Australian Grand Prix team by team

Team by team review of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park, round three of the 24-race season (listed in their current championship order):

RED BULL (Sergio Perez 5, Max Verstappen retired)

Verstappen started on pole but lasted three laps before a stuck right rear brake forced his first mechanical retirement for two years (Australia 2022), ending his bid for a 10th win in a row and run of 43 successive finishes. The triple champion retained the overall lead but saw it slashed to four points over Ferrari's Leclerc. Perez started sixth after a three place grid penalty for impeding and lost downforce due to damage after passing Alonso. The defeat ended Red Bull's bid for a hat-trick of one-two finishes and was the team's first since Singapore last September.

FERRARI (Carlos Sainz 1, Charles Leclerc 2)

Sainz took his third career win and only two weeks after surgery to remove his appendix forced him to miss the Saudi Arabian GP. He is the first driver to win the race after a medical absence since Gerhard Berger in 1997. It was also his first win not from pole and he remains the only driver to beat Red Bull since 2022. He started on the front row and took the lead on lap two, pitted on laps 16 and 41 and was voted Driver of the Day. Leclerc started fourth, got ahead of Norris with a lap nine pitstop to undercut the McLaren driver and set the fastest lap of the race.

MCLAREN (Lando Norris 3, Oscar Piastri 4)

Norris felt he could have finished second. The podium was his 14th, a record by a driver without a win, and McLaren's first of the season. He pitted on laps 14 and 40. Piastri pitted on laps nine and 39, getting ahead of Norris briefly but obeying team orders to hand back position on lap 29 so his team