The 2024 Australian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2024) was a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

motor race held on 24 March 2024 at the

Albert Park Circuit The Albert Park Circuit is a motorsport street circuit around Albert Park and Lake, Albert Park Lake in the suburb of Albert Park, Victoria, Albert Park in Melbourne. It is used annually as a circuit for the Formula One Australian Grand Prix, t ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. It was the third round of the

2024 Formula One World Championship The 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula One cars and was the 75th running of the Formula One World Championship. It was recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the gov ...

. After qualifying second,

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

's Carlos Sainz Jr. won the race, two weeks after undergoing an

appendectomy An appendectomy (American English) or appendicectomy (British English) is a Surgery, surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix (a portion of the intestine) is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedur ...

that caused him to miss the preceding

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix () is an annual Formula One motor racing event which took place for the first time in 2021. The inaugural edition of the race was held in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, where it is schedule ...

. Pole-sitter

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Verstappen has won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he w ...

retired on lap four, breaking his streak of nine consecutive wins. Sainz's teammate,

Charles Leclerc Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver who competes in Formula One for Ferrari. Leclerc was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Ferrari, and has won Grands ...

, followed in second for Ferrari's first 1–2 finish since the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Lando Norris Lando Norris (; born 13 November 1999) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for McLaren. Norris was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and has won Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix ...

finished third, surpassing

Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld (; born 10 May 1977) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Heidfeld began competitive kart racing aged 11. He progressed to Formu ...

's record for the most podiums without a win in Formula One at fourteen; Norris would hold this record until he won his first race three Grands Prix later, at the

Miami Grand Prix The Miami Grand Prix is a Formula One Grand Prix which was held for the first time during the season, with the event taking place at the Miami International Autodrome which is located around the grounds and private facilities of Hard Rock Stadi ...

, thereby handing the record back to Heidfeld. The event sold out for the first time in its history and set a new attendance record at the circuit for the weekend.

Background

The event was held at

for the 27th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 22–24 March. The Grand Prix was the third round of the

and the 87th running of the

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual Formula One motor racing event, taking place in Melbourne, Victoria. The event is contracted to be held at least until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Gran ...

Championship standings before the race

Ahead of the weekend race,

led the Drivers' Championship with 51 points, 15 points from his teammate

Sergio Pérez Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza (; born 26 January 1990) is a Mexican racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Pérez was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Red Bull, and won Gr ...

in second, and 23 from

in third.

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing and also known simply as Red Bull or RBR, is a Formula One racing team, List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, competing under an Austrian racing licence and based in ...

led the Constructors' Championship on 87 points, separated from

by 38 points and

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

by 59, in second and third, respectively.

Entrants

The drivers and teams were initially the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. However, as Williams was unable to repair damage to

Alexander Albon Alexander Albon Ansusinha (; born 23 March 1996) is a Thai and British racing driver who competes under the Thai flag in Formula One for Williams. Born in Westminster and raised in Suffolk, Albon is the son of English racing driver Nigel A ...

's chassis following a crash during the first free practice session, he was swapped into

Logan Sargeant Logan Hunter Sargeant (born December 31, 2000) is an American racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Sargeant is the nephew of billionaire business magnate Harry Sargean ...

's car, with Sargeant missing the remainder of the Grand Prix weekend.

Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Joseph Ricciardo ( , ; born 1 July 1989) is an Australian racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Ricciardo won eight Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Born and raised in Perth to Italian-Australi ...

of RB and

Oscar Piastri Oscar Jack Piastri ( ; born 6 April 2001) is an Australian racing driver who competes in Formula One for McLaren. Piastri has won Formula One Grands Prix across three seasons. Born and raised in Melbourne, Piastri began his career in radio-co ...

were the first pair of Australian drivers competing at their home Grand Prix since Ricciardo and Mark Webber in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier

Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is an Italian multinational tyre manufacturer based in the city of Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Borsa Italiana since 1922, is the 5th-largest tyre manufacturer, and is focused on the consumer pro ...

brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (the softest three in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event. The tyre compounds selected were one set softer than the previous edition of the race.

Safety changes

After the Australian Grand Prix Corporation was held responsible for safety breaches in the 2023 edition of the race, spectators were banned from going on the track at any stage of the event, overruling a previous tradition that allowed patrons access after a race. Fines of more than $AUD17,000, eviction from the event, and bans in future races could be imposed if fans enter the track.

Practice

Three

free practice Formula One race weekend refers to an auto racing event which takes place over three days (usually Friday to Sunday), with a series of practice and qualifying sessions prior to the race on Sunday. Current regulations provide for two free practi ...

sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 22 March 2024, at 12:30 local time (

UTC+11 UTC+11:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +11:00. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Magadan, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Palikir, Tofol, Buka, Arawa, Honiara, Port Vila, Nouméa North Asia *Ru ...

), and was topped by

ahead of

and George Russell of Mercedes. The session was red-flagged after

of Williams crashed at turn 6. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 16:00 local time, and was topped by

ahead of Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. Albon's crash in the first free practice session forced him to miss the second, as Williams had no spare chassis available. Albon's damaged chassis was ultimately deemed unrepairable, and he swapped to his teammate

's car. As a result, Sargeant sat out for the remainder of the weekend. The third free practice session was held on 23 March 2024, at 12:30 local time, and was again topped by Leclerc, ahead of Verstappen and Sainz.

