Toro Rosso’s Australian Grand Prix got off to an exciting start, as Carlos Sainz Jr. fended off Kimi Raikkonen during a three wide start through the first turn. With only thirteen cars on the starting grid, getting points during the opener appeared to be a little easier, but when you’re not a top tier team, nothing is guaranteed in Formula One.
2015 Australian Grand Prix Toro Rosso Review
On lap 26, Sainz Jr. came into the pits and something went wrong on his pit stop. The stop alone was about 26 seconds and he rejoined the race in last place (thirteenth). Just a few laps later, he was getting back to where he started passing Jenson Button for twelfth on the grid.
Meanwhile, the 17-year-old rookie, Max Verstappen was running around eighth place and securely in the top ten. On lap 34, his debut was halted by a power unit failure as his car limped through the grass. This made the second engine failure from Red Bull during the race as Daniil Kvyat stalled before he got to the grid. Make that three if Sainz’s bad pit stop was due to an engine. Verstappen walked back to the infield to cheers from those in the stands.
Sainz Jr. still had some fight in him thoug as he passed Sergio Perez of Force India) for tenth place and then capitalized on a Ferrari engine failure to advance him to ninth. He also got past Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson for eighth and tried holding him off, but ultimately was not fast enough and didn’t want to risk a wreck. Sainz Jr. finished ninth, walking away with two points while his team-mate Max Verstappen ended in thirteenth.
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