F1 Melbourne race report: Carlos Sainz wins 2024 Australian GP for Ferrari!. Ferrari report from the 2024 F1 Australian GP.

Here is our full text transcript from the third round of the 2024 Formula 1 season, the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park circuit:

To those of you reading this before lights out so early in the morning, thank you for staying up or getting up early for the Australian Grand Prix! The third round of the 2024 F1 season is upon us and Max Verstappen is looking for a record-equalling 10th successive win.

It’s Verstappen who holds that record himself after winning every race from the 2023 Miami Grand Prix last May to the Italian Grand Prix in September. Carlos Sainz was the driver to end his incredible run and he is primed and ready to do so again today from the front row of the grid. Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc make up an exciting second row and Red Bull have far from had it all their own way this weekend, so wake yourself up properly and stay with is for all the build-up to the race in Melbourne.

If you’re wondering why Sergio Perez isn’t starting from third, he was given a three-grid place penalty for impeding in qualifying. The Mexican was judged to have blocked Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg during Q1. The stewards ruled that Red Bull had only warned their driver about the fast-oncoming Haas, which was on a hot lap whereas the Red Bull was on a slow one, “significantly too late”.

Max Verstappen has warned there is a major “question mark” over whether he can convert pole position at the Australian Grand Prix into victory on Sunday due to the threat posed by Ferrari.

The Dutchman has begun his quest for a fourth successive drivers’ title with dominant wins in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia but needed something of an upset to top qualifying in Melbourne on Saturday. Ferrari, who have comfortably been Red Bull’s closest challengers in the opening two races, appeared to have the edge over Verstappen as Charles Leclerc topped the final two practice sessions at Albert Park before Carlos Sainz set the pace in the first two parts of qualifying. However, when it came down to the pole position shootout, Verstappen was able to maximise the RB20’s performance, beating to pole by almost three tenths of a second, while Leclerc finished fifth after making an error on his final flying lap.

Tyres is going to be a big talking point today as Pirelli have brought their softest tyre range to Melbourne. Everyone has two sets of hards and a set of mediums to use, all of which are new or lightly used.

It’s lights out and away we go at the Australian Grand Prix! Verstappen covers off Sainz into Turn One and holds first place through to Turn Three. Norris stays in third ahead of Leclerc and Piastri. A very clean start across the field.

Lap 1/58: All very tidy stuff in the pack behind as they snake through the opening corners. Impressively! Lewis Hamilton is up one to 10th on his soft tyres, with Fernando Alonso down to 11th. George Russell is also on the move and overtakes Sergio Perez for sixth.

Lap 2/58: DRS enabled already, which is new for 2024, and Sainz is right on the back of Verstappen. Four DRS zones and it’s very close at the front!

Lap 2/58: Wow – what a move! Sensational stuff for Carlos Sainz who uses DRS to go around the outside of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen before Turn 9. Carlos Sainz leads the Australian GP!

Lap 4/58: Verstappen’s car is smoking! He’s slowing down through the second sector and it looks like he’s out of this race! Max Verstappen limps back into the garage with some damage to his right rear. It doesn’t look like an engine as his rear brakes have overheated. Verstappen is out of his car and his hope of winning 10 consecutive wins is over!

Lap 8/58: Into the pits comes Lewis Hamilton as does Kevin Magnussen. Hamilton is on the hards and is back out in 14th. Charles Leclerc is right on the back of Lando Norris but can’t get past for second place. Oscar Piastri is there to take advantage in this three-way fight behind Sainz, who is two seconds ahead.

Lap 9/58: George Russell and Lance Stroll are the latest drivers to pit for the hards. They come out in 11th and 12th, so we’ll see how that plays out when everyone else pits.

Lap 10/58: The drivers who were running third and fourth have now pitted for the first time. Charles Leclerc rejoins in seventh with Piastri a second behind in eighth place. Lewis Hamilton has a trip through the grass at the first chicane. He’s down in 11th and his struggles continue this weekend.

Lap 14/58: Sergio Perez runs third having not pitted, seemingly also stretching his opening stint, but reports on Red Bull team radio that they may have “overdone” it with his medium tyres earlier in the race. He’s seven seconds behind Norris.

Lap 15/58: That’s now both of Carlos Sainz’s nearest pursuers who are in the pit lane for tyre changes with Lando Norris followed in by Sergio Perez. Norris rejoins behind Charles Leclerc and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, who both pitted earlier, but the Briton has the tyre advantage of five laps. He now runs fifth. Sergio Perez rejoins in 10th JUST ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Lap 17/58: With the comfort of not having to react to anything immediately given his handy race lead, Ferrari now bring Carlos Sainz in for his first stop. He rejoins in second ahead of team-mate Leclerc with Fernando Alonso, who hasn’t yet pitted, inheriting the lead. More drama here in Melbourne! Lewis Hamilton reports an engine failure and stops in the final sector. What a nightmare weekend it’s been for the seven-time world champion.

Lap 16/58: We have a Virtual Safety Car now as the marshals recover Lewis Hamilton’s car. Fernando Alonso pits and this is going to gain him 10 seconds because you gain a lot of time by pitting under a VSC. Alonso comes out in fifth place on a set of mediums. Pierre Gasly also comes into the pits for Alpine and is now 13th. That VSC has worked out nicely for Alonso who having delayed his stop has now managed to complete a ‘cheap’ stop with the lap-time loss reduced for the Aston Martin team. He rejoins up in fifth place ahead of Russel. Carlos Sainz leads Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two up front. The gap is just 1s, although Sainz has fresher tyres. Then it’s a McLaren three-four with Piastri and Norris.

