Jeremy Clarkson questions Formula One fairy-tale win by Carlos Sainz

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz celebrates after winning the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix. Photo / AP

It’s one of the comeback sporting stories of the year but TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has questioned the achievement of Formula One star Carlos Sainz winning the Australian Grand Prix two weeks after having his appendix removed.

The Ferrari driver claimed victory in Melbourne last month after Red Bull superstar Max Verstappen’s bid to equal his own Formula 1 record went up in smoke.

Two weeks after he was sidelined from the Saudi Arabian race due to appendicitis, Sainz claimed the third win of his F1 career, and first at Albert Park.

The Spaniard took the chequered flag ahead of Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, with McLaren’s Lando Norris finishing third.

In a column in the Sun, former Top Gear host Clarkson said Sainz’ victory proved that Formula One cars are too easy to drive.

“Naturally, many people saw this as a heroic display of stiff-upper-lip determination and spunk,” Clarkson wrote.

“I wonder, though. We keep being told that these F1 cars are road-going fighter jets. That they are a volcanic orgy of noise and G-forces. And that you need to be superhuman to control one.

“Really? I only ask because Carlos, pictured in hospital, was plainly in some discomfort before the race but he seemed to manage for nearly two hours in the car.

“Which leads me to believe that walking up to a Formula 1 car is actually harder these days than driving it.”

Following his victory in Melbourne, Sainz told reporters the process he went through to get back in the car so quickly after surgery.

“As soon as I got my appendix removed, I went on the internet and started talking with professionals and said, ‘OK, what helps to speed up recovery?’,” the Ferrari driver said.

“I started doing all the sort of things that you can do to speed up recovery, the wounds, the scar tissue, what you can help to be faster on that, talking to other athletes, talking to other doctors in Spain, internationally.

“And then I put together a plan with my team. The reason why athletes recover faster is because you can dedicate 24 hours per day for seven days to recovery. And that’s exactly what I did.”

Sainz said it wasn’t until he landed in Australia that it felt racing in Melbourne was possible.

“Nine days ago, when I was about to catch the flight to come to Australia, I was still in bed. I could barely use my abdominal (muscles) to move. And I was like, this is not going to happen,” he said.

“But I took the flight, and suddenly when I landed in Australia, the feeling was a lot better.

“And every 24 hours, I was making a lot more progress than the first seven days, which is actually what all the doctors and professional people told me. Don’t worry, because the second week, every day is going to improve a lot more than the first week.”