Ferrari takes advantage of a rare Red Bull mishap for a 1-2 finish in Australia, as Carlos Sainz ends another Max Verstappen winning streak.
It was a smooth operation in Australia.
Carlos Sainz broke another Max Verstappen streak, this time taking P1 in the Australian Grand Prix of the 2024 Formula 1 season Sunday.
Returning from an emergency appendicitis operation that caused him to miss the Saudi race two weeks ago, Sainz took the lead early from P2 and managed all the way to the chequered flag, earning the third Grand Prix victory for his career.
Sainz ended Max Verstappen’s nine-race winning streak. The Spanish driver, who ironically has no seat for 2025 yet, also ended the Red Bull star’s 10-race streak in Singapore last year. 10-straight wins is the all-time Formula 1 record for a driver.
With the aid of DRS, Sainz overtook Verstappen on the second lap. Things then unraveled quickly for Verstappen, as his RB20 first started giving out smoke before catching fire, ultimately forcing the three-time world champion to retire.
Sainz maintained a good lead over his teammate Charles Leclerc first, and then McLaren’s Lando Norris for most part of the 58-lap race. In the end, it was a Ferrari 1-2, with Leclerc finishing P2 with almost two and a half seconds off of Sainz.
Norris took the last podium spot, with his teammate and hometown boy Oscar Piastri finishing fourth. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez took fifth, a one-place improvement from his start on the grid, but two spots off from his original qualifying spot pre-penalties.
The Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were 6th and 7th, while RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was 8th. Haas finished with double points as Niko Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top 10.
Aside from Verstappen, 7-time champion Lewis Hamilton also had car problems and was forced to retire on lap 17.
It was actually a double DNF for Mercedes, as George Russell crashed on the final lap, forcing the race to finish on a virtual safety car.
With Sunday’s result, Red Bull’s lead for the Constructors’ championship is down to four points, as the reigning two-time champions now lead Ferrari, 97-93. McLaren are running third with 55 points.
In the Driver standings, Verstappen maintains his lead with 51 points, but Leclerc takes over second with 47. Checo drops to third with 46 points, while Sainz and Piastri complete the top-5 with 40 and 28 points respectively.