Would he have caught up with him? Max Verstappen will ask himself this question after the Australian Grand Prix, together with his engineers. For the first time this season, the Formula 1 world champion did not cross the finish line first. And so there is some fire under the roof in the series winner’s team.
First a few clouds of smoke, then flickering flames announced the relatively early end of the big break for the champion in the third race of the season in the Red Bull after just four laps. “The rear right brake didn’t work,” Verstappen said. The first retirement in two years, also in Melbourne, ended the Dutchman’s attempt to win for the tenth time in a row. Or would the lucky child of the day not have allowed this triumph?
“That’s wonderful”
Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari was in the lead at the moment of Verstappen’s bad luck and had already overtaken the three-time world champion on the second lap after the start. “The brakes were on right from the start,” Verstappen explained his relapse as he watched the competition for his – temporary – successor as a disappointed spectator.
And saw how the Spaniard did not give up the first best position until the finish, winning ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc and the McLaren group with the Briton Lando Norris in third place ahead of Oscar Piastri in his home race.
Ferrari’s mechanics and engineers celebrated the double success in Melbourne as a huge triumph over the industry leader, singing and grinning. Because the quality of racing cars also includes their stability. And because Sergio Pérez in the identical Red Bull only finished fifth, 56 seconds behind, and was sometimes two seconds slower than Sainz. “What luck, that’s wonderful. I was able to control my pace and manage the tires. It was a clean race,” he said about his third victory in Formula 1.
It is probably a first in the history of Formula 1: two weeks after his appendix operation during the race weekend in Saudi Arabia, Sainz was promoted to driver of the day. “I’m actually not completely fit yet,” he reported on Saturday, after finishing second in qualifying.
The son of rally world champion Carlos Sainz Senior was already surprising when he was hunting for the best starting position. Leclerc is actually the master of the “fast” lap. And not just the man of the future at Scuderia.
Did the wrong person win?
And so, from the Ferrari strategists’ point of view, there is a small flaw in this wonderful story: Did the wrong person win? At least the faster one this weekend. Even though the strategists on the pit wall issued a kind of team order with a view to tangible success, no one questioned Sainz’s special performance. The man who will have to give way to record world champion Lewis Hamilton at the end of this year made the best advertisement for a good follow-up contract elsewhere on Sunday – why not at Red Bull? Maybe at Mercedes.
A ring swap meant a relapse for Sainz – given the current performance of the cars. Mercedes experienced a disaster on the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. Hamilton apparently had to park his Silver Arrow due to engine failure. Teammate George Russell was already in fifth place when he shot too close to Fernando Alonso’s comparatively slow Aston Martin on the last lap. He lost the contact pressure in the curve and shot through the gravel bed.
After the impact, the Mercedes came to a stop on the track, lying on its side. Russell climbed out of the wreckage uninjured. But sobered up: one mistake, zero points. “I took off, it was my mistake, but it was a bit strange,” said the Englishman. “Fernando braked 100 meters before the corner, we have to check the data. He suddenly became very slow, which surprised me. It’s interesting that he was called to the track commissioners.”
Alonso spoke of problems with the battery at the end of the race. “I can’t concentrate on the cars behind me.” The race management later blamed Alonso for the accident. He was given a twenty-second time penalty and fell from sixth place to eighth in the rankings. The stewards considered “the fact that Alonso chose to perform an unusual maneuver at this time as an aggravating circumstance.”
Points for Hülkenberg
Nico Hülkenberg in the Haas not least benefited from Russell’s misfortune. The Rhinelander moved up from tenth to ninth place at the last moment, followed by his teammate Kevin Magnussen. Golden placements for a racing team that confirmed its lead from the back of the field.
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur also feels confirmed. Verstappen showed his top class on a qualifying lap on Saturday. And “if Max drives without any problems, you can get Ferrari under control,” said Red Bull’s sports director Helmut Marko. But over the Grand Prix distance of around 300 kilometers, Sainz in particular showed what the new Ferrari was capable of. In any case, by far the best number two in the field if the world champion has to give up.
This time with a driver at the wheel who will not be satisfied with this position in the team. “First the beginning of the season (with the announcement of Hamilton’s change/ed.), then the operation in Jeddah and now the victory. Life is a roller coaster ride,” said Sainz.
Richard Blehn, Melbourne Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2 Hermann Renner, Melbourne Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3 Richard Blehn, Melbourne Published/Updated:
In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen leads Leclerc by just four points. Sainz is in fourth place with 40 points behind Pérez (46). If you will, he is the winning guy at Ferrari. Last year, only one person successfully slowed down Red Bull on the way to winning all Grands Prix: Sainz.