It’s an all-red dawn that wakes up Italy on the first Sunday of Spring. From the other side of the world to Australia it arrives a heroic one-two for Ferrari, marked by the perfect race by Carlos Sainz, in triumph just two weeks after the appendicitis operation that prevented him from racing in Saudi Arabia. To complete the celebration of the Prancing Horse at Melbourne’s Albert Park, Charles Leclerc took second place, easily placing himself behind the McLaren of Lando Norris, who finished on the podium ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri. Sensational retirement for Max Verstappen whose race ended just five laps after the start due to brake problems. Lewis Hamilton is also out, abandoned by Mercedes due to a technical failure and an accident without consequences also for George Russell who overturns on the last lap, destroys the car but emerges unscathed, with the only consequence of ending the GP with virtual safety – car and complete the Silver Star disaster.
A one-two for Ferrari which breaks into the Australian GP approximately two years after the one in Bahrain in 2022 and even twenty years after the last one in Melbourne in 2004 at the time of Schumacher and Barrichello. And that it would finally be a different race, especially for the fans and men of the Red team, it became clear almost immediately after the green light at Albert Park, which started at five in the morning in Italy. From pole Verstappene starts from the front as usual, but on the second lap Sainz overtakes him with momentum and three laps later comes the surprise of seeing the world champion’s Red Bull smoking with some flames, forced to abandon the race due to brake problems. The Flying Dutchman was very angry, as he did not withdraw from Australia 2022, for having put an end to the sequence of 9 victories in a row and 43 consecutive races at the finish line.
From here on, as the first light of day breaks in Italy, Ferrari’s is a monologue, with a perfect Sainz and a Leclerc capable of always keeping the McLarens of Norris and Piastri at a distance with both hard and soft tires . A few laps and the future Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton also has to say goodbye to Melbourne due to an engine problem in his Mercedes. Pit-stop after pit-stop the Maranello cars remain at the front in control and even the only Red Bull on the track, that of Sergio Perez, who floats between fifth and sixth place, is not scary despite some rising lap times.
Thus we reach the finish line with the Ferraris on parade for a long-awaited double and a Sainz in tears, while talking on the radio with the garage driving his SF24 to get the first applause under the podium. “Incredible. Thanks Ferrari, thanks guys, thanks Riki (Adami his engineer, ed.), come on, let’s go on parade with Charles”, the words of the Spanish driver who will leave his place at Hamilton at the end of the year and who after the operation in Jeddah he was in doubt for this weekend in which the third driver Oliver Bearman who had replaced him in Saudi Arabia had once again been forewarned. And the Red celebration in Melborne is so beautiful for a team victory that brings great enthusiasm to Maranello in a season which, after what we saw at Albert Park, is already making Ferrari fans dream, with Leclerc now just 4 points in the Drivers’ World Championship from now former invincible Verstappen.
Sainz cries with joy ‘thank you Ferrari’
“Incredible. Thanks Ferrari, thanks guys, thanks Riki (Adami, ed.), come on, let’s go on parade with Charles”. Carlos Sainz cries with joy as he talks to the garage from inside his Red car immediately after crossing the finish line in front of everyone in the Australian Grand Prix just two weeks after the appendicitis operation that prevented him from racing in Saudi Arabia. Problem for which the Spaniard was in doubt for this weekend and Bearman who had replaced him in Jeddah had still been warned.
“Today was a beautiful race. I felt very good, even if a little stiff, physically it wasn’t easy. But I was lucky because I was able to manage the pace more or less on my own, I managed the tires independently. The race was tough but obviously I’m very happy and proud of the whole team.” Here are Carlos Sainz’s first words from the podium after winning the Australian Grand Prix with Ferrari. “I’m happy to have won in front of Charles – adds the Spaniard – it shows how much work we’ve done. Life is really crazy: first the podium in Bahrain, then appendicitis, the return, this victory… it’s really a roller coaster, but I’m very happy. Max (Verstappen, ed.)? On the first lap I understood that I could keep up with him and use the DRS, which works very well here. Then he lost time in turns 2 and 3 and I passed him. Immediately after he had brake problems.
It’s a shame, because it would have been a good challenge for first position. But honestly I’m happy to take home this victory. I would always have to have appendicitis surgery – laughs Sainz – I understood that I would win from the second lap. I realized that we were fast and could manage the tyres. Of course there is always the risk of a red flag or a safety car, but the race went away clean. I was sorry about George’s accident, I hope he’s okay.”
Vasseur ‘Ferrari perfect, but we don’t feel like we’ve arrived’
“It’s really too early to talk about fighting for the world championship with Red Bull. We’ve made a big step forward compared to last season. We’ll rebuild the pace from Friday also in Suzuka, but we don’t want to reach conclusions today.” Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur is happy with the Rossa double in Melbourne but at the same time calms down enthusiasm: “We must commit ourselves in the same way without thinking we have arrived, continuing to focus on our objectives – he explains to Sky Sport – From the beginning of the season I say that our drivers are doing very well and pushing each other to improve session after session. This is part of an emulation process that is necessary within the team. They are also very intelligent on the track, when we asked them to maintain the positions, and from the first lap everything was perfect.”
“This year the car is easier to read for us and the drivers, and it is a better basis for developing and improving it over the course of the weekend. We are able to be more consistent, unlike last year. It’s really too early to reach conclusions, but we are certainly better than 12 months ago. The path is very long ahead of us, we are at the beginning of the season, the fundamental thing is to understand the car and get the best from the package we have”, he continued . I don’t know and no one knows if this double would have happened without Verstappen’s retirement. If we make a comparison with Perez’s pace it seems manageable, but we can’t know and it’s a completely different situation. We have to enjoy what happened, we still have 20-21 races to fight with Max.
The pace was great from the start, I would say one of the cleanest weekends of my last 12 months. From FP1 we found the right pace, we were always in front and very consistent on the long run, and today we went very well in the race.”
“There is still a bit of room for improvement for the next weekends, but this applies to everyone on the grid. We no longer have winter testing, so we need a couple of events to understand the car better. I would say that this weekend we are went very well, but in the end in Suzuka it will be a completely different situation and we will start from scratch. It is not certain – concludes Vasseur – that it will be like this every weekend, we must continue to push and develop with this approach without thinking that we have arrived or that it is everything done. The team is more than motivated and we will continue to push. The setup of the weekend was right, the balance was right from the first lap on the first day, and this makes a huge difference because then we can focus on the details. I think it was clear to everyone that everything went very well, from start to finish.
Now let’s enjoy this weekend, then we’ll see in the future.”
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