Melbourne –
Carlos Sainz Jr successful in winning the race Formula 1 GP Australia 2024 in a phenomenal way. Racer Ferrari He is still recovering from surgery for appendicitis.
Taking place at the Albert Park Circuit, Sunday (24/3), Sainz managed to take advantage of damage to Max Verstappen’s car brakes and took over control of the race from the second lap. He was practically unstoppable and completed 58 laps with a time of 1 hour 20 minutes 26.843 seconds.
This was Sainz’s first win since the Singapore GP last year. The Spanish racer also broke Verstappen’s series of nine consecutive wins since the Japanese GP six months ago.
This victory was beyond expectations, considering that Sainz had not fully recovered after suffering from appendicitis which made him miss the Saudi Arabian GP earlier this month. Underneath his clothes, he still had a bandage covering the surgical wound.
He is still careful when moving, including when he gets out of the cockpit of his car. Even so, he was satisfied with being able to secure victory. A perfect day for Ferrari because teammate Charles Leclerc also achieved a runner-up podium.
“It was a really good race. I felt very good out there. Of course I felt stiff and physically it was definitely not easy, I was lucky to be able to do it myself, I could manage the speed, the tires, everything, and it wasn’t the hardest race,” said Sainz .
Bringing home the win after a roller coaster two weeks 💪 well done @carlossainz55!#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/dKWY9FSQMd
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 24, 2024
“But I’m very happy, very proud of the team, and happy to finish 1-2 with Charles here. It shows that hard work pays off and life can be crazy sometimes.”
“What happened at the start of the year, then the podium in Bahrain, then appendicitis, coming back, winning… it was like a rollercoaster. But I love it and I’m very happy,” he explained, as quoted by Sky Sports.
Facts about the 2024 Australian GP
- Max Verstappen failed to finish for the first time in the last 43 races. The Dutch racer last experienced a DNF at the Australian GP two years ago.
- Mercedes failed to score points at the 2024 Australian GP after Lewis Hamilton retired on lap 17 due to engine problems and George Russell crashed on lap 57. For the first time in the last decade, this German manufacturer failed to achieve at least one podium in its first three races.
- Haas achieved a double points finish after Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finished P9 and P10 respectively. This team from the United States last won double points at the 2022 Austrian GP, when Mick Schumacher finished P6 and Magnussen P8.
- Ferrari has won P1-P2 again since the 2022 Bahrain GP. The difference is, at that time Leclerc was the winner and Sainz was runner-up.
- Fernando Alonso, who initially finished P6 at the 2024 Australian GP, was given 20 seconds and three penalty points after his driving was deemed to have “potentially endangered other racers” in the Russell crash incident. Alonso had to settle for dropping two places to P8 in this race.
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