Max Verstappen’s early retirement from the Australian GP gave hope to the rest of the pit squad as Carlos Sainz led Ferrari to victory.
The smoking tire piled up in Red Bull’s garage, the most sensitive of them all, and the stench wafted from the flutes and couches of Albert Park’s corporate hospitality. His passing is disappointing for Max Verstappen fans, but it is a source of optimism for the rest of the Formula 1 field.
It was on the third lap of the third race of the 2024 season that Red Bull’s aura of invincibility exploded. Verstappen had won nine races in a row and when he came off pole it looked like he was most likely going to do 10. It would also have been 3 out of 3 in 2024.
But a few minutes later, he complained over the radio that he had “lost the car” as smoke billowed from his right rear. Moments later, he was in the pits, with a fire extinguisher putting out the flames.
On track, teammate Sergio Perez struggled against the Ferraris and McLarens. From there, the press approached Verstappen in the paddock. The pit crew pulled the unused tires out of the garage, a pile about to fall on a cameraman as the car sank into the grass. Throughout the weekend, controversy was not far from embattled team boss Christian Horner. The symptoms were worrisome.
“It’s a long way to go,” Horner told a group of spectators in the paddock before the race. But it paid off for the resurgent Ferrari, after Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc scored a one-two for the Prancing Horse, with Leclerc also recording the fastest lap of the race. The red car had looked competitive all weekend and on Sunday it comfortably held its own against the McLarens and Perez’s Red Bull.
The race ended in yellow following a crash involving George Russell. This meant Mercedes finished with no points, after Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire early in the race. Hamilton struggled throughout the weekend and missed out on Q1, starting outdoors with maximum sense. 10 in his last appearance for Mercedes in Melbourne before leaving for Ferrari next season. He looked very comfortable on the back of a flight attendant’s motorcycle after his retirement. On the inside course of Albert Park, he chased down the VIPs, before the English rider put on his scooter. to stroll around the paddock.
The day was just another one on the drivers’ merry-go-round. Sainz celebrated the chequered flag after taking care of his tyres in the final laps. The Spaniard was stripped of the appfinishix two weeks ago, missing the Saudi Arabian race He is expected to leave Ferrari at the end of the season to make way for Hamilton. “Life is a rollercoaster,” Sainz said on the radio on his victory lap.
Back in the pit lane, the Red attacks were jubilant, but this year’s celebrations were different. Fines of A$17,000 (£13,480) have been threatened to any fan who sets foot on the track, following last year’s damaging invasion while the cars were still running. running. The crowds that once filled the Major directly are gone, and now the podium presentation can only be seen from the stands in front.
The replacement is a blow to tradition, but it retains the splendour of Melbourne Formula 1. Hollywood actors Zac Efron and Eric Bana, as well as Drive to Survive icon Guenther Steiner, were in the paddock, soaking up the sun that first made the impression. this weekend in the hours leading up to the competition. Start of the race.
Still, the main attractions were the drivers. Home favourites Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri headed to the garage a while before the race. “Buy them, Danny,” shouted a local fan, as Ricciardo asked to point to McLaren’s orange polo blouse from another with the branding “PIASTRI”. his shoulders.
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Amid the courtesies on the grid after the national anthem, it was the young Australian’s hand that several dignitaries prolonged first, leaving Ricciardo, who started from the back of the box, on the outside.
The new pecking order became evident when Piastri finished fourth. His senior team-mate Lando Norris beat him but benefited from McLaren’s hierarchy himself. Halfway through the race, Piastri was on track ahead of his teammate before the team’s radio command for switch positions was issued.
Ricciardo had a tougher day. After his fastest lap in qualifying was taken away from him, he started from the back. The 34-year-old managed to make it as high as 12th after starting on comfortable tyres. Teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished the track in seventh position after a penalty. Fernando Alonso fell back in qualifying for causing George Russell to make a late stop.
But in the end it was a day when Formula 1 no longer needed to look to the middle of the field to see its drama. Amid the sun-drenched rubber trees of Albert Park, thanks in large part to Red Bull hell, later diagnosed as defective. Brake: The championship takes on new life.