Carlos Sainz puts appendix surgery behind him to WIN the Australian Grand Prix in a race dominated by retirements for Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell

Lewis Hamilton suffered an engine failure to end his Australian Grand Prix – in a race won by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz after Max Verstappen’s hopes of a tenth consecutive victory went up in smoke.

George Russell caused late drama when he lost it on the last lap, with his car crashing into the barrier and spinning while his Mercedes ended up on its side.

“I’m doing well,” said the Brit.

No one could have predicted Verstappen’s misfortune regarding the brake failure that struck at the start of the 58-lap event.

He started on pole but was passed by Sainz, who used his DRS power to take control in the afternoon, 16 days after undergoing an appendectomy. What a star.

Ring the church bells! Because Verstappen reported that he had lost his car. Then smoke billowed from the back of his usually impregnable machine. He retired at the end of the fourth lap, flames coming from his stricken machine as he pulled into his pit box. He obviously left dissatisfied. But he can afford to dismiss his problem as a likely glitch, even though the cheers from the record crowd of 132,105 people can hardly have warmed him. They were happy to see the interruption of a period of domination unlike any other in the history of the sport.

He was furious when he was held in the car while his mechanics attempted a pit stop despite being in the middle of a fire. He protested about this to performance director Tom Hart in the garage, apparently saying: ‘F***ing stupid.’

Verstappen visited the pit wall to give his opinion. All disappointingly cordial from a team that has mastered warfare in recent months.

He put on his national and said: ‘The brake stuck from the moment the lights went out. Temperatures continued to rise to the point where it caught fire.

‘Having one brake caliper is like driving with the handbrake on. I didn’t know it at the time, but I felt that the balance in the car was disturbed.’

Of the setback, he said, “It excites me in a way. I would like to win and we have had a lot of good races in a row and reliability. I knew the day would come when we would stop and unfortunately that day was today.”

He said of the cheering crowd: “I’m wearing a helmet, so I don’t hear that.”

Of the ten wins in a row he almost achieved, the Dutchman added: ‘I’m not interested in records. I just want to win. Whether it’s 11 in a row or not, it doesn’t matter. The championship is the most important thing.

However, Hamilton is struggling with the worst star of his eighteen-season career: seventh, ninth and DNF. Even in 2009, a bad year, he went: disqualified, seventh and sixth – slightly better.

His Mercedes lacks pace and is now unreliable. Russell finished seventh, not exactly great and there was nothing like a race with the Ferraris to get a one-two with Charles Leclerc second and Lando Norris third for McLaren.

Hamilton is out of the woods, his car still a nightmare after three seasons of non-development. Every change they have tried to bring about has been completely fruitless.

The investigation began before the race ended.