The 2024 Australian Grand Prix is the 3rd race of the 2024 season, and Carlos Sainz had already missed out on the 2nd race after having an emergency Appendectomy surgery. Although his nickname before surgery was already Smooth Operator, the fans, I included, did not expect him to get in the car for Australia after such an operation, but Carlos climbed into the cockpit after only 2 weeks of recovery!
To put this into perspective you must know that F1 is extremely demanding on the driver’s bodies. They lose up to 4-9 pounds each race due to the heat in the cockpit and they pull G-forces 5 times their body weight at each corner. During the race weekend, Carlos explained that he could feel his organs move inside when he was pulling light G forces in the corners during practice.
Although Carlos eased himself into Free Practice 1 and finished with the 8th fastest time, for Free Practice 2 and 3, he found speed and topped 2nd in the time boards. It was then time for Qualifying on Saturday and to everyone’s surprise Carlos finished 2nd overall which means he starts the race on the front row! The front row has the best chance to fight or keep the lead, so naturally fans were buzzing with excitement for Carlos.
Sunday was finally here, the race lights went out, and the race began. I watched nervously hoping that Carlos could pull an overtake on turn 1 and lead the race. When suddenly during lap 2 Carlos takes the lead away from Max Verstappen! In an even bigger shock Max Verstappen, who had a 9-win streak carrying on from last year, retires the race due to his brakes catching fire. It sent shocks through the fans, as it meant that we were finally gonna have a new race winner, and it was Carlos who was now leading!
Carlos goes on to have an exceptional drive and manages his race all the way to the finish line. Behind him in second is his teammate Charles Leclerc and in third its his old teammate and friend Lando Norris. During the podium celebration I cheered while I watched on my TV. I could not believe that my favorite driver had won his 3rd race in his career after coming off of surgery! The podium of the three drivers was one of my favorites and as the Spanish Anthem played for Carlos’ win, I was proud to say that the Smooth Operator cleared Australia.
After such a race win, Carlos went on to give an interview with F1TV and explained what the lead-up to the weekend was, including post-appendectomy.
“to give you an idea, the seven days after the appendectomy, you called it. I didn’t move from bed. I was seven straight days in bed and I couldn’t brace. I couldn’t use my core. Every time I sneezed or every time I coughed, I was crying on pain because they open your abdominal muscles and every time you contract them, it really, really hurts. So for seven days, apart from going to a hyperbaric chamber and receiving some massage, I wasn’t moving from my bed. From day eight, I had to catch a flight to Australia, but I still hadn’t moved from bed. So I was catching a flight to Australia. I remember leaving home still on pain and telling my mom: «well, here I go. I’m going all the way to Australia without even knowing if I’m going to be racing.» And then I tell her something like, «imagine if I win, if I go and then I end up winning». And we had a laugh about it, like, «well, let’s try and race first and then see if you can actually win». And my mom was reminding me that after the win that I left home saying, imagine if I actually win. And since then, I actually realized how life can change so quickly. You go from not even knowing if you’re going to race in Australia, catching a flight, 24 hour flight to suddenly six days later winning in Australia. And I remember, that was one of the most powerful feeling moments in my life.”
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