Sainz headlines record-breaking action at Albert Park
Phil Branagan
Sunday, 24 March 2024
There was a ton of action on the track at the FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2024, with an appreciative record crowd witnessing some great racing.
In
front of the highest Sunday on record, with 132,106 spectators, more than
452,000 fans packed into the circuit over four days, 7424 more than attended
the 2023 event.
The highlight of the day was the brilliant win in the Grand Prix by Carlos Sainz, who
overcame the pain of the recovery from his recent abdominal surgery to lead
teammate Charles Leclerc home to the first Ferrari 1-2 finish at Albert Park in
two decades.
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Lando Norris took third place for McLaren, ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri.
It was the third time that an Aussie has finished fourth, so the wait to get an Australian driver onto the podium will have to wait at least one more year.
There was a lot to see apart from Formula 1®. Raceday started with a decisive win by Dino Beganovic, who drove a smart and tactical race to take his maiden Formula 3® win.
The Swede took the lead mid-race and drove carefully to make sure his tyres were up to a dash over the final two laps of the race.
His Prema entry finished just under a second clear of Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) and Gabriele Mini (Prema).
Christian Mansell was the best-placed Aussie driver in P10, while Tommy Smith was out on the first lap after a clash with another driver.
In Formula 2®, Isack Hadjar made the most of a Virtual Safety Car to take out the Feature race, the French Campos Racing driver making up for losing Saturday’s Sprint race after receiving a time penalty. Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron was second ahead of Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport).
The Supercars race was action-packed and featured the first non-Triple Eight driver of the season.
An early clash with Chaz Mostert sent early leader Matt Payne out of contention (and earned Mostert a five-second time penalty), and that put Nick Percat into the lead.
The Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet stayed up front in spite of constant pressure from first Broc Feeney and then Will Brown, but Percat held his nerve to take his first Supercars win in nearly four years.
