A jubilant Carlos Sainz exclaimed that “life is sometimes crazy” after winning the 2024 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard capitalised on Max Verstappen’s early retirement with brake failure to take an assured victory ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
It was an impressive display from Sainz, just two weeks after having his appendix removed in Saudi Arabia and puts him high on rival team’s driver wishlists following the news Lewis Hamilton will take his seat at the Scuderia in 2025.
Both those factors were not lost on the man well-known as the smooth operator.
“It was a really good race, I felt really good out there,” Sainz told Guenther Steiner in the post-race podium interview.
“Of course a bit stiff, and especially physically, it wasn’t the easiest, but I was lucky that I was more or less on my own, and I could manage my pace, manage the tyres, manage everything, and it wasn’t the toughest races of all.
“But yeah, very happy, very proud of the team, happy to be in a 1-2 with Charles here.
“It shows that the hard work pays off, and yeah, life sometimes is crazy, you know.
“What happened at the beginning of the year, then the podium in Bahrain, then the appendix, the comeback, the win.
“It’s a rollercoaster, but I loved it, and yeah, I’m extremely happy.”
Leclerc added: “Carlos has had an incredible weekend to come back after his surgery, he’s done an amazing race.”
The Monegasque driver struggled with tyre wear in his middle stint but commended Ferrari for its great day down under.
“Yeah, it feels good mostly for the team of course,” he said.
“I mean, 1st and 2nd didn’t happen since Bahrain 2022, which are very good memories we have and it’s amazing to be able that we can do that.
“In the first stint we had to protect behind, so we had to stop a bit earlier and then from that moment onwards, Carlos was very fast and with my tyres I was struggling.
“As soon as we stopped at the first stop, then for me it was clear.
“But again, Carlos has done a better job all weekend, at least from qualifying to the race, and he definitely deserves that victory.
“So I’m really happy for him, I’m really happy for the team, it’s really good points.”
A retirement for Verstappen and Sergio Perez finishing an underwhelming fifth paved the way for Lando Norris to complete the podium for McLaren and he was happy with the result.
“It was a very good day for us,” Norris said.
“I’m very happy, proud of our team, P3 and P4 is a lot of points in the championship, so that’s the first thing.
“We missed out on Charles, I think our pace was a little bit better, he undercut us in the first stint, so maybe a little bit of hope for second place, I think our pace was strong enough today.
“I probably wasn’t expecting to be on the podium, so I’m very happy.
“It’s clear that this circuit suits us a little bit more, so we’ve been able to push and unlock a little bit of speed.
“But it’s still another step to Ferrari and to Red Bull, they’re one or two steps ahead of us still, so we need to catch up, but it’s clear that we’re getting closer and a day like today proves exactly that, so a big thanks to all of McLaren.”
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