Scratch that. It was better than a fine performance; it was on par with the brilliance of his win in Singapore last year but for different reasons.
Of course, we can’t hide from the fact that Max Verstappen was an early retirement. That made the Spaniard’s job easier, as did having Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc as rear gunner, though he wasn’t really needed.
The simple fact is that when there was an opportunity to take victory, Sainz took it. Again.
He qualified well, he started well and raced Verstappen well in the early laps. He took his opportunity and passed the Red Bull Racing driver on track.
Verstappen’s car was already (mortally) wounded by that time, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that Sainz was better than Leclerc in the second-best car on the grid.
And when we stop to consider that he delivered that performance in an uncomfortable physical state, Sainz deserves our applause. He also deserves a race-winning seat for next year.
At the end of 2023, I rated the Spaniard as the best driver after Verstappen and stand by that point. It’s on record, were I Fred Vasseur, I’d have Sainz over Leclerc.
Instead, one of the best-performing drivers on the grid advertised himself to the wider market perfectly across the Australian Grand Prix weekend, not just Sunday’s race.
In the Red Bull Racing camp, there will be furrowed brows as they work to understand exactly what happened with Verstappen’s car.
The brakes on an F1 car are sensitive things, but for issues to start so early in the race without clear explanation – a tear-off in the duct, for instance – is a concern.
But there’s also just a hint of encouragement there for other teams as, before the failure, Red Bull Racing wasn’t a million miles up the road – even during practice and qualifying.
As a team, it never looked like it would dominate at any point in the weekend, with Ferrari and McLaren both closer than they’d been in the opening two rounds of the year.
That’s good news for fans because we now head to Japan knowing that Red Bull Racing is fallible and doesn’t have a car advantage like it did in 2023.
Will that mean we see more winners, or that Verstappen won’t crush the field? That remains to be seen, but there’s enough to encourage us to watch on with optimism of a competitive on-track spectacle.
The most contentious issue of the weekend happened on the penultimate lap when George Russell crashed at Turn 6.
Russell was chasing the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso for sixth, the Mercedes driver just half a second back as they approached the long, DRS enabled stretch down Lakeside Drive.
Approaching the right-hander leading onto that section, Alonso lifted far earlier than he had previously, a deliberate defensive act designed to increase the gap to Russell ahead of the DRS zone.
It’s important to note Alonso didn’t ‘brake test’ his rival as, while he did lightly touch the brakes, the Aston Martin slowed due to its aerodynamics.
But, he did change down a gear and had to accelerate again before the corner.
So, it wasn’t a traditional brake test, but Russell had little time to understand what was happening and react appropriately.
He ended up off the road as a result, the terrified 26-year-old screaming for a red flag over the radio as he sat distressingly vulnerable in the middle of the track.
A 20-second penalty was handed to Alonso post-race, with some arguing it was not severe enough and others that Russell’s crash was down to his own reactions.
Either way, with Lewis Hamilton out of the race with a power unit issue, Mercedes left Melbourne with its first double retirement (yes, technically, Russell was classified 17th) since Austria 2018, and the first time it hasn’t scored a point at an event since Azerbaijan in 2021.
For Aussie fans, there was some consternation surrounding Oscar Piastri moving aside for Lando Norris midway through the race.
McLaren finished third and fourth, capitalising on Verstappen’s retirement and the fact Sergio Perez started out of position and was unable to recover.
It was a weekend beyond the team’s loftiest expectations. I predicted a battle with Mercedes for fifth on track, meaning third and fourth was a massive result that could well prove important later in the season.
But what of Piastri being moved aside?
It was a pragmatic and reasonable request from the team given its drivers were, at that stage, on different strategies.
Piastri had stopped five laps earlier than Norris and, through that cycle, had gained track position. But with fresher rubber, Norris had around a half-a-second per lap pace advantage.
With Ferrari seemingly in reach ahead, it was logical to release Norris in pursuit of Charles Leclerc – losing time battling with Piastri would have only hurt the team’s broader chances.
Ultimately, F1 is a team sport and McLaren is battling for a position in the constructors’ championship.
Neither of its drivers will contend for the drivers’ championship, and so their individual aspirations can be politely put to one side. Norris knows this. So does Piastri.
The focus is on the team’s best interests and, in Australia, the race played out such that Norris was its best chance. Had the roles been reversed, the call would have been made.
Further down the field, it was a difficult weekend for Daniel Ricciardo.
The Australian is the subject of intense but misguided speculation that he’ll be sidelined as soon as the Miami Grand Prix.
As we’ve reported, that’s simply not the case. I spent time on Sunday delving into the matter and spoke to several sources up and down pit lane.
While qualifying didn’t go to plan it’s only Round 3. It’s too early for those sorts of conversations to be had. That’s not to say a change couldn’t come later in the year (as it could for pretty well any driver, so that’s not in itself unusual), but we’re not yet at that point.
Furthermore, he performed well enough on Sunday in Melbourne. Though he was out of the points, his pace was on par with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
He climbed from 18th on the grid to 12th at the flag with a strategy that a surprising number of rivals adopted – an aggressively early stop with two much longer runs on the hard compound tyre.
As a result, the team’s early play for track position was countered, neutralising any strategic advantage Ricciardo might have had.
Still, he moved forward and probably got out of the race all there was to be had given his grid spot.
Will that be enough to see him maintain the drive for the season? It’s a big question, and my gut feeling is no, but it was at least a step forward in race trim.
What we need to see now is single lap speed, a task that will be made slightly more difficult in Japan, given he’ll sit out Free Practice 1 for Ayumu Iwasa.
Otherwise, special mention should be made of Haas which landed a double-points finish, banking three points that could well prove enormously valuable at the end of the year.
Formula 1 next heads to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix, one of the world’s great circuits and one McLaren is expected to show well at.
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