#1060 2022 Australian Grand Prix

The 2022 Australian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Heineken Australian Grand Prix 2022) is a Formula One motor race held on Sunday, April 10, 2022, in Melbourne, Victoria. It is contested at the Albert Park Circuit and is the third round of the 2022 Formula One World Championship. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc scores his first career grand slam, having started in pole position, set the fastest lap, led every lap, and won the race ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Pérez and Mercedes's George Russell. It is the first grand slam for a Ferrari driver since Fernando Alonso's at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix. It is the 85th race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix, which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928, as well as the 25th time the event has been held at the Albert Park circuit and the 36th time the Australian Grand Prix has been a part of the Formula One World Championship. It is the first Australian Grand Prix since 2019, with the 2020 edition having been cancelled hours before the first practice session was due to begin amid the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2021 edition was first postponed and later cancelled due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. Valtteri Bottas is the defending race winner, having won the 2019 edition with Mercedes. The 2022 edition sets a new attendance record at the circuit for the weekend with 419,144 attending, making it the most attended sporting event ever in Melbourne until it is broken the following year. The circuit undergoes several significant revisions in the months before the Grand Prix, which are the first and most significant changes since the inaugural 1996 Australian Grand Prix, including the first track resurfacing since then. Drivers are consulted on the planned changes. Turns 9 and 10 are completely redesigned; where they formed a right-left chicane with a heavy braking zone on the approach, the redesign sees them become a much faster right-left combination. This is done to raise the approach speed for turns 11 and 12. Several other corners are reprofiled to encourage overtaking, most notably turn 13, which is widened to create additional racing lines. Positive camber is also added to allow drivers to carry more speed through the corner. 

The main straight and pit lane are also redesigned, with the pit lane wall moved two metres closer to the circuit so that the edge of the circuit sits directly next to the wall. The pit-lane change is made in response to then-Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo's opening-lap accident in 2019. Ricciardo runs wide at the start, crossing onto the grassy verge and hitting an unsighted culvert, which destroys his front wing and the undertray of the car, forcing him to retire. As a result of the changes, race organisers apply to the FIA to raise the pit lane speed limit from 60 km/h (37.28 mph) to 80 km/h (49.71 mph). Such a change is significant, as the Formula One pits sit next to the support paddock, and a pit stop would take less of a time penalty for drivers. These changes had originally been planned to be made after the race; however, the postponement allows event organisers to make the changes in advance of the race. Further changes, such as resurfacing the circuit with a tarmac compound designed to wear tyres out, are planned to take place after the 2021 edition, which was postponed from March to November, before being cancelled and done later for the 2022 event. In addition, a fourth DRS zone is added to the redesigned track, before being removed for safety reasons ahead of the third practice session, after Alpine's Fernando Alonso, in particular, who gains from its removal, complains about potential safety issues during the Saturday's drivers' briefing. Red Bull Racing is the sole team opposing the removal, having an efficient DRS system. The removal of the drag reduction system zone appears to benefit those teams, such as Alpine and McLaren, who have minimised the aerodynamic porpoising of their cars. Charles Leclerc is the Drivers' Championship leader after the previous weekend's second round, with twelve points separating him from his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. and 20 points from Max Verstappen. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari leads Mercedes by 40 points and Red Bull by a further one. The drivers and teams are the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race. Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, who is replaced by Nico Hülkenberg in the first two races due to coronavirus, makes his season debut. Hülkenberg will not return to drive until the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix. Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, which will boost the hopes of the Mercedes team, team principal Toto Wolff talks about his expectations for this appointment:

"We are in a learning race and the first two weekends have shown we still have plenty to learn. At the moment, our track performance is not meeting our own expectations, but everyone at Brackley and Brixworth is focused on understanding the problems and finding the right solutions".

So he adds:

"There won't be a magic fix for the next race weekend, but we're pushing to steadily bring gains over the up-coming races, to hopefully move us closer to the front of the pack. Until then, we need to maximise each opportunity and make the most of the package we have. So, there are various challenges ahead of us, but that's something we relish and is when a team really shows its true spirit. Lewis and George are making an important contribution to the overall effort, providing feedback, spending time in the simulator and working together to help push us forward. Now we head back to Melbourne for the first time since 2020 and will be racing in Australia for the first time in three years - that's too long for a city and country that are so passionate about F1. We're looking forward to seeing the fans and the new track layout which promises more overtaking opportunities and faster lap times".

