Today’s Australian Grand Prix provided many striking moments. Max Verstappen dropped out for the first time in two years and Carlos Sainz crossed the line as the winner. Anyone who takes a look at the standings in the world championship will see that the differences are small. But the question remains whether there will be an exciting title battle.
Verstappen is still in the lead in the world championship. The reigning world champion is on 51 points, but Charles Leclerc (47), Sergio Perez (46) and Carlos Sainz (40) are following in his slipstream. Sainz’s performance is particularly striking, as he was unable to drive in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago due to appendicitis. If he had driven there and performed, he could have easily taken over the lead in the World Cup today.
Some fans are hoping these small differences will last for the rest of the year. After two boring seasons full of Verstappen dominance, many people are longing for an exciting title battle. Red Bull is still the fastest team, but Ferrari has clearly taken steps. In Australia, Sainz and Leclerc could fairly easily cross swords with Verstappen.
No incident
If Ferrari continues to develop the car well, they could become a real threat to Red Bull. But the Austrian racing team is of course not sitting idle either, it is expected that they will introduce their much-discussed zeropod design in Japan in two weeks. However, Ferrari has a positive feeling, because the pace in Australia was not an incident. In Bahrain and Jeddah they also competed at the front of the field and were especially fast in qualifying.
After the Australian Grand Prix, Sergio Perez even thought that Ferrari would have won if Verstappen had not dropped out. Helmut Marko also saw that Red Bull came up short, so it can be said that Ferrari was really fast. Perez himself was unable to make a fist, but according to Red Bull this was due to damage to the floor. Yet it does give food for thought, because Ferrari, and especially Sainz, have not yet missed a beat.
Painful situation
Sainz seems to be in top form. In Melbourne he was still suffering from the after-effects of his appendix operation, he rode with a large piece of tape on his stomach, but he rode around flawlessly. He responded well when Verstappen went wide and he previously showed in Bahrain that he should certainly not be underestimated. The fact that Ferrari has put him aside for Lewis Hamilton for next year makes matters painful.
Hamilton is having a hard time and he only scored eight World Cup points this year. He is therefore tenth in the world championship, one point behind Lance Stroll. Hamilton also saw Sainz win and he will be counting down the days until he can take a seat in the Ferrari. It is not yet clear where Sainz will end up next year. In Australia he handed over his calling card and can now call himself a title candidate for at least two weeks.
