Carlos Sainz, the driver who had comeback from surgery and helped return Ferrari’s first one-two since 2022 as world champion Max Verstappen’s dominant run of victories came to an explosive end, won the Australian Formula 1.
Lying in bed just nine days ago with the wound from his appendectomy still tender, Carlos Sainz had held no expectation of even competing in the Australian Grand Prix.
Yet there was the Spaniard in Melbourne on Sunday afternoon, roared on by an appreciative crowd when he climbed from his car after a victory as unlikely as it was valiant.
Before the season began the 29-year-old had been dealt a body blow when Ferrari announced they were to drop him for Lewis Hamilton in 2025.
A dispiriting moment to which he responded in feisty fashion with a podium at the season opener in Bahrain only for further ill-fortune to then strike when two weeks ago he was forced to withdraw from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with appendicitis.
After the subsequent operation he was in bed for seven days and it was as late as the Friday of the Australian GP before he and Ferrari felt confident he was able to drive.
The 29-year-old’s preparation could not have been less suitable. He is still far from fully recovered, had lost several kilos of weight, could not complete the usual fitness and simulator work pre-race and admitted the operation was a unique challenge.
He had noted on Saturday after qualifying with a surprising level of sangfroid just quite the effect a return to the car was having, observing of his body that “everything in the inside just feels like it’s moving more than normal”.