The first two races of this World Championship have lifted the spirit at Ferrari, giving the Maranello team and all its fans an engaging and unstoppable enthusiasm. Enrico Gualtieri, Ferrari F1 engine manager claims:

"It was difficult to foresee such a good thing after two races, which were an important reward for all of us. There is satisfaction and desire to do. So many people have worked with passion for this project and to get these results right away has been fantastic, but we know that the road is still very long: we will have positive or difficult moments, we must remain united, without relaxing. I hope for a team that fights in all circumstances and with the right attitude, in every grand prix weekend. This year would be significant, to honour the history of the Scuderia on its 75th anniversary. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are both very attentive and sensitive, they have great analytical skills and are very good at picking up and feeding back to the engineers their feelings, particularly the way they deliver power, driveability and feedback on the individual changes we propose. That sensitivity is really valuable to us. We put thermodynamic efficiency at the heart of the project, i.e. the efficiency of converting energy from fuel to mechanical energy that reaches the crankshaft. The contribution of our innovation partner Shell was invaluable in the process, given the introduction of the new E10 fuel this year. We have pushed the introduction of innovations, pushed programmes to the limit and taken all the necessary risks to reach the targets we set ourselves. On this point I cannot answer. The improvement in reliability, the limits of which we are still understanding, is continuous. Work will also continue on the ERS, which will be homologated in September ahead of its regulatory freeze until 2025: "The increase in performance will be less than in 2021, when we changed the architecture of the system. Today we are working on optimising the package already in the car".

Statements, those of Gualtieri, followed by those of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc:

"Overall, I think the track characteristics here are not fitting very well with [our car]. Everything is to play for, and I still think we will be in the mix; it will still be very close, it is not like it is going to be a big gap so if we do the perfect weekend anything is possible. I think the old track would have suited us better, but it is the way it is now, and we will try to maximise everything this weekend as always and hopefully Imola will probably be a track that suits us a bit better. It's always quite tricky, but I always try to do the best job possible and obviously with the weakness that we have with the straightline speed against Red Bull, we need to try and play it smart. We've seen the past two races this strategy with the DRS, and I am pretty sure that we will see it even more here because basically all the straights have a DRS zone. So overtaking will be a thing and being clever can ma ke a big difference here".

Like Charles, Carlos Sainz Jr. also states:

"The challenge between us and Ferrari is a close one, to say the least, and I've had a bit of bad luck in these first few races, I'm confident that won't be the case in Melbourne. We have a very competitive package and I'm curious to measure myself against the Albert Park circuit again, two years after our last visit. I did some simulator work earlier this week on the track and I think the changes should be good for the show, they will make racing fun".

There are three practice sessions for the Grand Prix. The first two take place on Friday, April 8, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. local time. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. sets the fastest lap in the first session ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Sergio Pérez. Leclerc sets the fastest lap in the second session ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Sainz. The third practice session takes place at 1:00 p.m. local time on April 9, in which McLaren's Lando Norris sets the fastest lap ahead of Leclerc and Pérez. The session is red-flagged at one point, as both Aston Martin cars crash. Mercedes also for this weekend seems to be experiencing the same difficulties that have been making this World Championship the least favorable of the last 10 years since the first race. George Russell argues:

"We're not in a position where we want to be, there are quite a few midfield cars ahead of us and we're obviously a long way off the pace from the front. We need to work hard tonight and understand the limitations. The car actually felt alright, we're porpoising pretty bad into turn nine but I think that's something we just have to deal with for the time being. We believe how we set the car up was the fastest way around the track but maybe it's not, so we'll be working hard tonight to understand more. Driving is always cool, especially driving round a circuit like this - it's just more fun when you jump out of the car and see your name near the top of the timesheets".

Lewis Hamilton adds:

"FP2 was a difficult session, we tried a few changes but the car didn't seem to want to improve. FP1 was better but it's just a tricky car to get working. It's frustrating because you're pushing and pushing, and even when you pull off a good lap, you look at the times and we're over a second down. We've got lots of work to do to close the gap".

