Sainz: “Life is crazy. After two laps I realized I would win” | FormulaPassion.it

The match report

Ferrari gives its fans a memorable awakening and wins a historic double in Australia. Success for an incredible Carlos Sainz, who, just 15 days after his appendicitis operation, gave himself and the entire Maranello team a special triumph. This is the first victory achieved by a driver who had not raced in the previous GP since 1994, when Michael Schumacher won the European GP after missing the previous two races due to disqualification.

Second position for Charles Leclercwhich completes the first 1-2 red since the 2022 Bahrain GP and relaunches itself significantly also from a world championship perspective, taking advantage of theunexpected retirement of Max Verstappen. Completing the podium is McLaren's Lando Norris, who was unable to get close enough to Leclerc's SF-24 at the end of the race to attempt an attack. The former Haas boss, Gunther Steiner, interviewed the top three.

The words of the top-3

Carlos Sainz (1st, Ferrari): “Today was a beautiful race. I felt very good, even if a little stiff, physically it wasn't very easy. But I was lucky because I was able to manage the pace more or less on my own, I managed the tires independently. The race was tough but obviously I'm very happy and proud of the whole team. I'm happy to have won ahead of Charles, it shows how much work we've done. Life is really crazy: first the podium in Bahrain, then the appendicitis, the return, this victory… it's really a roller coaster, but I'm very happy. Max? On the first lap I realized that I could keep up with him and use the DRS, which works very well here. Then he lost time in turns 2 and 3 and I passed him. Immediately afterwards he had brake problems. It's a shame, because it would have been a good challenge for first position. But honestly I'm happy to take home this victory. I should always have appendicitis surgery! (laughs). I knew I would win from the second lap. I realized that we were fast and could manage the tyres. Of course there is always the risk of a red flag or a Safety Car, but the race went away clean. I was sorry about George's accident, I hope he's well.”.

Charles Leclerc (2nd, Ferrari): “I'm happy for the team, for the double. It hasn't happened since Bahrain 2022, they are good memories and it's nice to be able to relive them. Carlos had an exceptional weekend after the operation. I had difficulties with the first set of hard tires, but the last stint went better. But we scored 1-2, it couldn't have gone better. Attack Carlos? No, I haven't thought about it. In the first stint I had to look over my shoulder, we stopped early and from then on Carlos was always very fast. Then I had more difficulty with my tires. As soon as we stopped for the first stop everything was clear to me. But Carlos did a better job over the weekend, in qualifying and in the race, and it's right that he won. These are very important points for the team. We wanted to score as many points as possible and it couldn't have been better than that”.

Lando Norris (3rd, McLaren): “Coming 2nd? The day went well. I'm proud of the team. We scored a lot of points in the Constructors and this is the important thing. We didn't manage to get to Charles, we had a bit of hope, maybe we were there with the pace, but Ferrari and especially Carlos did an exceptional job. I found myself very well. We have made a good step forward. We managed the tires well and I'm very happy. I didn't expect to find myself on the podium. This track suits our characteristics and we certainly got a little closer to Ferrari and Red Bull. Today is the demonstration of this rapprochement.”