How Verstappen saw an extraordinary series go up in smoke in Australia
F1 News
The 2025 Australian Grand Prix will be the first race of the season and it will give a first insight into how the F1 teams are stacked up in the order. Things were very different in 2024, when Max Verstappen seemed easily on his way to a fourth world title, but things briefly went completely south for the Red Bull Racing driver at Albert Park. Here's a recap of the race weekend in Melbourne.
In 2024, the Australian Grand Prix was the third race on the F1 calendar. Back then, it still looked like Verstappen and Red Bull Racing would pick up where they left off in 2023. After all, the Dutchman had convincingly won the first two Grands Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and had also started both races from pole position.
Verstappen on pole position again in Australia
In Australia, however, Ferrari posed a challenge for Verstappen, despite it being in the end, again, Max Verstappen who managed to clinch pole position, edging out Carlos Sainz, and being well clear ahead of now former teammate Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.
Sergio Perez, however, would not start from P3. Due to a penalty he received for obstructing Nico Hulkenberg in the pit lane, Perez started the race from P6. Mercedes had it even worse. George Russell only got to P7, Lewis Hamilton did not even get through Q2.
Logan Sargeant had it worse, since he didn't take part in qualifying at all. During FP3, Alexander Albon crashed heavily and only one chassis was left for qualifying. Despite it being Albon who had crashed, Williams decided to give the Thai driver the only remaining chassis, leaving Sargeant out of action for the weekend.
Verstappen DNF's during the race
A day later, the Grand Prix got underway, but Verstappen could not enjoy his lead for long. On lap three, he was overtaken by Carlos Sainz and a lap later it became clear why. Verstappen had a major problem with his rear brake: it was on fire. The Dutchman made his way into the pits and would not be able to continue his journey.
However, the Red Bull Racing driver's wouldn't be the only DNF. On lap 17, Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes PU gave out triggering a virtual safety car (VSC).
The race itself seemed to be a procession. Perez entertained the crowd with some overtaking moves, although the Mexican did not get beyond P5 in the end. Oscar Piastri was instructed by his team to let teammate Lando Norris through, no easy feat for the Australia-born driver. Although Norris had five lap fresher tyres, he could not manage to get further up than P3.
The race seemed to be slowly reaching its end, until a violent George Russell crash on the very last lap neutralised the race. The Mercedes driver was battling Fernando Alonso for P5. On the last lap, the Aston Martin driver lifted off the gas, catching out Russell which prompted him to lose control of his car.
Russell got out of the car unscathed, but he was very shaken up after sitting in his stricken Mercedes in the middle of a fast section of the track with race direction still to bring out the red flags. Alonso was unaware of any wrongdoing afterwards, but did receive a 20-second time penalty for dangerous driving.
Carlos Sainz won the race. A great achievement after he had undergone surgery on his appendix just two weeks before. Charles Leclerc made it a 1-2 for Ferrari, with Lando Norris taking the final podium place for McLaren.
This article was written in collaboration with Tim Kraaij.
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