Red Bull Racing confirms itself as one of the two teams fighting for the 2022 World Championship, Max Verstappen, current world champion, claims:

"Today has been quite positive, the grip on track was good and the bumps have definitely improved, it's a bit smoother and it makes the track nicer as well because you can actually attack the corners a bit more, I enjoyed my laps today. I think in FP1 and at the beginning of FP2 we were lacking a bit of balance, then for the final run we changed the car around a little bit and I felt a lot happier. We are still a tiny bit off Ferrari, but I think this weekend we can maybe make it a little bit closer. In the long run I think everything worked well, so I am happy about that, and we've made some good improvements today. We are heading in a good direction and we'll try to build from there tomorrow".

Sergio Perez adds:

"It was a fairly challenging Friday for us. We made some changes going into FP2 that we must analyze because a few things aren't working as expected. The car felt better in some ways from FP1 into the second session and in other ways not, there is plenty to work on to try to understand the direction we have taken. It has been a very difficult day in terms of mileage, starting in FP1 and we lost some track time in FP2 but I think we have some good data to go over tonight. If we can find a few tenths then that would turn things in our favor this weekend, we just have to understand where we are at the moment with the car".

The Red Bull Racing team collides with a very good performing red Ferrari, Charles Leclerc argues:

"For me, today was a bit of a harder Friday. FP1 was a bit tricky, I improved in terms of driving in FP2, but there is still quite a bit of work to do. I don't think that anyone really put their lap together. Qualifying is tomorrow, when hopefully we'll have a good run. Let's push".

Similarly, Carlos Sainz Jr. confirms the good impressions experienced during the rehearsals:

"It has been an interesting Friday as we had to deal with a lot of new things compared to the last time that we raced here. The track is completely different from what it used to be: it's definitely faster and the new tarmac feels totally different in terms of grip as far as I can remember. We need to keep working on understanding how the tires behave but, in general, I think we have a good baseline to start preparing for tomorrow's qualifying".

Laurent Mekies Ferrari engineer and sports director, concludes:

"There are areas to improve in. The track is complicated and difficult, and if we take only the comments tonight it's not such an easy car, we will have to work. We found the performance faster than Red Bull, but they are very strong, and if we look at Max at the end of FP2 he was there. Red Bull is strong both in the long run and on the dry lap, we have to make a step in the car so that we can give the drivers a chance to improve again. What will make the difference? A thousand details, it won't be individual things, that's the beauty of this sport".

On Saturday, April 9, 2022, at the start of Q1, the Ferrari drivers are the first to head out onto the track, while the Aston Martin mechanics have to work hard to allow both drivers to take part in qualifying after the morning incidents. Leclerc finishes his first lap in 1'19"391, a time later beaten by his teammate Sainz Jr. Behind the Ferrari duo, Lando Norris is in third, just before Sergio Pérez, who climbs to second, two-tenths behind Sainz Jr.'s time. The other Red Bull Racing driver, Max Verstappen, is fourth. Leclerc then regains the top spot with a time of 1'18"881. Daniel Ricciardo places just behind Norris, while Valtteri Bottas, after a spin, drops to fifth, ahead of Fernando Alonso. Shortly after, Norris climbs back to fourth. Verstappen moves up to second, just 44 thousandths behind Leclerc. Alonso confirms his competitiveness by rising to fourth. The Mercedes drivers also make it into the rankings, with the tenth and eleventh best times, but their performances are not enough to advance to the next phase. Verstappen improves further, taking the lead. Pérez moves up again behind him. Hamilton climbs to eighth, while, with five minutes left in the session, Stroll manages to get onto the track, unlike Sebastian Vettel, whose car isn’t repaired in time. Russell is ninth, ahead of Ocon. The session is interrupted with a red flag with just a few minutes remaining. Due to a misunderstanding, Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll collide, with the Williams driver crashing into the wall. The time required to clear the track allows Aston Martin's mechanics to repair Vettel's car, so he can attempt to qualify for Q2. A long line of cars returns to the track, hoping to start their laps before the session ends. The two Mercedes drivers enter the track too late, missing the opportunity to set a new valid time. Alexander Albon, Kevin Magnussen, and Vettel, along with the two Canadians, Latifi and Stroll, do not make it through to the next session. Albon is forced to abandon his Williams on the track, prompting an intervention from the marshals and a delay in the start of the second qualifying phase. In Q2, Verstappen sets the fastest time of 1'18"611, while the session is immediately marked by a spin from George Russell. Pérez is three-tenths slower than the world champion but faster than Leclerc, who is in third. Just two-tenths behind Leclerc is Sainz Jr., followed by Gasly and Ocon. The Mexican is under investigation for not respecting the yellow flags displayed following Russell's spin. Between the two Red Bulls, Alonso slots in, while between the two Ferraris are the two McLarens. Hamilton achieves the eighth-best time. Shortly after, Pérez sets a time of 1'18"340, while Russell moves into the top ten.

