Sainz takes the third win of his career, Verstappen records his first retirement in two years and Mercedes record their first double DNF in almost six years. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.
SAINZ WINS THE 2024 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
Just two weeks after undergoing appendix surgery, Carlos Sainz took victory in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. It was the third win of Sainz’s career, making him the 67th driver to have won at least three Grands Prix during their time in Formula 1.
Sainz was voted Driver of the Day for the second time this season. He won with over 38% of the vote. Sainz’s car is the only one to win the vote so far this year, with Oliver Bearman having won when driving the Ferrari last time out at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Sainz’s win marks the first time he has finished in the top seven at the Australian Grand Prix, having had a previous best result here of eighth in 2018. Prior to the 2024 race, he had not previously scored at the track since 2018.
This was Ferrari’s tenth victory at Albert Park and their 11th Australian Grand Prix victory in total, equalling McLaren’s record for the most victories at the event. Ferrari also equalled Mercedes as the most successful engine manufacturer at the Australian Grand Prix.
Having led all but one lap of the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, Sainz made Ferrari the first team to have led over 500 laps at Albert Park since the track joined the F1 calendar in 1996.
ON THE PODIUM
With Charles Leclerc following team-mate Carlos Sainz over the line, Ferrari recorded their 86th 1-2 finish at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. This was their first 1-2 result since the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, as well as their first 1-2 result at Albert Park since the 2004 Australian Grand Prix.
Leclerc recorded the 32nd podium finish of his career, equalling the career totals of Jim Clark, Jacques Laffite, Jean Alesi and Daniel Ricciardo.
This was Leclerc’s 32nd podium finish with Ferrari, seeing him equal Niki Lauda for seventh in the list of most top three finishes recorded with the Scuderia.
Leclerc set the fastest lap for a second consecutive race, recording a new Lap Record at the Albert Park track. Leclerc is the fifth driver to record multiple fastest laps at Albert Park.
Ferrari took their total number of podium finishes at the Australian Grand Prix to 28 – a new outright record, having previously been tied with McLaren.
With third place in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, Lando Norris finished on the podium for the 14th time in his career. As a result, he overtook Nick Heidfeld as the driver who has recorded the most podium finishes without winning a Grand Prix.
Norris’ podium made 2024 the 30th consecutive season in which a Mercedes-powered car has finished on the podium.
Recording the 23rd podium finish for a British driver at the track, Norris’ third place finish saw Britain set a new outright record for the most podium finishes for a nation at Albert Park, moving clear of Germany.
Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris became the 29th and 30th drivers to finish on the podium at Albert Park since the track joined the calendar in 1996. Charles Leclerc became the 16th driver to record multiple podium finishes at the track.
The 2024 Australian Grand Prix was the first race since the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix to feature two Ferraris and two McLarens in the top four finishing positions. On that day, it was also a Ferrari 1-2, with the McLarens finishing third and fourth.
For the first time since the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix, no drivers from Red Bull or Mercedes finished on the podium. Since 2012, the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix and the 2020 Italian Grand Prix are the only other races in which neither team has finished in the top three.
IN THE POINTS
With fourth place in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri equalled the best result for an Australian driver on home soil in F1 history. Mark Webber finished fourth in 2012, while Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth in both 2016 and 2018.
Piastri finished fourth for a second successive race. This is the second time he has finished in the top four at consecutive races, having last done so with his podium finishes in the 2023 Japanese and Qatar Grands Prix.
Having finished eighth last year, Piastri maintains his 100% points-scoring record at the Australian Grand Prix.
With Norris third and Piastri fourth, these were McLaren’s first top four finishes at the Australian Grand Prix since both cars finished on the podium in 2014.
Sergio Perez finished fifth in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, making this the first Albert Park race since 2015 in which no Red Bull drivers finished in the top four.
Lance Stroll finished eighth, scoring points at Albert Park for the third time in his last four Australian Grand Prix appearances.
Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, recording his first top seven finish since he last finished seventh at the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
With seventh place, Yuki Tsunoda equalled the Red Bull junior team’s best-ever Australian Grand Prix result. Sebastien Bourdais finished seventh with Toro Rosso in 2008, while Sebastien Buemi finished seventh with the team in 2009.
At the end of Lap 12 of the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso became the first driver to have raced 1,000 laps at Albert Park. Alonso finished the race sixth on the road but a post-race time penalty dropped him to eighth in the final order. Nevertheless, it made Alonso the first driver to score points on 14 occasions at Albert Park, overtaking Kimi Raikkonen’s former record. He also became the first driver to record 15 top ten finishes at the track.
