Australian Grand Prix: Sainz – Leclerc – Norris

Sunny. Dry. Air +20…22С, highway +39…38С

No, the Australian Grand Prix should still open the season. Our winter is coming to an end, the snow is melting, everyone is making plans for summer, which is gradually disappearing in Australia. The long wait and winter testing are behind us, and here it is: the first race of the season on an excellent circuit! But no, the tradition is no longer kept, for the fourth year in a row the season started in boring Bahrain, the third year together with Jeddah, and by the time we arrived in Melbourne everything became more or less clear.

Just like a year ago, the Red Bull Racing drivers achieved two victories in the first two stages and arrived in Melbourne as clear favorites. Even Verstappen and Perez scored as many points as in 2023.

But the assets of the Albert Park course have not disappeared. Almost every session of the weekend was littered with crashes and red flags, leading to unexpected changes.

For the first time in many years, Williams did not build a third chassis at the start of the season, which could be used as a spare, allowing time and resources to be spent on solving other problems. The experienced James Vowles simply asked the riders not to have any accidents, hoping for a chance – and lost.

In the first Friday practice, Alex Albon drove the car first into one wall and then into the other, leaving nothing to recover. Broken engine mounts, broken gearbox, cracks in the cockpit. But Albon’s chances of earning points were better than those of his teammate Logan Sargent. The American was simply withdrawn from the Grand Prix and a car for Alex was mounted on his chassis.

Formula 1 drivers changed chassis during the stages at the beginning of history, and in 2024 this happened suddenly and unexpectedly.

Carlos Sainz recovered from an appendectomy in Saudi Arabia in two weeks, completed his training, beat his teammate in qualifying and bravely took the start. At the end of the season he leaves Ferrari and hands over the cockpit to Lewis Hamilton, but the Spaniard once again proved to the whole world that he is a real racer.

The Ferraris were fast in Albert Park. Charles Leclerc showed the best time in practice on Friday and Saturday, and in qualifying Max Verstappen stepped up at the right time – and was on pole for the third of the three times this year.

His teammate Sergio Perez lost three starting places because he blocked Nico Hulkenberg in the first part of qualifying. Guanyu Zhou started from the pit lane – the team did not have a front wing with the same specification as the one he crashed with. However, he still qualified last.

The front row of the grid was shared by Verstappen and Sainz, with Norris and Leclerc starting the race from second, and Piastri and Perez from third.

For the first time this season, Pirelli brought a “soft” trio of compounds to the podium – C3, C4 and C5 in Hard, Medium and Soft roles. In the race, Alonso and Hulkenberg started on Hard, Zhou, Hamilton and Ricciardo on Soft, the rest on Medium.

Verstappen retained his lead at the start. Russell was ahead of Perez, Stroll – Tsunoda. Hamilton regained the position, Bottas got ahead of Alonso, but Fernando won back.

On lap 2, Sainz passed Verstappen for the lead.

Top ten in round 2: Sainz – Verstappen – Norris – Leclerc – Piastri – Russell – Perez – Stroll – Tsunoda – Hamilton.

On the 4th lap the brakes of Verstappen’s car started to smoke, Max slowly returned to the pits and retired. Along the way, the car lost parts and released a cloud of black smoke in the pit lane…

In the 6th lap Ricciardo changed tires, in the 7th – Albon and Zhou, in the 8th – Hamilton and Magnussen, in the 9th – Russell, Stroll and Bottas – while changing tires of Valtteri, as in the last two Grands. There was a problem with the wheel nut.

On lap 10, Leclerc, Piastri, Tsunoda and Ocon made a pit stop.

On lap 11, Leclerc and Piastri took the lead from Gasly and Hulkenberg.

On the 14th lap, Norris and Perez changed tires, on the 17th – Sainz and Ocon – during the maintenance of Esteban’s car, there was a problem, the film of the visor got into the brake cooling duct and smoked. Norris got ahead of his partner by cutting.

On lap 17 the power source in Hamilton’s car lost power. He stopped at the third sector, the race management announced a virtual safety car mode.

Alonso, Hulkenberg and Gasly changed their tires.

A restart was announced on the 18th lap.

Top ten in round 18: Sainz – Leclerc – Piastri – Norris – Alonso – Russell – Perez – Stroll – Tsunoda – Albon.

On lap 21, Perez passed Russell for sixth place.

On lap 24, Magnussen, at the team’s request, allowed Hulkenberg to pass so that Nico, on softer tyres, could try to attack Albon.

On lap 27 Perez overtook Alonso for fifth place.

On lap 28 Albon changed the tires.

On the 29th lap the team asked Piastri to let Norris pass – Oscar complained about the tires, Lando quickly pulled away.

On the 30th lap, Ricciardo made a pit stop, on the 34th – Magnussen and Leclerc. In the 36th – Perez, Hulkenberg and Zhou – Guanyu now had a hiccup due to a wheel nut.

On lap 37, Tsunoda and Bottas switched tires.

On lap 39, Stroll passed Gasly for eighth place. Piastri locked the tires while braking, drove onto the grass – and went to the pit stop.

On lap 41, Norris changed the tires. Tsunoda and Hulkenberg preceded Gasly.

On lap 42, Sainz made a pit stop and retained the lead in the race. Piastri overtook Alonso for fourth place. Fernando made a pit stop.

On the 43rd lap Gasly changed tires, on the 44th – Ocon. Gasly crossed the white line when leaving the pit lane and was given a five-second time penalty.

On lap 45 Magnussen passed Albon for 11th place.

On lap 46, Russell made a pit stop.

Top ten in lap 47: Sainz – Leclerc – Norris – Piastri – Perez – Alonso – Russell – Stroll – Tsunoda – Hulkenberg.

In the closing laps, Russell put pressure on Alonso for sixth place, but the Spaniard stayed ahead.

Two laps before the finish, Sainz complained of serious tire wear, Leclerc was rapidly closing the gap.

On the 58th lap, George Russell, in a battle with Alonso, crashed the car, it was thrown against the protective barrier and froze on its side in the middle of the track. They announced a virtual safety car mode, after which the race ended. The cars were not touched, but footage from Russell’s Mercedes showed Alonso slowing more than normal as they entered the corner before the two DRS zones, giving his opponent a “break test”. The stewards found Alonso guilty and punished him with a twenty-second penalty and three penalty points.

Carlos Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix, taking the third victory of his career.

Charles Leclerc finished second: Ferrari’s 86th victory double in history and the second of this pair of drivers.

Lando Norris achieved McLaren’s first podium of the season.

Yuki Tsunoda scored the first points of the season for himself and RB. For the first time this year, both Haas F1 drivers finished in the top ten.

The fight continues in Suzuka in two weeks!

Race results

* Pierre Gasly received a 5 second time penalty for crossing the white line at the exit of the pit lane

**Fernando Alonso was penalized with a 20 second time penalty as per the decision of the stewards

Best round: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1:19.813 (56th lap, 238.066 km/h)

Reasons for the meetings

Championship Position: Individual Competition

Championship position: Constructors’ Championship

Team		Engine	Glasses
=	1. Oracle Red Bull Racing	Honda RBPT	97
=	2. Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	93
=	3. McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes	55
=	4. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team	Mercedes	26
=	5. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team	Mercedes	25
	6. Visa Cash App RB F1 Team	Honda RBPT	6
	7. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team	Ferrari	4