Few wins in Formula 1 will ever be as impressive as the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.
Just 16 days after having his appendix removed, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz stood on the top step of the podium at Albert Park.
His win came at a crossroads in the Spaniard’s career after being told at the start of the season he would not be driving for the famed Italian outfit, who signed seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to a multi-year deal.
The win was a major moment for Sainz, who proved his brilliance in the cockpit of an F1 car despite still recovering from surgery.
Later in the year he announced he would sign with British outfit Williams, a team that is showing promising signs as it tries to work its way back up the grid.
But Sainz has six more race weekends left with Ferrari, beginning with the United States Grand Prix at the end of October.
Carlos Sainz secured the third win of his F1 career at Albert Park in Melbourne during the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. (AAP: James Ross)
The Spaniard is determined to end his three-year stint with the Scuderia with one more triumph before moving to the next challenge.
“Obviously it’s at the top of my list to try and win at least once again with Ferrari before I leave,” the 30-year-old told F1.com.
“It’s in my head, not because I’m leaving at the end of the year with Ferrari, but because I always try to win every race that I go to.”
Next year’s Australian Grand Prix will be the season opener, meaning it will be Sainz’s first race for Williams, Hamilton’s first race for Ferrari, and the debut of rookie Australian Jack Doohan.
Ferrari has had a mixed season in 2024 with Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc also collecting a pair of grand prix wins, while other weekends have been a struggle.
But the Scuderia sits third in the constructors’ championship with a quarter of the season left to race, 75 points adrift of ladder leader McLaren.
Despite McLaren being the in-form team in F1, there are six grands prix and three sprint races left for Ferrari — and second-placed Red Bull — to claw back the deficit and claim the world championship.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said after last month’s Singapore Grand Prix that he expected most teams will have some sort of upgrade for the next weekend in Texas, as the final push to the end of the season begins.
“I expect all the teams, including ourselves, will bring something new to Austin,” he said.
“It’s the first part of a triple-header and I expect that, as usual, some of these three tracks will suit some teams better than others.”
The United States Grand Prix will be held on Monday morning, October 21, AEDT.