Coming into 2024, McLaren had the taste of a podium for the first time in Australia. Lando Norris claimed P3 in the recently concluded Australian Grand Prix, with his teammate Oscar Piastri finishing in P4. This has been the best weekend so far for the Papayas, but Norris believes the Melbourne race had more to offer.
Speaking about the same, the McLaren driver said in a report published by PitDebrief, “I think our pace has been good all weekend. Being honest, we maybe missed out a little bit on an opportunity to be P2 today. For us to say that, it’s a good sign and I think it’s a good positive for the whole team, a good boost.”
After Max Verstappen’s RB20 gave up on Lap 3, the race was wide open between the Ferraris and McLarens. However, Carlos Sainz was a little too strong to give up his race win and this led to Charles Leclerc fighting it out for P2 against the Papayas of Piastri and Norris.
The Monegasque driver started the race from P4, a place behind Norris in P3. However, Ferrari’s mastermind brought Leclerc right behind his teammate Sainz and prevented all the efforts by McLaren to put Norris ahead using an undercut.
The Prancing Horse pitted Leclerc in the same lap as that of Norris to neutralize the threat. Interestingly, McLaren swapped Piastri with Norris during the race because the Briton had more pace to chase the Ferraris, but, it was too little too late.
Nearing the end of the race, the British driver was almost in touching distance of Leclerc but failed. Leclerc eventually crossed the finish line in P2, over three seconds ahead of Lando Norris in P3. The race at Albert Park was the most exciting race of the season so far and undoubtedly, gives hope for teams to come up ahead and challenge Red Bull.
How did the Australian GP stall Red Bull’s dream run and gave hope to McLaren and Ferrari?
Red Bull started their season in their usual dominant fashion with two wins and two 1-2 finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Coming into Australia, the expectations were the same as Verstappen began the onslaught with his pole position on Saturday. However, things changed drastically once the race started.
Verstappen’s RB20 caught fire after having a brake duct issue. As a result, the Dutchman had to retire from the race for the first time in 44 races. The last time he retired due to reliability issues was at the same track back in 2022. On the other hand, Sergio Perez also damaged his RB20 while having wheel-to-wheel tussles in the race with Fernando Alonso.
These resulted in the defending champions having a P5 finish and a DNF. While it was Red Bull’s day to forget, on the other hand, Ferrari’s day to remember. The Prancing Horse made it a red letter day as Sainz and Leclerc brought home their first 1-2 finish since Bahrain 2022.
The Italian team amassed a whopping 44 points in Melbourne and this took them right behind Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship. The Austrian team are leading the pack with 97 points, followed by Ferrari with 93 points. Given how the engineers at Maranello improved the SF-24, and McLaren also joined in, one can expect the battle for supremacy to get feisty in the upcoming races.