However, neither Alfa Romeo makes it, with Bottas ahead of Zhou. Leclerc moves up to second, while Sainz Jr. climbs to fourth. Ocon improves to eighth, pushing Hamilton down to tenth. The Briton, however, improves his time and makes it into the top ten, qualifying for the pole position shootout. Pierre Gasly, Bottas, who ends a streak of 103 consecutive Q3 appearances (a new record in the category), Tsunoda, Zhou, and Mick Schumacher are eliminated. In the final part of the session, drivers begin complaining about the sun setting, making it harder to see the track. In the final phase, Verstappen is the first to complete his lap (1'18"399), but his time is beaten by Pérez by just a thousandth. The home driver, Daniel Ricciardo, is third, ahead of Ocon, while Leclerc and Hamilton abort their first flying lap. With his second lap, Leclerc moves to the top, with a time of 1'18"239. Alonso, after setting the fastest overall time in the second sector, crashes at Turn 11 due to a hydraulic issue. The race direction waves the red flag, halting the session, which deprives Sainz Jr. of a good lap time as the Spaniard crosses the finish line just moments after the session is stopped. The session is restarted with less than seven minutes remaining. Besides Sainz Jr., the two Mercedes drivers still have not set a time. Pérez comes close to beating Leclerc's time, being slower by just a thousandth. Russell is fourth, Hamilton sixth, 42 thousandths behind his British teammate. Verstappen snatches the provisional pole (1'18"154), just before Leclerc responds with a 1'17"868. 

The second row is made up of Pérez and Norris, followed by the two Mercedes drivers. For Leclerc, it’s his eleventh pole position in his career. Ferrari hadn’t secured pole at the Australian Grand Prix since 2007 with Kimi Räikkönen, who would later win the World Championship. Leclerc is the first driver other than Lewis Hamilton to secure pole at the Melbourne circuit in the turbo-hybrid era that started in 2014. The Monegasque also ends a streak of six consecutive front-row starts in Australia by Hamilton between 2014 and 2019, the last edition before the COVID-19 pandemic. Max Verstappen's second-place qualification is Red Bull’s first front-row start at the Australian Grand Prix since 2014, when Daniel Ricciardo qualified second. Lando Norris's fourth-place finish is McLaren's best result in Australia since 2014 when Kevin Magnussen made his debut with the same position. For Lewis Hamilton, fifth place marks the first time since the 2010 Australian Grand Prix that he hasn't qualified in the top three, having qualified tenth with McLaren-Mercedes. At his home Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo's seventh place is his best qualifying result since 2015, when he was sixth with Red Bull. Carlos Sainz Jr.’s ninth-place finish marks the first time since 2015 that a Ferrari is outside the top five in Australia. Valtteri Bottas ends a streak of 103 Grand Prix by qualifying for Q3, a new record. Sebastian Vettel fails to qualify for Q3 for the first time at the Australian Grand Prix. The poleman Charles Leclerc is satisfied for his second pole position of this season.

"This circuit is really tricky and I've always struggled here in the past. It may not have seemed like it this weekend because we’ve been quite fast, but I’ve done a lot of work to optimise my performance. The team did a great job. We stayed calm at all times, despite red flags, yellow flags and traffic. The biggest limitation for me was the sun. It was low and at an inconvenient angle and it was almost impossible to see where I was in Q2 and most of Q3. I took a lot of risks and I’m glad that I managed to put together such a good lap in the end. It doesn’t look too bad in terms of race pace. It’s very close with our competitors so it will be a difficult but exciting race tomorrow".

Carlos Sainz Jr. was unluckly this time. Although the team had a good pace today, he says that his Q3 went wrong:

"We got the red flag right before the finish line of the first flying lap and on my second one, I was about to go out but there was a delay in firing up my car. We finally got going but I didn’t have time to do the preparation lap, which meant the tyres were far from ready for the push lap, sliding everywhere. Tomorrow I’ll obviously try to recover as much as possible, but without the fourth DRS zone the circuit hasn’t changed that much from the old one and it will be tricky to overtake. Anyway, tomorrow is another day and we’ll try to come back".