With both Stroll and Alonso scoring, this was the Silverstone team’s first double points-scoring race at Albert Park since 2017.
Finishing ninth, Nico Hulkenberg scored points for the second consecutive race. This is the first time he has scored points in consecutive Grands Prix since the 2019 Mexican and United States Grands Prix – though he did score on consecutive appearances at the 70th Anniversary and Eifel Grands Prix in 2020.
For the second race in a row, Hulkenberg was the driver who gained the most positions. He made up seven places over the course of the race.
Hulkenberg has scored points on all but one of his last eight Australian Grand Prix appearances.
Kevin Magnussen finished tenth in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, scoring a point for the first time since the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, where he also finished tenth. This was the first time Magnussen scored a point in Australia since 2019.
With Hulkenberg ninth and Magnussen tenth, Haas scored points with both cars for the first time since the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. The 2024 Australian Grand Prix was the team’s 50th points-scoring race weekend. They became the 27th constructor to reach the milestone – Aston Martin did so last time out at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
This is the first time in their history that Haas have scored points with both cars at the Australian Grand Prix and only the second time, after 2022, that both Haas cars have crossed the finish line at the track.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Alex Albon finished 11th for a second consecutive race.
Daniel Ricciardo finished 12th in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. This is the first time in his career that Ricciardo has crossed the finish line at the Australian Grand Prix without scoring a point.
Ricciardo made up six places during the 2024 Australian Grand Prix – the most places he has gained in a single race at Albert Park to date.
At Alpine, Pierre Gasly finished 13th, equalling the team’s best result of the season so far. With Esteban Ocon finishing 16th, the 2024 Australian Grand Prix is the first race of the year at which Gasly has finished ahead of his team-mate.
Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas were the only drivers to finish in a worse position than where they started at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. Both drivers lost one place from where they started.
This was the seventh race in a row in which Bottas lost positions during the Grand Prix. It’s the first time Bottas lost a position from where he started in the Australian Grand Prix.
Of the races he has finished, the 2024 Australian Grand Prix is the first since the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix in which Ocon has finished in a worse position than where he started.
This was the first time that the Sauber team failed to score in the Australian Grand Prix since 2018.
VERSTAPPEN’S WIN STREAK ENDS
Max Verstappen’s nine-race winning streak came to an at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, with him retiring just three laps into the race with a brake failure. This was Verstappen’s first retirement in two years. His last DNF came at the 2022 Australian Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s retirement brought an end to his 43-race scoring streak – the second-longest scoring streak in Formula 1 history, as well as the second-longest finishing streak in the sport.
Verstappen became the eighth Albert Park polesitter to retire from the race. It is the first time the polesitter has retired from the Australian Grand Prix since Lewis Hamilton did so in 2014.
This was the first race since the 2022 United States Grand Prix from which the polesitter retired.
Having led the opening lap of the race, Verstappen made this the tenth consecutive race at which he has led a lap. It’s the 15th time in F1 history that a driver has led at least one lap in ten consecutive races.
A MERCEDES DOUBLE DNF
There were two Virtual Safety Car periods in the 2024 Australian Grand Prix and both were caused by Mercedes drivers.
Lewis Hamilton retired on Lap 16 with an engine failure. Hamilton’s retirement made this the first time in his career that he has failed to finish in the top five at six successive races.
This was Hamilton’s first non-finish since the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix and his first retirement in Australia since 2014.
With both Hamilton and Max Verstappen retiring, the 2024 Australian Grand Prix was the first race since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix from which both drivers retired. Since Verstappen’s career began, the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix is the only other race which neither Verstappen nor Hamilton have finished.
George Russell crashed out on the final lap of the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.
Russell has crashed out of the race on each of the three occasions that Carlos Sainz has taken victory.
This was Russell’s second consecutive retirement from the Australian Grand Prix.
With neither Hamilton nor Russell finishing the race, this was Mercedes’ first double DNF in almost six years. The team last recorded a double DNF at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix.
Mercedes’ double DNF brought to an end their 62-race scoring streak, which began at the 2021 French Grand Prix. Strangely, the team’s previous longest scoring streak was also 62 races, between the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix and the 2016 Russian Grand Prix. That streak also ended with a double DNF at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
The 2024 Australian Grand Prix is the first time Mercedes failed to score points at Albert Park since 2012.