Carlos Sainz from appendicitis surgery to winning the Australian GP
Carlos Sainz wins the Australian GP 16 days after undergoing appendicitis surgery and missing the last race.
After just missing the pole position to Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz came into the Sunday race ready to give it his all. However, everyone expected the current world champion to maintain his lead and winning streak. Little did anyone know things were in for a turn.
The race started much cleaner than last year’s one. There were no incidents during the first lap. The Maclarens, the Ferraris, and Verstappen all had optimal starts. However, the action was only starting. Sainz came hard in the second lap and took the race lead from Max through the outside of turn 8.
Just 3 laps after losing the race lead, Max Verstappen had to retire from the race due to a brake failure. This is the first time since the Australian GP in 2022 that the Dutch driver hasn’t finished a race. He was then quickly followed by his old rival, Lewis Hamilton who retired due to an engine failure on lap 17.
During this commotion, Charles Leclerc had climbed to P2 sitting right behind his teammate. On the other hand, Sergio Perez was P5 but the speed wasn’t on his side. The 20 laps old hard tiers seemed to have stopped working for Checo.
During a fight between George Russell and Fernando Alonso for P6, just as the race was ending, Russell lost the car and ended his race with a DNF. With less than a lap left, the race finished with the Virtual Safety Car, and Carlos Sainz claimed his third victory and passed the 1000 career points mark.
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