Laurent Mekies, the Racing Director says it was a busy weekedn for Maranello’s team because they had to do a lot of changes after Saudi Arabia.

"It's been a busy weekend so far and we have been ahead of our rivals in some sessions and behind them in others. We knew there would be a lot of work to do in qualifying and that tyre management would be tough on this track which, thanks to the modifications to the layout, is effectively a new track, throwing up very different challenges to those in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The F1-75 has shown itself to be competitive here too and that’s down to all the hard work back in Maranello. Today in qualifying, we had to look at the smallest detail to find ways to continuously improve. In the end, Charles put together an amazing lap to take a great pole - not the first time we’ve seen him do that. It was a shame for Carlos, who is also very quick this weekend. First of all, he missed out on setting a time by just a few seconds because of the red flags and then on his final run, his performance was compromised when it unexpectedly took longer than usual to fire up the engine, which meant he left the garage a little bit late. There was no time for a preparation lap and inevitably, this had a not inconsiderable impact on his lap time. Tomorrow, every single lap of the Grand Prix will be very closely contested, so we still have a lot of work to do tonight to ensure we get the very best result we can".

Max Verstappen is overall satisfied with his second place. He says that his car has a lot of hidden potetianl that it has not shown yet, although there is a gap between Charles and him:

"I didn’t really feel 100% in the car today, so we tried to change a few things in the set up, but it didn’t quite make the improvements we hoped for and we’ll do the best we can tomorrow. I think we have a good race car and in race conditions everything stabilises a bit, so it is more consistent. Let’s hope we can have a good race tomorrow".

For his teammate, Sergio Perez, Q2 went especially good. However, the team was not able to exploit all the occasions they had during the qualifying:

"I think qualifying was going well, Q2 especially and then there were red flags on a couple of occasions which meant we didn’t get to experiment with the tyres, it is always hard with strategy when you get red flags. We went for three laps and carried that fuel just to find out at the end that the double push didn’t work any better than just setting one lap. It wasn’t the right thing to do and that costs us a couple of tenths, but Charles put in a tremendous lap, he put everything together and I didn’t. Hopefully tomorrow in the race we can be a lot closer, make it hard for them, have a strong race and enjoy it. I like this car, we are all learning every time we drive these new cars and tomorrow in the race I want to make a big step".

Says Christian Horner:

"That was a great performance by both our drivers. At certain points they both looked like they may be able to steal pole, but Charles put in a great lap and it was just out of reach for us, but we’ll come back and try to beat them tomorrow. Max’s lock up cost him about three-tenths and Checo had a small d-rate on his first lap and carried an extra tenth of fuel as well, because he wanted to do three laps, but we are still on the front row and P3, so we’ll take that. I still think under higher fuel we will be in better shape, and with these DRS zones it could be a really interesting race".

For Lewis Hamilton, today was a good day, compared to the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix and to yesterday’s the FP3.

"I’m really grateful for the work at the factory in turning the car around from yesterday and I almost got P4 which would have been cool but we'll be fighting for that position tomorrow".

He complains about porposing:

"if the ride height is going high/low, high/low, when you turn in you never know which position you'll catch it in and the car could oversteer or understeer depending where you catch it, so driving it is a real challenge - it's like a rattlesnake! We need to find the right balance in ride height to give us performance while controlling the bouncing tomorrow. George and I tried slightly different things on our cars today so hopefully that's good learning for the team to take into the race".

George Russell complains about the bouncing, which made him loose time:

"I've not been overly comfortable in the car this weekend so I was pretty happy qualifying where we did - I think we'd have taken P5 and P6 before the session. There's no reason why we can't finish ahead of the McLaren tomorrow, we have to try and also keep Sainz and Alonso behind, although they both looked very quick today. Tomorrow will be tricky but I think we've found the best compromise window for the limitations we have and it will be a long race so let's see what we can do".

So Toto Wolff is satisfied with today’s result:

"We probably slightly over-performed with P5 and P6, because I think Alonso would have been ahead of us without his crash. But when you consider the challenges we are facing at the moment, the team worked very well to extract everything from the car after two difficult practice sessions yesterday. The drivers maximised their opportunities with the car that's under them right now, and it's great to see the positive approach they are bringing to each session as we continue learning. Tomorrow's race will be a different challenge again: protecting the tyres will be important, and nobody has had the opportunity to gather much data after the red flag yesterday in FP2. So it will be another trip into the unknown - and hopefully we have made the right choices to deliver our performance across the full race distance".

