The Australian Grand Prix took place on March 24, and this Formula 1 race is the most exciting one of the season. The course, which is 58 laps, is located in Melbourne, Australia. Usually, the most action and drama during race weekend takes place during the actual event. While this held true in Melbourne, there was no shortage of drama before race day. 

On March 9, it was announced on the morning of the Saudi Arabia Qualifier that Oliver “Ollie” Bearman would replace Carlos Sainz and race for Scuderia Ferrari in the Saudi Arabia GP. Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis and required surgery that would take him out of the GP. Bearman made a spectacular F1 debut, qualifying P11 after very little practice time in the car and finishing P7, earning six points. Sainz, however, was very eager to show his dedication to the team — especially since it was announced that Lewis Hamilton would be taking his spot in 2025. He was seen walking gingerly into the paddock right before the race just one day after getting major abdominal surgery. Alex Albon, a fellow F1 driver, was in a similar situation in 2022 and was able to return three weeks after surgery, which makes Sainz’s return to racing this past weekend all the more impressive. 

While Ferrari was celebrating Sainz’s return, Williams Racing was busy celebrating Alex Albon’s upcoming birthday, which was put on hold after his unfortunate crash in Free Practice 1. Logan Sargeant, Albon’s teammate, was able to finish all FP1 and 2 before it was decided that he would not be able to race on Sunday March 24. Albon damaged his car’s chassis in the crash, and Williams did not have a spare third chassis to replace his. With only one functioning car left, Williams made the decision to let Albon, the driver who scored 27 out of the 28 points for the team last year, drive instead of Sargeant. This meant replacing Albon’s damaged chassis with Sargeant’s working one, taking him out of everything following FP2 but allowing Albon to drive in FP3 before qualifying. Sargeant took to Instagram to express his feelings, posting “This one hurts but I’m here for the team and will work with them to maximise what we can do this weekend.” Albon also praised his teammate, saying, “I would never want anything like this to happen. Logan has always been a consummate professional and a team player from day one.” James Vowles, the Williams team principal, justified the team’s decision and shared that, “While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that he did not make, every race counts when the midfield is tighter than ever, so we have made the call based on our best potential to score points this weekend.”

With all of the pre-race drama unfolding, there was also an abundance of action and surprises during the race as well. The starting grid had Max Verstappen, the three-time Drivers World Champion, in P1 with Carlos Sainz starting in P2 after qualifying. After the lights went out to signal the start of the race, all 19 cars headed towards turn one. Thankfully everybody passed turn one cleanly as the drivers competed for better positioning. Verstappen led the first lap but was unable to maintain the lead as the Ferrari overtook the Red Bull in lap two. 

That was just the beginning of Verstappen’s troubles as smoke started billowing from his rear right wheel in lap four. He relayed over the radio to his team, “I have smoke, fire fire, brake, my brake” as the Red Bull fell to the back of the field. On the way to the pit lane, an explosion erupted, spitting black smoke and starting a fire in the rear right wheel. Verstappen unfortunately was forced to retire from the Australian GP, the same course where he suffered his most recent race retirement in 2022. In a post-race interview, Verstappen revealed that the explosion was because “the right-rear brake stuck on … it didn’t cool.” 

While Verstappen and Red Bull were busy putting out the fire, the race continued, now with only 18 drivers. On lap nine during Valtteri Bottas’ pit stop, the pit team had some trouble with the front left wheel nut, causing a prolonged pitstop. This problem is not a new one for Kick Sauber as both drivers had issues during their pit stops in all two of the previous races this season. In the Bahrain Grand Prix, Bottas had a 52.4-second pitstop due to an issue with the cross-threaded wheel nut. Then in Saudi Arabia, Zhou Guanyu suffered the same problem. Bottas revealed ahead of the Australian GP that “we haven’t fixed the issue 100 percent because there’s a lead time for certain components and materials that we need, but I think we should be in a better place and I’ll have more confidence coming into the pits this weekend.” Zhou agreed with his teammate and said, “Of course, unfortunately, we can’t really redesign right now but we are already making a few adjustments on the wheel nut and the wheel guns and making sure the issue is solved. Fingers crossed we can get it all going.” Their optimism seemed to be short-lived as Kick Sauber had another slow pitstop in lap 37, causing Zhou to exit the pitlane in last place and having been lapped by the race leader. However, there seemed to be some quick adjustments made as Bottas pitted in lap 38 with no difficulties. This was a rare sight, as even F1 reporter Ted Kravitz commented, “Ring the church bells! Put out the bunting! Sauber just did a pitstop that wasn’t a complete disaster!” during the live stream. 

