Australia - Race

The Australian Grand Prix came to an end and what a spectacular race it was! With some surprising DNFs and scoring positions, not-so-surprising terrible pit stops, and no Dutch anthem playing by the end of the race, fans from all over the world could barely tear their eyes away from their screens.

Even with all the excitement coming further down the line, one wouldn't expect it after the first few corners since they brought little change to the order of the 10 ten, with the highest position change being Russel's jump from P7 to P6. Lap two was where the race truly began as Carlos Sainz took advantage of Verstappen's mistake and placed himself at the very front. Soon after, the viewers noticed smoke coming from the back of the Dutchman's car and heard him report some fire through the team radio. Around lap 5, the leader in the fight for the driver's championship had to retire the car and was therefore out of the race. Without the man who had won the last 9 races, the fight for the top step of the podium quickly got even more intense. 

Two pit stops were expected to be made throughout the race and the first wave of tyre changes started quite early. The two Mercedeses, struggling to fight at the level we've come to expect of them, came into the pit lane at laps 8 and 9. Kick Sauber saw another disastrous stop for Bottas, virtually taking him out of the fight for a point-scoring position. When it comes to the Ferraris and McLarens who battled it out for the podium, Leclerc and Piastri decide to pit earlier, while Sainz and Norris stayed on track for a few laps more. In the end, Norris pitted on lap 15 and Sainz on lap 16. 

While the weekend already wasn't going quite like Mercedes had hoped it would, matters only got worse at lap 16 when Hamilton reported an engine failure and was forced to retire from the race. His incident brought out a yellow flag and a virtual safety car, which Fernando Alonso was more than happy to put under. It didn't take long for the yellow flag to be cleared. With a third of the race done, the top five consisted of Sainz, Leclerc, Piastri, Norris, and Alonso. 

The Red Bull remaining on the grid was determined to score some much-needed points for his team. This led to a fight between him and Alonso for a place behind the Ferraris and McLarens. The Mexican managed to overtake the man in front of him around lap 27. At the same time, Leclerc complained about the car balance and the two McLarens swapped positions, putting Norris on the path for the podium.

Leclerc opted for an earlier second pit stop since he felt his tires were too worn down to allow him to fight for the lead. The McLarens waited for laps 39 and 40 to come around before driving into the pit lane, while Sainz decided to swap his tires at lap 41. Further down back, Sauber faced another pit stop issue, this time with Zhou's car. Bottas managed to go through the pit lane rather smoothly. 

With the bottom teams desperate for points, we saw a battle between Magnussen and Albon for P11. Haas' driver was not afraid of getting dangerously close to the Williams during his multiple attempts at overtaking the Thai driver. It paid off, as around lap 45 he managed to successfully carry out the move. Around that time, we were informed of a 5-second penalty administered to Pierre Gasly who was, at the time, P14. The driver was punished for crossing the line at pit entry. 

With the race coming to an end it seemed like no more surprises would be sprung upon the drivers until George Russel crashed during his last lap. The incident at turn 6 looked severe and left his Mercedes quite damaged. Thankfully, the driver reported that he was all right. And while the Mercedes team grieved at having neither of their drivers finish, Ferrari celebrated Carlos Sainz winning the Australian Grand Prix and Charles Leclerc standing right beside him on the podium after securing second place. The Spaniard was voted driver of the day, while the Monegasque achieved the fastest lap of the race. Lando Norris came in third, with his teammate right behind him in fourth. The other scoring positions were occupied by, in order, Perez, Alonso, Stroll, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, and Magnussen.

The 2024 Australian Grand Prix was, without a doubt, one to remember. Despite his non-finish, Max Verstappen is still at the top of the drivers' leaderboards with only four points separating him from Leclerc and five between him and his Red Bull teammate. Red Bull as a team also holds onto the top spot in the constructor's championship, once again separated only by 4 points from Ferrari. 

Order of the grid

1. Carlos Sainz

2. Charles Leclerc

3. Lando Norris

4. Oscar Piastri

5. Sergio Perez

6. Fernando Alonso

7. Lance Stroll

8. Yuki Tsunoda

9. Nico Hulkenberg

10. Kevin Magnussen

11. Alex Albon

12. Daniel Ricciardo

13. Pierre Gasly

14. Valtteri Bottas

15. Zhou Guanyu

16. Esteban Ocon

DNF George Russel, Lewis Hamilton, and Max Verstappen