Carlos Sainz capped off his return from an appendectomy with his third F1 victory at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard headed home a Ferrari one-two finish from Charles Leclerc after Max Verstappen was forced into an early retirement owing to a rear-right brake issue on his Red Bull.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished in formation behind in a strong showing for McLaren as the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez struggled to overcome tyre graining in fifth.
Fernando Alonso was greatly helped by a VSC period, deployed to recover Lewis Hamilton's stricken Mercedes, to complete a free pit stop and jump to sixth. However, following a post-race investigation, the Aston Martin driver was demoted two places after being found guilty of 'potentially dangerous driving' as part of the incident that saw George Russell crash out of the race.
The second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll was moved up to sixth ahead of RB's Yuki Tsunoda, with Alonso falling to eighth.
Haas' Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen capitalised on issues for the bigger teams to secure the last of the points-paying positions.
Result Race - Australian
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