Sport and Health

Formula 1: at the Australian Grand Prix the Ferraris once again prevailed over the Red Bulls

March 27 2024

Curated by Andrew Grandi

By now we had resigned ourselves to thinking it: only Red Bull could interrupt its invincibility

And at the Australian Grand Prix, held on Sunday at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Red Bull succeeded

In quintet of winners in fact we find the pair of Ferraris, the two of McLarens, and the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who also in Australia confirmed his technical limits compared to his teammate Verstappen, who has been invincible until now.

The latter, after having made his debut in pole position, in the lead, was overtaken by Sainz's red on the second lap, but was then immediately forced to retire due to engine and brake problems.

The two Maranello single-seaters benefited from this: in addition to Sainz's, which reached the top step on the podium, also Charles Leclerc's red one.

Team orders instead shuffled the rankings of the pursuers: at McLaren, Oscar Piastri was forced to be overtaken by his teammate Lando Norris and give him third place.

The reports from distant Australia report a trip to forget for the Mercedes too: Hamilton was forced to retire due to mechanical problems, while his teammate George Russell, launched in pursuit of Alonso's Aston Martin, had a an accident that destroyed his car and left the field open to his opponents.

Verstappen's abandonment, and the shuffling of positions that followed, benefited not only Yuki Tsunoda, of the Italian RB Formula One Team, former Alfa Tauri of Faenza now coordinated by Red Bull, but also the American Haas, with the drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen who crossed the finish line in the points: ninth and tenth.

A day to forget, it causes problems in the coordination of the mechanics in the pits, also for Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu of the Swiss Sauber team which, we will remember shortly, will have a new shareholder in 2026.

But let's focus on Max Verstappen's defeat: his withdrawal from the Australian Grand Prix, after almost two years of presence on the podium, prevented him from collecting his tenth consecutive victory.

The technical problems that forced the Dutch champion to the pits begin to confirm the dissatisfaction that agitates the Red Bull team, divided between Verstappen's technical superiority and the refusal to indulge his whims on the part of the technicians, starting with the technical manager Adrian Newey, who too many rumors say he has already settled in Maranello.

The same goes for Mercedes, whose first driver, Hamilton, is now a Ferrari driver: better that he resign himself to a not always impeccable set-up of his single-seater, and wait for the contract with the German silver arrows to expire.

There is also a possibility of a move for Carlos Sainz, currently at the wheel of the Italian reds, but in the future destined for Sauber after a consensual and above all peaceful resolution of his relationship with Ferrari.

In fact, it is no coincidence that Frederic Vasseur, before signing for the Maranello team, was team principal of the Sauber team from 2017 to 2022, now close to becoming Audi, the latter of which seems intent on replacing the second driver Zhou Guanyu, imposed by current Chinese shareholder, with the Ferrari driver Sainz, whose homonymous parent is a multiple champion of various motor categories already sponsored by Audi.

The decline that Red Bull now seems to be heading towards also allows for a different interpretation not only of the chronometric values recorded at the end of the race but also of the sporting ambitions of the teams.

Behind the winner Carlos Sainz, we find the other Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, separated by just 2.36 seconds; third is Lando Norris of McLaren, another 5.90 seconds behind, then his teammate Oscar Piastri, with a delay of half a minute, and then Perez, Stroll, Tsunoda, Alonzo Hulkenberg and Magnussen with values starting from a minute and a half and they expand until they go beyond the lap of the track, which on the Melbourne asphalt translates into a distance of 5.278 kilometres.

These times begin to confirm that the Ferraris have finally found a winning race pace, and that their competitors remain the two McLarens, protagonists of a constant and above all successful technical increase since the beginning of last season.

The reds from Maranello are also recovering in the world drivers' ranking.

In fact, in just 11 points we find Verstappen, at 51, immediately followed by Ferrari's Leclerc at 47, then Sergio Perez with 46, Carlos Sainz at 40; fifth, with 28 points, is Oscar Piastri of McLaren.

The constructors' championship ranking also confirms the recovery of the Maranello cars: first is Red Bull, with 97 points, but which now leads the Ferraris by only 4 points.

At a considerable distance then we find McLaren, Mercedes, and Aston Martin, aligned with progressively decreasing values: 56, 26, and 25 points.

After an unsurprising interruption scheduled for the next Easter weekend, Formula 1 will return in two weeks, to the Suzuka circuit, for the Japanese Grand Prix.