Featured Image: Carlos Sainz in his Ferrari colors. Photo by XaviYuahanda/CC/Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz emerged victorious at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, with fellow teammate Charles Leclerc finishing second. Sainz’s journey to the Prix was further challenging as the Spaniard underwent surgery to remove his appendix only 16 days prior to the Australian Grand Prix.

Reflecting on his race, Sainz mentioned, “It was a really good race; physically, it wasn’t the easiest, but I was mostly on my own, so I could manage the pace, manage the tyres,” Sainz said. “Life is crazy, what happened at the beginning of the year, the podium in Bahrain, the appendix in Saudi, and the win here.” The Spaniard also humorously suggested to fellow drivers to remove their appendix in winter. His win Down Under marked Sainz’s first Grand Prix victory since his win at the Singapore Grand Prix last year. Moreover, Australian driver and hometown boy Oscar Piastri narrowly missed a spot on the podium, finishing in fourth place, while his teammate Lando Norris secured the third position.

Besides two strong results for Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing driver and three-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen faced bad luck during the race as his car suffered rear brake failure, forcing him to retire from the event. Verstappen expressed disappointment about the unforeseen mechanical issue, especially considering the promising performance of his car leading up to the race.

Verstappen commented, “It’s a shame as the car felt really good in the laps to the grid, but you cannot control these issues and these things happen.” The F1 world champion expressed dismay over the rear brake failure, noting that the car felt really good in the laps to the grid. However, he accepted that mechanical issues are beyond their control and are simply part of the sport.

Moreover, renowned Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire from the race on lap 17 due to an engine failure impacting the car. Despite the challenges faced by some drivers during the race, the Australian F1 Grand Prix concluded successfully, with a total of 452,055 attending across the four days.