Sebastian Vettel says to journalists that today was a good moment for the team spirit, even if they did not succeed to take better positions for Vettel and Stroll and things are not easy for the Aston Martin.

"Today is about the team: the boys and girls did an amazing job to get both cars out on track for qualifying. They did so well to get Lance’s car ready and it was great to see the team spirit when both sides of the garage came together to help finish getting my car ready. Just getting out to set a lap was a huge achievement. P18 may not look great on paper, but today it was the result of a little bit of magic. Things are not easy at the moment, but we know that the car has more potential and we are working very hard as a team to make progress. I have not had much running this weekend so hopefully we can have a clean race tomorrow and learn more about the car".

On Sunday, April 10, 2022, Albert Park circuit hosts an immense crowd for the first Australian Grand Prix since 2019. For the third round of the Championship, Charles Leclerc is lined up on pole for Ferrari against two Red Bulls, Max Verstappen from the second position and Sergio Perez from the third, while team mate Carlos Sainz is ninth on the grid. Lando Norris lines up fourth position for McLaren ahead of the Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton in fifth and George Russell in sixth. Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll and Alex Albon are the only five to start on hards, the others beginning on mediums. With high track temperatures (more than 40 degrees Celsius), the lights go out. 

At the start, Max Verstappen looks to get a fractionally better start than Charles Leclerc, but the polesitter is able to sweep across his front row rival and defend the inside line on the run to Turn 1, while Hamilton sweeps into third at Sergio Perez’s expense and Geroge Russell into fourth in front of Lando Norris. Leclerc pulls a 0.6-second lead by the end of lap 1. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz, after dropping down to the fourteenth position on his hard tyres, tries to pass Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu around the outside of the ninth turn, and spins into the following corner’s gravel. The virtual safety car is briefly activated before the full safety car is called for, which stays out until the restart at the start of lap seven where Leclerc is easily able to maintain his advantage over Max Verstappen. Sergio Perez is soon loomed in Hamilton’s mirrors and on lap 10 he pass down the inside of the third turn for the third position. At the front, Verstappen suffers a lock-up at the penultimate corner on lap 12, and suffers graining on his medium starting tyres. Charles Leclerc goes long on his medium tyres, while on lap 19 Max Verstappen goes to the box for a set of hard tyres and emerges seventh. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez is under pressure from the Lewis Hamilton. The Mexican is then called to the box at the start of lap 21, as is Norris. Leclerc, however, still has not pitted, while Max Verstappen is recovering positions. The Monegasque driver finally pits on lap 23 and is ahead of the world champion, although the gap between the two is now of 4 seconds. Lewis Hamilton is now just milliseconds ahead of Sergio Perez, and they go side by side into the run to the nith turn when the Red Bull driver makes a move around the outside. At this moment the Safety Car comes out, because Vettel has spun on power out of the fourth turn and hit the wall. George Russell choses lap 23 to pit and emerges third, ahead of Fernando Alonso. At the second restart on lap 27, Charles Leclerc's run onto the main straight is compromised by going too wide and so Verstappen is able to close in and get alongside on the run to the first turn. The Ferrari crucially holds on to the lead, allowing George Russell to attack the Red Bull; despite this, the top three remains unchanged.

