Instead, Carlos Sainz brilliantly controlled the events Down Under and beat Charles Leclerc for a Ferrari 1-2, showing few signs of struggle despite having surgery on his appendix just two weeks ago.
Although Sainz’s win was the main headline, there were plenty of other moments that defined the race in Melbourne for each of the 10 teams – all of whom enjoyed varying fortunes throughout the 58-lap blast around Albert Park.
So, without further ado, let’s rank how each team got on in Australia.
1. Ferrari
Could it be anyone else? The Prancing Horse arrived in Australia with a car that could genuinely threaten for the fastest time in qualifying, although a couple of missteps on Sainz’s final lap contrived to sap away at that chance in Q3 as Verstappen scorched to a third pole of 2024. But Sainz was feisty at the start of the race, smelling blood ahead of him as Verstappen started to contend with the brake issue that eventually put him out of the race.
It was a clinical drive from there. Although Leclerc had a few moments where he looked to be in the victory picture, his balance around Albert Park was not as finely poised as Sainz’s and instead focused on ensuring that the Maranello team was able to lock out the top two positions on the podium ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris. It worked out rather nicely, ensuring that Fred Vasseur’s squad moved to within four points of Red Bull in the constructors’ standings.
2. McLaren
Glimpses of strong pace throughout practice suggested that McLaren would be in the hunt for a top-five finish, so a podium would have been a welcome demonstration of its performance in Australia. Norris gamely clung onto Sainz in the opening stages before the Spaniard started to wheel away at the front, but the earlier stops from Leclerc and team-mate Oscar Piastri cost two places through their undercut.
But Piastri dutifully let Norris back past as the Briton put Leclerc under pressure, feeling that he might have had the pace for second if the race had shaken out a little more favourable. Piastri overcame a small off-road moment a lap before his pitstop but was sufficiently clear of the Sergio Perez-Fernando Alonso battle behind him to ensure he had not cost himself and McLaren a 3-4 finish.
3. Aston Martin
Opportunism handed Alonso a chance to threaten for a top-five finish, when Aston Martin made the call to stop him for a set of mediums amid the Lewis Hamilton-produced virtual safety car on lap 17. Although…
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