill, to take an amazing victory in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. Sainz was undeniably helped by the stunning mechanical failure of Max Verstappen’s normally bulletproof Red Bull on only Lap 4 of this 58-lap event at the beautiful Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne. Verstappen’s RB20 suffered a terminal brake issue at the right rear that actually exploded the wheel as he pulled into the pits to retire the car. It was the first DNF for the flying Dutchman in 43 races, the last one ironically also occurring here in 2022. Nevertheless, the Ferraris had genuine pace and Sainz appeared up for the challenge of a mano-a-mano battle even had Verstappen not been so unlucky, and the Spaniard rapidly proved the class of the field in the three-time champion’s absence. Even his teammate, Charles Leclerc, couldn’t really challenge Sainz’s pace at the front and when the race was ended under a Virtual Safety Car due to George Russels’s dramatic late race crash, it was a Ferrari 1-2 highlighted by a remarkably gutsy performance from Sainz, a man only recently returned from a hospital bed and certainly unable to train for the Grand Prix weekend as he normally would. While Albert Park seems particularly well suited to Ferrari’s cars every time they visit Down Under, F1 fans will hope that the Prancing Horses’ dominance on Sunday was a harbinger for more good things to come in 2024 vis a vis a genuine fight with Red Bull. And for Sainz personally, who was let go by the Scuderia for next year in favor of Lewis Hamilton, it was certainly one of the finest advertisements any free agent pilot has offered prospective future employers in the F1 paddock.

Team McLaren had the second best day amongst the constructors under the sunny Melbourne skies. With Lando Norris starting from P3 on the grid and teammate Oliver Piastri P5 at his home GP, Norris was able to retain that final podium spot when the checkers flew, while Piastri improved to a P4 finish. While they never really had the pace to challenge Leclerc once the Monegasque had cleared Norris via a one-lap undercut on the first pit sequence early on, they did manage to keep the lone surviving Red Bull of Sergio Peres well and truly behind Piastri in the final third of the race. Perez was hampered by a 3-place grid penalty after he was adjudged to have impeded Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg during Saturday qualifying, dropping him to a P6 starting position. While he did make up one position, it appeared his Red Bull suffered with tire degradation and dropped off on pace later in the tire stints. With Verstappen’s shocking DNF and Perez only able to gather 10 points for the team with his P5 finish, it was a rare lost weekend for usually imperious Red Bull.

Perhaps they can take solace in the fact that their old nemesis, the Mercedes factory team, had an even worse Australian excursion. First, Lewis Hamilton, who was looking very racy in the early going, suffered an abrupt engine failure on Lap 17. Then, to add salt to the Silver Arrows’ wounds, George Russell suffered a lurid penultimate lap crash while in pursuit of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso for P6.  After the race, the stewards handed Alonso a 20-second penalty for erratic driving, deciding that the veteran two-time champ had slowed excessively through the tricky Turn 6-Turn 7 complex and forcing Russell to have to abruptly hit the brakes and change his line. That sent Russell’s Merc skidding through the gravel trap there at a high rate of knots, breaking the front suspension and eventually pitching the Briton’s Silver Arrow across the track and laying on its side. Thankfully, Russell came out of it unscathed but Alonso’s subsequent demotion from P6 to P8 was cold comfort to team Mercedes, which scored zero points for all their efforts coming in to the weekend. Team principal Toto Wolf will need an extra bottle of Maalox while he marinates on this bitter turn of events for the next fortnight.

Alonso’s Aston teammate Lance Stroll was elevated to P6 and the RB Honda of Yuki Tsunoda got P7 thanks to the naughty Spaniard’s penalty. And Haas had a splendid day, scoring points with both cars after Nico Hulkenberg in P9 and Kevin Magnussen in P10 were both able to overtake the lone Williams of Alexander Albon in crunch time. In an effort to score points, Williams had decided to allow Albon to run Logan Sargeant’s car after Albon binned his irreperably during Friday practice. But with Albon not finding the pace to come home in the points, the maneuver led to nothing more than bruised feelings for the already under the gun Sargeant.

Top 10 finishers of the Australian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 58 1:20:26.843 25
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 58 +2.366s 19
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +5.904s 15
4 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +35.770s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 58 +56.309s 10
6 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 58 +93.222s 8
7 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 58 +95.601s 6
8 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 58 +100.992s 4
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 58 +104.553s 2
10 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 57 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks’ time with an uncharacteristically early visit to Japan’s fabled Suzuka International Racing Course. Verstappen and Red Bull will be itching for redemption and a return to their usual winning ways, while Ferrari and Sainz will be hoping to ride their Aussie high to even greater heights in Japan. Hope to see you then to find out how it all plays out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Qualifying results

Verstappen earns third consecutive pole to start season, Perez P3 for Red Bull; Sainz returns from illness to post impressive P2 time for Ferrari in Oz; Hamilton knocked out in Q2

