The Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2024 has delivered a memorable spectacle in front of a record crowd as Carlos Sainz led a Scuderia Ferrari one-two and claimed his third Formula 1 win.
 
The victory capped off what was an incredible weekend for the Spaniard, who was in a hospital bed just two weeks ago following appendix surgery.
 
Crossing the line behind Sainz was Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, while Lando Norris rounded out the podium ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.
 
Piastri started the race from fifth place after being promoted a place after Qualifying when Red Bull’s Sergio Perez received a three-place grid penalty.
 
The young Australian had a fairly decent race and found himself in podium contention around lap 15 but ended up dropping to fourth behind Norris – which is where he stayed for the rest of the race.
 
His rise up the field started off when polesitter Max Verstappen made a shock return to the pits on lap three when smoke started bellowing from the rear of car, which later saw the reigning champion forced to retire when a small fire broke out.
 
On the first round of pit stops, Piastri then ended up in front of Norris in third after a solid stop and a fantastic handful of laps following his return to the track helped seal a successful undercut over his teammate.
 
A virtual safety was then brought out shortly after the first round of stops when Lewis Hamilton found himself parked up.


Unfortunately, the 22-year-old couldn’t make up any real ground on Leclerc following the restart and he was eventually given team orders on lap 28 to let Norris past.
 
Piastri then did what he had to do to secure a fourth place finish, with a minor lock up on lap 38 and an entertaining battle with Fernando Alonso, where he completed an impressive pass on lap 42, the only real notable moments for the rest of his race.  
 
As for Daniel Ricciardo, the West Australian started from P18 and made some good passes throughout the 58-lap race, as well as taking advantage of the Verstappen and Hamilton DNFs to move up to P13.
 
On the final lap of the race, George Russell ended up on his side in the middle of the track after pushing too hard in his chase for Alonso in the battle for sixth, elevating Ricciardo to 12th as a result - and causing the race to end up a Virtual Safety Car.