Well Australia always provides some drama in the race and we certainly got some of that!
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz took his and the team’s first win of the season, taking advantage of Max Verstappen’s technical trouble which resulted in the first non-Red Bull win of the season.
Bidding for a record-equalling 10th victory in a row, Verstappen converted his pole position advantage as the race got under way but soon reported issues, with a compromised second lap which opened the door for Sainz to take the lead.
From there, Verstappen’s brake-related woes got worse and with plumes of smoke exiting the rear of his RB20 he then returned to the pits and retired for the first time in two years.
Carlos Sainz was followed closely by his teammate, Charles Leclerc making it a 1-2 for the Italian team! And rounding out the podium places is Mr Lando Norris, his first of the season.
The full top 10 is- P1: Sainz, P2: Leclerc, P3: Norris, P4: Piastri, P5: Perez, P6: Alonso, P7: Stroll, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Hulkenberg and P10: Magnussen.
What a drive from Carlos Sainz, who is still not feeling 100% performed a drive which should really secure him a seat next year!
Obviously very gutting for Max Verstappen, it’s very rare for him to have a DNF due to something wrong on the car, I had no doubt he would of been fighting for the win if it didn’t happen, but it’s racing that is just the way it goes sometimes.
Points for Tsunoda!! He pretty much stayed in the top 10 all race unless he pitted, the team and Japanese driver will be happy with that after their start to the season.
Double points for Haas aswell! They had a really good race today, good pit stops and it benefited them as they were there incase anything happened within the top teams which it did.
A disappointing day for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton had a mechanical issue which saw him pull over to the side and then on the last lap George Russell was chasing Fernando Alonso down for P6 and ended up spinning and crashing which was a nasty crash but luckily he is all okay.
Mercedes will be wanting to forget this weekend and just move onto the next race.
However due to the crash with Russell, Fernando Alonso has been given a 20 second time penalty ( drive through) as the stewards determined the Spanish drivers driving was “potentially dangerous” which has dropped the driver down to P8.
Now looking onto Round 4, we head to Japan for the Japanese Grand Prix from the 5th to 7th of April!
Jordan's Track Talk 
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