Carlos Sainz has taken full advantage of Max Verstappen's retirement in the Australian Grand Prix. The Spanish driver drove his Ferrari to victory on the Melbourne circuit.
The 29-year-old Sainz was struck by appendicitis two weeks ago and was unable to start in the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia. He remained in bed for days after his operation to recover.
The pain was not yet completely gone in Melbourne, but the Spaniard drove his Formula 1 car like reborn. He started second, even overtook Max Verstappen and then rode unthreatened to the third Grand Prix victory in his career.
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Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc made it a double success for Ferrari by finishing in second place. Briton Lando Norris finished third in his McLaren.
Briton George Russell crashed hard on the last lap. He managed to get out of the badly damaged Mercedes unscathed.
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Smoke (and flames) from Red Bull Verstappen: “Practically drove with the handbrake on”
Max Verstappen has retired after just five laps in the Australian Grand Prix. The three-time Formula 1 world champion had to abandon the battle on the Melbourne circuit after his Red Bull started smoking and even showed flames.
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“We can see in the data that the right rear brake was stuck at the start,” Verstappen responded to Sky Sports after his retirement. “The temperature rose, so you practically drive with the handbrake on. The warm-up lap went very well. But yes, if the handbrake is on, that doesn’t help. We’re going to investigate. I don’t remember us having this before, maybe a long time ago.”
Verstappen won the race in Melbourne last year. He also dropped out the year before. Since then he had finished 43 consecutive races.