Continuing on with the theme of technological difficulties, Lewis Hamilton found himself in a sticky situation when in lap 17 his car suddenly slowed down. Lewis repeated “Engine failure” over his radio as he tried to maneuver the Mercedes to the grass on the side of the track and a virtual safety car was deployed. The purpose of a safety car is to slow down the cars in the race so Hamilton’s car could be retrieved safely. Under virtual safety car rules, drivers have to drive under a reduced speed and are not allowed to overtake during it. Teams sometimes take advantage of the safety car regulations and have their drivers pit during them, allowing for time to be saved compared to a regular pit stop. 

One driver who did pit during Hamilton’s VSC was Oscar Piastri. This decision proved beneficial when Piastri found himself in P3 and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in P4, with Norris pitting a few laps after Piastri. However, because Norris was driving on tires five laps younger than Piastri, McLaren gave the order for a driver swap during lap 29. In previous races, there has been a lot of controversy over driver swaps, with drivers choosing to express their anger at letting their teammate pass them over the radio. But Piastri followed the team’s orders and let Norris overtake him, understandably playing the team game and trusting the McLaren strategists.

Unlike the McLarens, Alex Albon wasn’t able to rely on any help from the second Williams when he was battling for positioning against the two Haas drivers. In lap 37 Albon tried to overtake Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg in P11 during a turn, but swung wide and ended up losing time and competitive positioning behind Hulkenberg. Then, in lap 44, the second Haas driver Kevin Magnussen — who was behind Albon — was granted the use of the drag reduction system, allowing him to gain some much-needed speed. Magnussen was unable to overtake Albon the first time, but was able to use DRS successfully to overtake Albon later in lap 45.

There was not much drama on the racetrack for a while, but tensions were at an all-time high as Sainz reported over the radio that his tires didn’t feel normal in lap 57. With one lap to go, there was no time for a pitstop and Ferrari could only hope that the old tires could hold up. 

As everybody watched the last lap in anticipation, it was shocking to see George Russell crash into a wall and the Mercedes end up on its side in the middle of the track. Russell was initially driving right behind Fernando Alonso when they headed into a series of turns on the last lap. Russell caught some dirty air off Alonso's Aston Martin which left him unable to turn successfully into turns six and seven. Russell braked, causing him to oversteer and turn wide, driving into the wall of the chicane. The wheels stayed attached to the Mercedes by the tethers, causing the car to tip over onto its side when the front left wheel got stuck under the car. Russell radioed “I’m OK,” and his crash caused another VSC that the race would finish under. 

Due to the regulations of the VSC, Sainz was able to breathe a sigh of relief as he would be able to maintain the lead with overtakes prohibited during a safety car. Russell’s crash also left Mercedes with no cars left to finish the race, therefore scoring no points as Hamilton had to retire earlier due to engine failure.

Sainz ultimately won the 2024 Australian GP, and his teammate Charles Leclerc won the fastest lap and P2, with Lando Norris in P3 to round out the podium. But there was drama even after the race, as Alonso was given a 20-second time penalty after the stewards reviewed the footage of Russell’s crash and deemed that “Alonso affirmatively choosing to perform an unusual manoeuvre at this point to be an aggravating circumstance, as opposed to a simple mistake,” which dropped him from P6 to P8. 

To recap the results of the GP, Carlos Sainz finished P1 just two weeks after major surgery, and Charles Leclerc earned P2 and fastest lap. Lando Norris won his 14th podium finish, and his teammate Oscar Piastri finished P4 for the second time in a row. Sergio Perez struggled a bit in the Red Bull, finishing P5 after his two previous P2 podiums. Lance Stroll finished P6, and Yuki Tsunoda in P7, with both benefiting from Alonso’s time penalty, which dropped him to P8. The two Haas drivers Hulkenberg and Magnussen finished P9 and P10 respectively and were both able to score points. Alex Albon finished P11 — an unfortunate race on his birthday after taking his teammate Sargeant’s chassis. Daniel Ricciardo finished P12 — another unfortunate result for the Australian racing in his home country. Pierre Gasly finished P13 after some impressive racing in the middle, finding himself P9 at lap 38. The two Saubers, Bottas and Zhou, finished P14 and P15 respectively after struggling with their pit stops. Lastly, Esteban Ocon finished P16 after Verstappen, Hamilton and Russell suffered DNFs and Sargeant’s exit before the race.  

This Grand Prix has proven to be more entertaining than expected, as it seems that Red Bull won’t be dominating like the previous seasons. All eyes will be on the Japan Grand Prix up next.