Fernando Alonso is now the lead car of the group from fourth to ninth position, made up by Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen, then the McLarens behind. On lap 30, Sergio Perez takes the fourth position off the Alpine going into the fourth turn, with Lewis Hamilton trying to take a place off Fernando Alonso one lap later. Kevin Magnussen aspires to immediately follow but makes a mistake coming out of the final corner on lap 33 and loses out to the McLaren of Lando Norris. On lap 36, Sergio Perez makes the move on George Russell’s Mercedes going into the eleventh turn, while, in the lead, Charles Leclerc puts in a purple lap. On lap 39, on the inside of the second turn, smoke comes from the Max Verstappen’s RB18's airbox, suggesting an engine issue is the cause. So the car is forced to retire covered by a VSC and Leclerc's lead is now maintained. Charles Leclerc is racing for victory from now on, the margin totalling to more than 20 seconds with fastest lap giving him another point. Perez takes the second position, five seconds ahead of Gereoge Russell, while Lewis Hamilton runs in fourth place. Esteban Ocon has an easy journey to the seventh position, for Alpine having pitted once on lap 18, but team mate Fernando Alonso runs a more difficult race. Running as high as eighth when Ocon pitted, the Spanish driver cooks his tyres and falls down the order. He pits for mediums with four laps left and he ends up last of the runners in seventeenth position. Valtteri Bottas, who started twelfth, finishes eighth: he briefly lost out to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly but hit back on lap 40. Gasly ends ninth from eleventh on the grid, ahead of Albon, who started last thanks to a grid penalty from Saudi Arabia and moved to seventh position, but lost three places with his late pit stop. Stroll, with a penalty for crashing into Nicholas Latifi in qualifying, started ends in twelfth position, after pitting for mediums on the lap 4 Safety Car and coming back to hards one lap later. Behind Stroll is Mick Schumacher, who passed Magnussen. Yuki Tsunoda battled for points, but ends up fifteenth as his pace was slow on hard tyres. This leaves Williams’ Nicholas Latifi sixteenth and Alonso last on the board. Verstappen, Vettel and Sainz are the three retirements. So Leclerc is the indisputable leader of this Gran Prix. He managed two Safety Car restarts and although he came under pressure from Verstappen at the second one, he managed to hold the lead and take the win, with the fastest lap bonus point:

"What a great victory this was for us! We managed our pace well and were extremely competitive. We didn’t suffer from tyre degradation, even when pushing hard. The car was just amazing and I’m very pleased with how my race went. On paper, this was a track that we expected to be tough for us, so we have to review our data because we were in fact very strong. It's a great way to start the season, but we have to keep in mind that we are only three races into a very long championship. We can’t afford to relax at any moment and have to stay on top of things, most of all on development.Congratulations to everyone on our team. What an amazing job you have all done! I’m very proud of how far we’ve come and can’t wait to continue fighting. Forza Ferrari".

What happened during Sainz’s qualifying led to the decision to try something different, so on Sunday he started on the hard tyre. But the Spanish driver struggled for grip off the line, dropped back and then lost control of his car, spinning off into the gravel for his first retire of the year:

"This is definitely a difficult weekend to digest. After all that happened yesterday, I was looking forward to the race but we hit problems even before the start. On the laps to the grid we had an issue with some switches on the steering wheel and we had to change it one minute before the formation lap. Unfortunately, at the start, the anti-stall kicked in.Trying to recover and overtake, I made a mistake as I pushed too early when the tyres were probably not ready. Up until Q3 the weekend was going ok but from then on everything just went wrong. We will analyse it carefully, learn and move on. The car felt good so congrats to the team and to Charles for the win. We’ll come back stronger in Imola".

Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal, Mattia Binotto, is happy for the victory and Leclerc’s mature performance, but upset by Sainz’s race:

"I am very pleased. It’s always great to win and it also boosts the morale of the team who deserve all this, because they have all developed the right mentality to face difficult moments head on and make the most of any opportunity. We always say that you can only come out on top in Formula 1 if you do everything to perfection and I think today’s race proved that. Charles delivered a mature performance, something he is now making a habit of.It’s a shame for Carlos, because his weekend was complicated by a series of circumstances in both qualifying and the race, which affected his performance. I know him well enough to believe that he will turn the negatives to his advantage and come back stronger next time he’s in the car. The start of the season has been positive and the work of the past few months is paying off. We will continue to concentrate on ourselves and take it one race at a time. We have earned some time with our families over Easter, but then we will get back to it, working on the next race, which being at Imola, takes on even greater importance. We can’t wait to be there and we’re looking forward to seeing the circuit packed with our fans, to share this good start to the year".

Perez got a good start but in order to avoid Verstappen, wound up losing out to Hamilton. He fought his way back past the Mercedes, and then made a move to get around Russell:

"It was a good result but, unfortunately, we lost Max and it would have been great to have a double podium for the Team. On the other hand, it is a good result after so many unlucky moments in the first couple of races for me. It was a very complicated race with the start I had and the safety cars but we managed to overcome it. My first start was very poor, we struggled a lot with degradation on the medium tyre, we were a bit unlucky with the safety car and we lost two positions which we recovered later. We got a few things wrong across the weekend and we were battling more with Mercedes than Ferrari so the pace wasn’t where we want it to be, but we will work on it. There is some good analysis to be done from this weekend because yesterday we were close for pole but in the race we were a bit too far off the pace. The fastest guys out there are Ferrari, we want to be up there fighting with them and today that wasn’t the case. If we can improve the car a little, then we can be more confident".