Qualifying

Qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

was held on 23 March 2024, at 16:00 local time (

Qualifying report

The first session (Q1) saw Carlos Sainz Jr. of

setting the fastest time ahead of

and

of RB, who had originally been in tenth, had his lap time deleted due to track limits, resulting in him being eighteenth. He joined

Nico Hülkenberg Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German racing driver who competes in Formula One for Sauber. In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Hülkenberg won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2015 with Por ...

of Haas,

Pierre Gasly Pierre Jean-Jacques Gasly (; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Alpine. Gasly won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix with AlphaTauri. Born and raised in Normandy, Gasly began competitive kart racing age ...

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

, and

Zhou Guanyu Zhou Guanyu (, pronounced ; born 30 May 1999) is a Chinese racing driver, who serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Zhou competed in Formula One from to , and remains the only Chinese driver to compete in For ...

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG, currently competing in Formula One as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, and also known simply as Kick Sauber or Sauber, is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who pro ...

in elimination. The second session (Q2) was topped again by Sainz ahead of his teammate

and Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

of Mercedes was eliminated in Q2, and was joined by

of Williams,

Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Viktor Bottas (; born 28 August 1989) is a Finnish racing driver, who serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Mercedes. Bottas competed in Formula One from to , and twice finished runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship in ...

of Sauber,

Kevin Magnussen Kevin Jan Magnussen (; born 5 October 1992) is a Danish racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for W Racing Team, WRT and the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, RLL as a factory driver f ...

of Haas, and Gasly's teammate

Esteban Ocon Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane (; born 17 September 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Haas F1 Team, Haas. Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Alpine F1 Team, Alpine. Born and raised in Normandy to ...

, who had managed to get the Alpine to Q2 for the first time in the season. Verstappen set the fastest time in the third session to earn

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

, followed by Sainz, to join him in the front row of the

grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Space partitioning * Regular grid, a tessellation of space with translational symmetry, typically formed from parallelograms or higher-dimensional analogs ** Grid graph, a graph structure with nodes connec ...

. Verstappen's teammate

qualified third, ahead

who took fourth. After an investigation by the stewards, Pérez was handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Hülkenberg in Q1, moving Norris to third, Sainz's teammate

to fourth, and Norris' teammate

to fifth, leaving Pérez to start the race in sixth. Gasly was also investigated for crossing the pit lane exit line in Q1 and was issued a reprimand.

Qualifying classification

Notes * –

received a three-place grid penalty for impeding

in Q1. * –

qualified 19th, but was required to start the race from the pit lane for a spare front-wing change which did not match the original specifications.

Race

The race was held on 24 March 2024, at 15:00 local time (

), and was run for 58 laps.

Race report

Polesitter

led the opening lap before being overtaken by Carlos Sainz Jr. of

on lap two, after Verstappen reported brake issues. Verstappen soon retired from the race due to a brake failure, returning to the pit lane on the fourth lap. Sainz led for the majority of the race and won his first Grand Prix since the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, with teammate

taking second after completing an undercut on

in the early stages of the race. Norris' teammate

took fourth, followed by the Red Bull Racing of

in fifth. During the closing stages of the race, George Russell of Mercedes fought for sixth place against

Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin in Formula One, Aston Martin. Alonso has won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in and with ...

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

. He crashed at turn 6 on the last lap, allowing Alonso and his Aston Martin teammate

Lance Stroll Lance Strulovitch (; born 29 October 1998), commonly known as Lance Stroll (), is a Canadian racing driver who competes in Formula One for Aston Martin. Born and raised in Montreal, Stroll is the son of billionaire businessman Lawrence Stroll ...

to finish in sixth and seventh, respectively. Russell joined his teammate

, who retired mid-race due to power unit issues.

Yuki Tsunoda is a Japanese racing driver who competes in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Born in Sagamihara and raised in Tokyo, Tsunoda began competitive kart racing aged nine. Supported by Honda since 2016 through the , Tsunoda graduated to junior formu ...

earned points for RB, finishing eighth on track, for the first time in the season.

and

of Haas scored double points after finishing in ninth and tenth, respectively. Following similar issues during the last two Grands Prix, both

drivers experienced pit stop problems, including wheel nut issues for Bottas, during the race. Ferrari completed the race with their first one-two finish since the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix. Norris surpassed

for the most podiums by a driver without a win with his fourteenth podium finish. Red Bull Racing's Verstappen missed his tenth consecutive win, having retired for the first time since the 2022 edition of the race. Sainz's victory was the third of his Formula One career and first in Australia, and brought him to fourth in the Drivers' Championship behind Verstappen, Leclerc, and Pérez.

Post-race

After the race, Fernando Alonso, who finished sixth on track, was given a drive-through penalty, which was converted to a twenty-second time penalty, for "potentially dangerous driving" prior to Russell's last lap crash. He was dropped to eighth place, with Yuki Tsunoda being promoted to seventh and Lance Stroll sixth. The event sold out for the first time in its history, and set a new attendance record at the circuit for the weekend with 452,055 spectators, making it the most attended sporting event ever in

, and the third highest attended Formula One Grand Prix of all time, following the 1995 edition of the race, held in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, with 520,000, and the

2023 British Grand Prix The 2023 British Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Aramco British Grand Prix 2023) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 9 July 2023 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. It was the tenth round of the 202 ...

, with 480,000.

Race classification

Notes * – Includes one point for fastest lap. * –

finished sixth on track, but received a post-race drive-through penalty converted into a twenty-second time penalty for "potentially dangerous driving". * –

received a five-second time penalty for crossing the line at the pit exit. His final position was not affected by the penalty. * – George Russell was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Constructors' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

External links

{{F1GP 2020–29

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Australian Grand Prix 2024 Australian Grand Prix 2024