Lap 18/58: And we are back to green flag running already. Sainz leads by one second from Leclerc.

Lap 24/58: Everyone has pitted once and for the first time since we began racing, the Grand Prix has settled. Carlos Sainz leads by two seconds from Charles Leclerc and may soon capitalise on his fresher hard tyres, as he pitted later. Piastri is another two seconds back with Norris closing in – they are also on the hards. Then comes Alonso in fifth on the mediums with Perez slowly catching.

Lap 26/58: Sainz increases his pace with a new fastest lap and extends his lead to four seconds over Ferrari team-mate Leclerc. Talk about a smooth operation for Sainz right now… A key move for Sergio Perez in what he hopes remains his pursuit of a podium finish in the sole-remaining Red Bull. With a clear pace advantage over the Aston Martin, Perez made light work of the move with DRS on the long curved run to Turn Nine.

Lap 29/58: Norris’ fresher hard tyres allow him to close in on Piastri and McLaren tell the Australian to let his team-mate through. He does on the run down to Turn Three and Norris will now try to catch Leclerc, who is three seconds ahead.

Lap 31/50: Norris is told to “try and get up behind Leclerc” so goes six tenths faster after overtaking Piastri. Leclerc ups his pace too with 2.5 seconds splitting the pair in the battle for second. Sainz is now eight seconds clear of the field as we approach the second pit stops for the leaders.

Lap 33/58: This is classic Fernando Alonso. He was overtaken by Sergio Perez five laps ago but is using the four DRS zones to keep pace with the Red Bull driver, who is affectively dragging his rival along. These two are 11 seconds behind Piastri, so this fight for fifth could go all the way down to the chequered flag. A long way to go before then though!

Here come the first of the second stops for the leaders – Charles Leclerc has headed for the pits from second after falling 9s behind team-mate Carlos Sainz. He JUST comes out ahead of Perez and Alonso. That was very close for Ferrari!

Lap 36/58: Red Bull pits Sergio Perez, likely to cover off an undercut threat from Aston Martin. Perez comes out in traffic though behind Yuki Tsunoda. Maybe this is an opportunity for Alonso now?

Lap 39/58: Charles Leclerc sets a new fastest lap and continues to set purple sectors. He’s going to have a decent advantage over Lando Norris when the McLaren driver pits. Further back, Yuki Tsunoda pitted a couple of laps ago so Sergio Perez will be clear of Fernando Alonso when the Aston Martin driver pits. A small but potentially costly error for Oscar Piastri in a trip across the grass at the penultimate corner. It cost him around four seconds and he pitted for fresh tyres a lap later.

Lap 42/58: Carlos Sainz pits from the lead and comes out with a nice lead of six seconds over Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. Fernando Alonso also pits after being overtaken by Oscar Piastri and comes out in seventh place, six seconds behind Sergio Perez.

Lap 44/58: Lando Norris begins his charge with a new fastest lap of the race. He’s got four seconds to close in on Charles Leclerc.

Lap 46/58: The hard tyres may have been feeling good on his Mercedes, but that hasn’t stopped Mercedes opting to follow convention and make a second pit stop with George Russell. He returns on a new set of hards in seventh place but can still catch Alonso, who is 3s ahead of him.

Lap 48/58: Sainz is controlling his pace at five seconds ahead of Leclerc, who is pushing hard to keep Norris at bay. Norris sets another fastest lap to get within four seconds but, at the moment, he’s not catching quickly enough to get Leclerc at the end. Piastri is in no man’s land in fourth and Perez is in a similar position in fifth. Russell is three seconds behind Alonso and closing in the battle for sixth thanks to his fresher rubber.

Lap 53/58: Just remember that Carlos Sainz was having appendix surgery and had not come into this weekend at 100 per cent. At the start of this week, he was in bed recovering and now he’s just six laps away from winning the Australian Grand Prix. Any pain he’s feeling will be comfortably being overridden by adrenline and that winning feeling right now.

Lap 52/58: Into the final phase of this dramatic race and we could still have one final key move for position afoot. George Russell has moved right up on to Fernando Alonso’s gearbox now and could have a first look with DRS soon. The gap between Merc and Aston is just over 1s at the moment.

Lap 54/58: George Russell is tucked up underneath the back of Fernando Alonso now. An overtake feels inevitable.

Lap 56/58: Lando Norris is 2.5 seconds behind Charles Leclerc but it’s not enough with three laps to go. It looks like a Ferrari one-two is on the cards.

Wow, that’s a big one against the barriers for George Russell, who had been all over the back of Fernando Alonso in that pursuit of sixth. “I’m ok,” says Russell on Mercedes team radio.
His car certainly isn’t – and that caps an awful race and an awful weekend for Mercedes. An engine failed on one car and the other car is now badly damaged after a crash.

What a victory! Carlos Sainz is the first driver this century to win after coming back from an absence. Just two weeks ago he was having appendix surgery and now he’s winning the Australian Grand Prix. Incredible Sainz! Charles Leclerc comes home second for a Ferrari one-two, with Lando Norris in third on the podium.

Oscar Piastri gets a standing ovation in fourth and Sergio Perez is fifth.

Fernando Alonso comes home in sixth from Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsuoda and Haas get two points finishes with Nico Hulkenberg in ninth and Kevin Magnussen in 10th.