Sainz wins in Melbourne two weeks on from appendicitis

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Two weeks on from appendicitis, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz claimed a memorable victory at the Australian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen dramatically retired in the early moments of the race.

Sainz missed the last race, in Saudi Arabia, and was not even confirmed to be racing in Melbourne until Friday, but he produced a faultless performance out in front to claim the third win of his F1 career.

"Ha-ha! It's amazing!" Sainz said on the radio after crossing the finish line, before breaking out into his customary rendition of "Smooth Operator."

Sainz, who will be replaced at Ferrari by Lewis Hamilton in 2025, beat current teammate Charles Leclerc to the win, with McLaren's Lando Norris in third.

The race finished under a virtual safety car after Mercedes driver George Russell crashed on the final lap. Russell was unhurt in the crash.

Stewards said Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso played a part in Russell's crash by slowing quickly as Russell was close behind. Alonso, who finished sixth, was given a 20-second penalty that demoted him to eighth and was handed three penalty points.

It capped a frustrating day for former world champions Mercedes, with Hamilton retiring on Lap 17 with an engine failure.

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Runaway championship leader Verstappen, who had looked on course for another dominant win from pole position, retired with a brake fire in the opening laps, ending a run of nine straight victories.

The Dutch driver's car issue emerged shortly after he had lost the lead to Sainz on Lap 2.

Sainz had overtaken Verstappen with a nice move around the outside of Turn 11, thanks in part to the drag reduction system (DRS) overtaking aid.

Verstappen said he was effectively driving with the handbrake on. "We can see so far in the data as soon as the lights went off the right rear brake just stuck on, of course the temperature kept on increasing, so was basically driving with the handbrake on," he said.

"And that's why already I felt the car was really weird to drive in some corners, very snappy, the laps to the grid the car was spot on and I was happy with what we were doing, but explains that if a brake is stuck on, that doesn't help.

"I'm disappointed with not being able to finish the race because I think we would have had a good shot at winning. The balance felt quite nice on that, absolutely great. Like I felt confident and like a good improvement compared to what I felt in the long reset when we did in practice. But yeah, some things you can't control," he added.

Despite not finishing, Verstappen still leads the championship on 51 points, although the fight has closed up behind him -- Leclerc has 47 points, Sergio Pérez has 46, and Sainz, who missed one whole round, has 40.

Behind the front three, Australia's Oscar Piastri was fourth.

Perhaps controversially, Piastri at one stage was asked to move over for teammate Norris, although he also lost time by running wide at the penultimate corner.

Verstappen's teammate, Pérez, had an underwhelming run to fifth position.

Pérez might be left wondering what might have been had he not dropped from third to sixth on the grid due to a penalty for impeding another driver during qualifying on Saturday.

RB's Yuki Tsunoda continued his wonderful form for Red Bull's junior team in eighth, while Russell's late crash meant Haas finished with drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in the points.

Alex Albon, who effectively raced with Logan Sargeant's car, finished 11th, close to the hoped-for points finish that prompted Williams boss James Vowles into a controversial decision two days earlier.

Albon had destroyed his chassis in free practice but was given Sargeant's ahead of qualifying on Saturday.

Williams reasoned that Albon gave the team the best chance of scoring points, but he was unable to find a way past the Haas pair.

Daniel Ricciardo finished 12th in what was another disappointing race for the Australian.

Ricciardo has struggled to match RB teammate Tsunoda's form this year.