Lando Norris was taunted by former teammate Carlos Sainz after the Ferrari star romped to victory at the Australian Grand Prix. Despite the Spaniard being forced to miss the previous race in Saudi Arabia after undergoing emergency surgery to have his appendix removed, he capitalised on Max Verstappen’s early retirement to take a third F1 win.
The Ferrari driver took the chequered flag ahead of partner Charles Leclerc, with Norris claiming the third podium place. And afterwards the two friends, who drove together at McLaren before Sainz left for the Scuderia in 2021, shared jokes about the result.
Joking to Sky Sports about how the British driver could get his maiden Grand Prix win, Sainz said: “It is what I told Lando, I said maybe you should get your appendix removed this winter, you should do it because there may be a tenth in it. We were talking about it on the podium.”
The 24-year-old seemed to take the mockery well though, implying he would now follow suit. “Yeah clearly you do it and you win the next race, so maybe next time you’ll see me running like Carlos,” he responded.
Norris also posted a picture of himself and Sainz, 29, on social media, with the latter showing off the scars from his procedure. “Gonna go get my appendix removed,” Norris wrote. “Apparently you do it and you win a race soooooo…. congrats Carlitos #weightloss.”
Despite starting second on the grid, few envisaged a Sainz victory, given that Red Bull driver Verstappen was on pole and odds-on to notch a third straight win. But his attempt to equal his own record 10-race winning streak in Melbourne lasted just three laps before the brakes on his car caught fire and forced him out.
By that point, Sainz had already taken the lead and duly held his nerve. Having ended Verstappen’s last winning streak in Singapore in 2023, he became the only driver other than the Dutchman to have won any of the last 21 F1 Grand Prix races.
And the timing of victory is ironic, given Sainz is currently without a drive for 2025. At the end of this season he will be replaced at Ferrari by Lewis Hamilton, who also retired to continue his torrid start to his final season with Mercedes.
Norris meanwhile, has now notched three consecutive finishes in the points. Sainz is now fourth in the standings on 40 points, 11 behind leader Verstappen, with Norris sixth on 27.