Meanwhile, Verstappen ran a comfortable second, without being able to attack Leclerc for the lead. Then he was told to park up late on after smelling some strange odor, for his second retirement in three races:

"It’s of course very disappointing to not finish today’s race, I don’t really know what happened to the car yet, we’ll take it back to the factory and regroup. I already knew there was a possibility ahead of the race that we might not finish but I tried not to think about it. This is not what you need when you want to fight for the Championship, the gap is already pretty big. Of course, Checo did well to come second, he scored some good points. Overall it doesn’t look like there is an easy fix so we need to work hard as a Team, there are a lot of things to work on. We’ll wake up tomorrow and focus on the upcoming races and do the best that we can. It is of course a long season and a lot can happen; I think at this stage we need 45 races".

The Red Bull Racing' team principal Christian Horner is happy of Checo’s race and his overtakes, but unhappy of Max’s race:

“Checo drove an exceptional race today with some stunning overtakes to secure his first podium of the season and bag some solid Championship points. But it was very much a day of mixed emotions with Max not finishing. We think it was an external fuel leak and we need to understand exactly what has caused that failure, so it was a very frustrating race in that respect. But we are in this as a team and we will bounce back. We didn’t have the pace of Ferrari today, so congratulations to Charles. It’s a long season ahead and we have the basis of a quick and competitive car, but we need to get on top of these issues quickly and we will keep pushing".

Lewis Hamilton made a great start and jumped up to third, and from there was embroiled in an entertaining fight with Perez on track and through the pit stops. But he lost out to both the Mexican and his team mate, with Russell able to pit under the Safety Car. That Safety Car cost Hamilton the chance to come back at Perez too, and he had to settle for fourth position:

"It's a great result for us as a team, honestly. This weekend we have had so many difficult moments with the car and to get fifth and sixth in qualifying, to have progressed like we have, with the reliability we have, is amazing. We definitely didn't expect to be third and fourth today. George did a great job - I got to see a bit of the battle of him racing Perez and I wish could have been in it but nonetheless, we'll take these points and keep pushing. I couldn't fight for third because the engine was overheating so I had to back off and sit behind, but we bagged as many points we could as a team and that's great".

George Russell is happy of his first podium with Mercedes:

"You've got to be in it to win it and capitalise from other's misfortune, and the guys at Brackley and Brixworth have been working so hard on giving us a reliable car. We got a little bit lucky today, probably twice, but we take it. There's so much hard work going on back at base to try and get us back at the front so to be standing on the podium today is special a reward for all their hard work. We're never going to give up, we've got to keep on fighting. This weekend we were a long way behind our rivals but here we are standing on the podium. We've got to keep this up while we are on the back foot, maximise our points opportunities and I am sure we will get there after a few more races".

Mercedes' team principal Toto Wolff is satisfied of the points earned, even if he admits that their cars have not the pace to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull:

"We are leaving Melbourne in a better state than when we arrived- more lessons learned, more data to analyse and more points on the board. Clearly we haven't got the pace yet to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull but we know where we need to seek performance. One factor that leaves me very optimistic for the future is the mindset and strength of the team. Everyone in the UK, in Stuttgart and in the travelling race team is pulling together every ounce of effort we have to tackle the performance gaps with determination and a deep hunger. Seeing Lewis and George perform at an exceptionally high level today with a tool that is clearly not on the pace of the leaders is another example of the spirit of this team. We are optimistic yet realistic on the timeline for improvement and the advantage our competitors have, but P3 and P4 helps us leave Australia with a good feeling. Both drivers deserved the podium today, Lewis was unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car but the partnership between the two and how they work with one another epitomises the overall spirit of the team".

Now, Charles Leclerc leads the drivers' championship with 71 points, followed by George Russell's 37, while Max Verstappen has 24 points behind Carlos Sainz Jr., Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton. All eyes right now are on Imola, where on April 24's will be held the Emilia Romagna Gran Prix.