Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were all forced to retire from the Australian Grand Prix during an eventful race on the streets of Melbourne. Carlos Sainz took the chequered flag in Melbourne to complete a Ferrari one-two, with Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris joining the Spaniard on the podium.
Verstappen started on pole but was forced to call it a day after just five laps with smoke billowing from the back of his Red Bull car. He was then involved in a frosty exchange with an engineer as he tried to come to terms with the unfortunate manner of his retirement.
Hamilton went on to suffer a mechanical problem of his own, with the Brit grinding to a halt at the edge of the circuit due to an engine failure. Just moments before the end of the race, Russell crashed out after losing the rear end while chasing Fernando Alonso in the battle for sixth place.
Leclerc confident
Charles Leclerc is confident that Ferrari are moving in the right direction and slowly closing the gap to Red Bull.
He said: “It’s been a long time since we have had the genuine pace to have Red Bull… I wouldn’t say under control, because we don’t know what was the real pace of Max today, but I will say that from FP1, we knew that pole position and the race win was possible because we had very good tyre degradation, very good pace, and that is a very encouraging sign.
“However, if you look at the first three races, two out of the first three races they had the upper hand in the race. So we still have a lot of work to do. But that’s exactly what we need to do as a team.”
Russell’s full radio message after crash
George Russell’s radio message following his crash this morning has been revealed.
“Red flag, red flag, I’m in the middle of the track, red flag, red flag. Red, red, red, red, red,” Russell shouted on team radio
“I’m in the middle. Red. F***. Why so long?”
Wolff wants to punch himself
Toto Wolff claimed he wanted to give himself a knock after Mercedes scored no points in Melbourne.
He said: “On one side, I want to punch myself on the nose. On the other side, it’s a testimony that when you get things right, you can turn it around pretty quickly and continue to believe.
“At the moment, it’s a very tough time.”
Horner could sign Sainz
Christian Horner has refuse to rule out signing Carlos Sainz for Red Bull next season after the Ferrari star won the Australian GP.
“We want to field the best pairing we can with Red Bull Racing so, sometimes, you got to look outside the pool as well,” Horner said.
“The market is reasonably fluid in certain parts. I mean, based on a performance like that, you couldn’t rule any possibility out.
“So I think, we just want to take the time and, obviously, Checo [Perez] was compromised today and has had a great start to the season too so we’re not in any desperate rush.”
Toto Wolff responds to questions on Mercedes future
Toto Wolff says it is ‘fair’ to question his future as Mercedes team principal after yet another disappointing weekend for the Silver Arrows in Australia.
Asked if he is still the right man to lead the team forward, Wolff said: “I need to make sure that my contribution is positive.
“I would be the first one to say: ‘If somebody has a better idea, tell me’. I’m interested [in] turning this team around as quickly as possible and I’ll happily give my input on what that would be, or who that could be.
“I look at myself in the mirror every single day about everything I do. If I believe that I should ask the manager question or the trainer question, I think it’s a fair question.
“It’s not what I feel at the moment that I should do. But if you have any ideas about who could turn this around, I would happily listen to them.”
Fernando Alonso hits out after FIA penalty
Fernando Alonso has hit out at suggestions that he drove dangerously while defending against George Russell on the last lap of today’s race in Melbourne.
The Spaniard was later handed a 20-second penalty by the FIA, which saw him slip to eighth in the finishing order, as well as three penalty points.
“I wanted to maximize my exit speed from Turn Six to defend against him,” said Alonso when quizzed on what happened.
“That’s what any racing driver would do, and I didn’t feel it was dangerous. It’s disappointing to get a penalty from the stewards for what was hard but fair racing.
“Still, I’m glad that George is okay. It was not nice to see his car in the middle of the track.”
George Russell speaks out after Fernando Alonso penalty
George Russell has admitted that it was ‘such a shame’ to crash out of the Australian Grand Prix on the final lap in an incident for which Fernando Alonso has since been punished.
Russell said on X, formerly Twitter: “Such a shame to end the race like that. Totally caught out by the car ahead whilst entering the corner, I lost the car and some points for the team.
“Ultimately, we were not fast enough this weekend and we’ll come back stronger.”
Lewis Hamilton digs out Mercedes engineers
Lewis Hamilton has aimed a thinly-veiled dig at Mercedes by suggesting that nothing has changed since last year in a scathing review of their Australian Grand Prix disaster.
Quizzed on the current gulf in class between Mercedes and Red Bull following his battle with Sergio Perez, Hamilton said: “It’s a massive gap. I think they have a second on us, something like that.
“He was on fresh tires but just the way he pulled away down the straight, I was like: ‘Wow’. Same as last year.”
