Even though Ferrari hasn’t been as close to Max Verstappen’s pace this season, they had a good result in the Australian Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz led his teammate Charles Leclerc and the McLarens in a one-two finish.
In Melbourne, Verstappen was leading the race from the start, but he had brake problems and had to retire early. Sergio Perez, his teammate, couldn’t do better than fifth place.
Sainz is happy with Ferrari’s performance but thinks they need a big upgrade to catch up with Red Bull. He said, “Our car worked really well this weekend. But it’s going to be tough to keep it up there in every track until we bring an upgrade to close that gap that we saw in Bahrain and Jeddah.”
Ferrari plans to bring a major upgrade for the Imola race in May. They also have some small aerodynamic changes planned for the next race at Suzuka. They are trying to bring these upgrades sooner, maybe even for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Even though it’s hard to say if Ferrari would have won in Australia without Verstappen’s issues, their drivers were happy with how the car performed in practice.
Sainz even thought he could have challenged Verstappen for the lead after a good first lap. He said, “I felt like I could keep up with him on the first lap and try and take DRS, just to make sure that… DRS around here is super powerful.”
But Verstappen had problems with his brakes, and Sainz couldn’t fight him. “A pity because we would have had, I think, a very good fight for P1 today. But, you know, I’m happy to take the win. He’s had plenty of them,” Sainz said.
