Carlos Sainz was victorious on the streets of Melbourne after a reliability issue takes Verstappen out of the race.
The start of the race was very strong for Verstappen as he was able to maintain his lead coming out of turn 1, though unlike the first two rounds of the season he was unable to break DRS on the first lap. In fact, Sainz stuck close by Verstappen, and was able to make a pass into the lead on lap 2.
Whilst Verstappen might have been confident that he could chase Sainz back down, he would soon be forced to retire from the race due to his brakes catching fire. This is the first time Verstappen has retired from a grand prix since the 2022 Australian Grand Prix, highlighting how consistently reliable Red Bull’s cars have been in recent years.
With the reigning world champion out, the race was blown wide open. The Ferrari’s looked quick, whilst Lando Norris sat in 2nd and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull was down in 5th place, hoping to make full use of the pace the car has.
The first round of pit stops came early into this race, with Ricciardo coming in for the first to pit on just lap 5 after starting on the stops, soon followed by much of ther rest of the grid.
Leclerc had struggled to get past Norris, which he needed to do as soon as possible if he wanted any chance of winning the race. He looked for the undercut on lap 10, being followed in by Norris’ teammate Piastri. This undercut would work like a treat in the end, as Norris wouldn’t pit for another five laps, and would come out behind both drivers, albeit on younger tyres.
Sainz would pit from the lead at the end of lap 16, with the advantage he gained allowing him more of a gap to overcut and still come out ahead. However, Sainz would find that the timing of his pitstop would be somewhat unlucky, as Hamilton would retire from the race just seconds later, which would bring out the Virtual Safety Car.
One driver who benefitted from the Virtual Safety Car was Fernando Alonso, who was the only one of the top 10 to start on hard compound tyres. He was able to gain a chunk of time for free over his competitors, and came out in 5th place.
Leclerc had began to catch up to his teammate, though team orders were made for the cars to hold position for the time being, with Ferrari no doubt aware this could be one of their best chances for a win this season given the dominance Verstappen has shown so far.
Perez managed to make his way up to 6th place now after making a move round the outside of the high speed chicane of turns 9 and 10. He would now look to chase Alonso, who was under 5 seconds ahead. It would take the Mexican seven laps to do so, but he would take 5th spot off of the two time world champion.
Whilst the Ferrari’s had initially been told to hold station, Sainz had began to pull away from Leclerc once again. McLaren, the next best team at this point, made a different team order, as it became apparent that Norris was much faster than Piastri. The two were made to swap positions, putting Norris back into a podium spot in a move that was no doubt disappointing for the Australian fans.
The Mclarens being made to swap position. Image Credit: @F1
Norris was now hoping to chase down Leclerc for 2nd, though once he began to increase his pace, Leclerc would do the same.
Leclerc would pit for a second time on lap 34, coming out just ahead of Perez and Alonso, which was crucial in ensuring he could avoid Norris catching whilst still driving in clear air. When Norris came in to pit, he would be 4 seconds behind.
The dying laps saw Magnussen and Albon fight hard with one another as the race at the front stabilised. With Tsunoda and Hulkenberg already in the final two points paying positions, it would be crucial for either one of Albon or Magnussen to put themselves in with a shout of scoring a point should someone ahead retire, or push on to challenge the others in the lower midfield battle.
It would be Magnussen who came out on top in that exchange though. After a staunch defence from the only Williams driver racing this weekend, Magnussen was finally able to pass on lap 45 after going around the outside of the highspeed chicane, a move that Albon would have no response for. But would Magnussen be able to get into the points in the end?
The answer to that question would be yes, as on the last lap George Russell would crash whilst trying to chase down Alonso at turn 6. The crash brought out the Virtual Safety Car, effectively ending the race there and then, whilst Magnussen was able to be promoted into tenth spot.
Post race, the stewards determined that Alonso’s driving prior to Russell’s crash was potentially dangerous, and may have played a factor in the crash occurring. As a result, he was demoted to 8th, promoting Stroll to 6th and Tsunoda to 7th.
This race was the first race since the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix that Max Verstappen didn’t win, a race that was also won by Carlos Sainz. Had Verstappen won today, it would have been the second time in his career he would have won ten consecutive races.
It is also the first race for Carlos Sainz since his appendicitis surgery that took him out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the Spaniard putting forward a strong case as to why he deserves a top drive for 2025.
Verstappen remains seated at the top of the drivers championship standings, but the gap to Leclerc in 2nd is just 4 points. Ferrari move within 4 points of Red Bull at the top of the constructors, whilst Aston Martin benefit from a Mercedes double DNF to move within one point of them in 4th. Yuki Tsunoda’s 7th place finish is RB’s first points of the season, which sees them leap into 6th with 6 points, ahead of Haas with 4.
