carlos sainz
Carlos Sainz of Ferrari won the first non-Red Bull race of the season with an excellent performance in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, capitalizing on Max Verstappen’s technical issues in the early laps, forcing the defending world champion to retire.
Verstappen, bidding for a record-tying tenth consecutive victory, converted his pole position advantage as the race began, but quickly reported troubles behind the wheel, with a compromised second lap allowing Sainz to get a run on him and take the lead.
Verstappen’s braking issues worsened from there, and with plumes of smoke escaping the back of his RB20, he withdrew off the racing line to let the rest of the race to pass him before returning to the pits and retiring for the first time in two years.
In Verstappen’s absence, Sainz increased his advantage over Lando Norris, teammate Charles Leclerc, and home favorite Oscar Piastri as the race progressed, finally winning for the third time in his F1 career.
Leclerc performed an undercut on Norris in the early stages of the race, rising to a net second and partnering Sainz for Ferrari’s first one-two finish since the 2022 opener, but the Briton nevertheless secured his and McLaren’s first podium of the season.
Piastri also got ahead of Norris during the first round of pit stops, only to be requested to move aside for his teammate and then lose time in an off-track excursion, leaving him in fourth place at the finish, followed by Sergio Perez’s Red Bull.
George Russell was attempting to make a late move on Fernando Alonso for sixth place when he crashed at the high-speed Turn 6/7 complex, suffering serious damage to his Mercedes and requiring a Virtual Safety Car to finish.
