A recovering Sainz improves his stock
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz has won the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, an impressive feat after he missed the race two weeks ago in Jeddah due to contracting appendicitis.
After his replacement Oliver Bearman put in a stellar substitute performance in Saudi Arabia, Sainz's win has improved his stock amongst the F1 paddock.
He has to perform this season as his Ferrari seat will be taken by the seven time champion Lewis Hamilton in 2025, so a victory puts him in good stead to getting a drive next year.
He picked up his second Driver of the Day award from his second race this season, so it's obvious that both fans and experts are impressed with the Spaniard's performance.
A late Virtual Safety Car brought out by George Russell's last lap crash confirmed the Ferrari 1-2 with his teammate Charles Leclerc taking second place.
Sainz said: "It was a really good race. I felt really good out there. Of course, a bit stiff and especially physically.
"I think from lap two, when I was leading, I said with the pace I had yesterday, I knew I could get it done, especially in clean air, manage the tyres. I could get it done.
"And yeah, I could finish the race, win it, bring it home.
"A great feeling."
He is clearly gunning for a top drive next season, he's performing to a level only eclipsed by the current championship leader, Max Verstappen.
Verstappen isn't invincible
Max Verstappen's nine-race winning streak has ended in Melbourne due to a mechanical failure on his Red Bull Racing car.
The Dutchman appeared to be smoking as he came onto the long back straight on the lakeside on lap two, and the problem just subsided from there.
His rear right brake was dragging slightly as it was stuck on, causing the whole tyre and wheel to skyrocket in temperature and start burning.
He plummeted down the field crawling at a snail's pace before pulling into the pit lane at the end of lap three, leaving Sergio Perez to fly the flag for Red Bull.
Not only does this end Verstappen's winning streak, it also proves that his team isn't as impossible to overcome as some people believed.
He said: "It’s not ideal, of course you always want to finish the races but it’s a mechanical sport.
“These things unfortunately happen, but I think it’s the most important that we understand why it happened."
The race winner, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who broke Verstappen's race winning streak in 2023, will be delighted as he has done the same thing in 2024.
The French Resurrection (sort of)
The Alpine team proved they weren't prepared to pull out the white flag and surrender down under, as their driver Pierre Gasly ran in the top six early on.
This was a nice sight after an abysmal start to the season for the French outfit, who got through to Qualifying 2 for the first time on Saturday.
Despite his impressive run early on, Gasly spent the rest of the race outside the top ten, with his teammate Esteban Ocon finishing last on the road.
So Alpine are no longer the worst team on the grid, at least in the hands of one of their drivers, which means they'll hope for results to continue to improve.
McLaren's consistency paying dividends
With Max Verstappen's retirement, along with the failures of the Mercedes drivers, McLaren's scored third and fourth places for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri respectively.
This result has put them third in the constructors championship ahead of their Brackley rivals as the fight between the two will likely continue throughout 2024.
Lando Norris was very happy with the team's performance as they scored crucial points in what will be an interesting battle during the season.
"I'm very happy, proud of the team. P3 and P4 is a lot of points in the championship, so that's the first thing.
"I think our pace was strong enough today.
"I felt good, and I could manage the tyres very well today, and that was a good step.
"Probably wasn't expecting to be on the podium, so I'm very happy."
So yeah, McLaren are fighting with Mercedes for that proverbial bronze medal, let's hope we get a good scrap.