Formula 1 returned to its regularly scheduled Saturday Qualifying on a beautifully sunny afternoon at the super fast Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia after two races run on Saturdays to start the 2024 season. And while the extra week off between race weekends didn’t exactly slow down Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen, who continued his torrid start by taking his third consecutive pole when all was said and done, it did lead to some positive signs for the Ferrari team in their quest to close the gap to the reigning Constructors’ and Drivers’ champions. Most hearteningly, the Scuderia’s veteran number two, Carlos Sainz, made his return from the appendectomy that had kept the Spaniard out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix two weeks ago. And not only was Sainz fit enough to compete but he also laid down a mighty impressive final lap of his own to slot in at P2 on the grid alongside the pole-sitting Verstappen to start tomorrow’s race. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez set the third fastest time of the day, while Sainz’s Scuderia stablemate, Charles Leclerc, abandoned his final quali lap and had to settle for P5.

Leclerc was sandwiched by the two McLaren’s of native Melbourne son Oscar Piastri and Englishman Lando Norris in P4 and P6 respectively. McLaren now seem to be the third best team in the paddock behind Red Bull and Ferrari, as Mercedes’ mediocrity to begin 2024 continued to manifest itself here in Round 3. For all his efforts, George Russell could do no better than P7, while Silver Arrow teammate Lewis Hamilton suffered the ignominy of getting bounced out in Q2 for the first time in Oz since 2010. Hamilton’s Benz looked a real handful and he will have to work hard come Sunday to score points starting from down in P11 with a lot of fairly evenly matched equipment in front of him. That said, Yuki Tsunoda perhaps over-performed in his RB Honda to grab P8 on the day, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso likely had room for improvement after only taking P9 and P10 on the grid respectively. Alonso, in particular, made a hash of his Q3 session with a lurid off track excursion through the gravel at Turn 6. Only the Spanish two-time champion’s cat-like reflexes saved what could have been a major shunt at one of the circuit’s trickier sections.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Australian GP:

1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:16.819 1:16.387 1:15.915 21
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:16.731 1:16.189 1:16.185 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:16.805 1:16.631 1:16.274 22
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:17.430 1:16.750 1:16.315 19
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:16.984 1:16.304 1:16.435 20
6 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:17.369 1:16.601 1:16.572 18
7 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:17.062 1:16.901 1:16.724 23
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 1:17.356 1:16.791 1:16.788 18
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:17.376 1:16.780 1:17.072 23
10 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:16.991 1:16.710 1:17.552 21

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2024 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Qualifying results

Verstappen takes first Jeddah pole, Perez P3 for Red Bull; Leclerc P2, rookie sub Bearman P11 for Ferrari; Alonso shines for Aston, McLaren in the hunt as Mercedes flounder

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made it two pole positions on the trot to start his 2024 campaign, taking his first-ever pole at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia on Friday. Verstappen edged out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by just a shade over three-tenths, the confined quarters of the Jeddah street course somewhat neutralizing the Red Bull’s usual pace advantage. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez notched P3, while Leclerc had a substitute stablemate in rookie Oliver Bearman, drafted into service right before Free Practice 3, when the ailing Carlos Sainz was forced to have surgery for appendicitis. Bearman, who had just taken pole for the F2 feature race, acquitted himself well after being thrown into the deep end of the motorsports pool, making it to Q2 and just missing out on the final qualifying session with the eleventh fastest time.

Aston Martin found some pace after a disappointing effort in Bahrain last week and veteran Fernando Alonso wrung his car’s neck to the tune of the fourth best time in Q3. Teammate Lance Stroll couldn’t match the Spanish two-time champ’s speed and qualified a distant P10. Both of McLaren’s drivers showed fine pace, with Oscar Piastri just getting the better of teammate Lando Norris, P5 to P6. Mercedes, on the other hand, really struggled in quali trim, with George Russell only able to set the seventh fastest time and Lewis Hamilton searching for balance in the car down in P8 on the grid. Yuki Tsunoda excelled for the newly christened RB F1 team (formerly AlphaTauri, formerly Toro Rosso) with a sparkling final run that earned the fiery Japanese driver P9 for tomorrow’s race start.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Saudi Arabian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:28.171 1:28.033 1:27.472 18
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:28.318 1:28.112 1:27.791 23
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:28.638 1:28.467 1:27.807 19
4 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:28.706 1:28.122 1:27.846 17
5 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:28.755 1:28.343 1:28.089 22
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:28.805 1:28.479 1:28.132 22
7 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:28.749 1:28.448 1:28.316 22
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:28.994 1:28.606 1:28.460 24
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 1:28.988 1:28.564 1:28.547 18
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:28.250 1:28.578 1:28.572 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race, another Saturday special due to the upcoming Ramadan holiday, airs live beginning at Noon Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if the very tight and perilous quarters at Jeddah will throw up some real surprises!