Charles Leclerc takes an easy victory in Australia

Melbourne Grand Prix 2022: Leclerc dominates opposition in a mixed weekend for Ferrari

Starting from pole, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led from lights to the chequered flag. The Monegasque’s day made ever brighter by watching his closest rivals, Max Verstappen and teammate Carlos Sainz, end the day with DNFs.

Mercedes and McLaren, who have both had a couple of difficult weekends at the start of this 2022 season, took advantage of other’s woes by bagging a healthy dose of point. George Russell even bagging a podium finish in third for the Three-Pointed Star.

Sergio Perez filled out that podium in second place, a reluctant silver-lining for Red Bull who saw their Champion, Max Verstappen pulled his car to the side of the track with fiery technical breakdown, with just a handful of laps remaining.

The Safety Car made a couple of much-predicted appearances, firstly for Carlos Sainz’s, who spun his Ferrari into the gravel on the opening lap, the Spaniard beaching his car. Several laps later, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel spun into the wall, ending his day, and showering the circuit in carbon fibre.

This gave several drivers the chance to take a “free” pit-stop and lose very little time in the process. One driver who was not so lucky however was Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, who started the race on the hard compound tyre and the safety car period was too early for him to make his mandatory switch to softer rubber.

Alex Albon and Williams must have felt like they had won the Grand Prix even though they finished tenth and netting one point. It is a victory for the historic team however, who have struggled over the last few years.

Charles Leclerc was awarded Driver of the Day however and deservedly so. Other than a couple of close battles with Verstappen at the safety-car restarts, Leclerc was never really challenged, managing a healthy lead all the way to victory, with a bonus point for fastest lap along the way. He now holds a championship lead of 34 points, a margin not seen at any stage last season.

AS IT HAPPENED

Charles Leclerc led the pack away the start, with all twenty drivers having a clean opening few corners and positions remaining relatively steady through the field.

The first piece of drama came from Carlos Sainz, who was too eager on the brakes trying to make up ground starting ninth after a poor qualifying on Saturday. The Spaniard took to the grass, spun, and ended up beaching his Ferrari in the gravel.

This brought out the safety-car for the first time and kept the pack bunched up as the marshals recovered Sainz’s stricken car. When the safety-car pulled into the pits, Verstappen harried Leclerc down the pit-straight and into the first corner. Leclerc defended well and kept his Dutch rival behind.

The two leading drivers pulled a gap to the rest of the grid. Lewis Hamilton was now third, having overtaken Red Bull’s Sergio Perez at the restart. The two drivers tussled for the next few laps, with Hamilton eventually succumbing to the greater speed of the Red Bull.

Behind them, the second Mercedes of George Russell was leading a train of the two Mclaren driver’s, Norris and Ricciardo respectively, who had Alonso, Gasly, Ocon and Magnussen in close proximity.

Action settled over the next phase of the race, with driver’s struggling to make moves in Albert Park’s short braking zones and sitting in DRS-trains. Things were reset however, when Sebastian Vettel, who was in his first race of the year having been side-lined by Covid, spun his Aston Martin in the wall, causing substantial damage to his car. With the German stopped om track, the safety-car made it’s second appearance.

This allowed most of the grid to make their mandatory pitstop and lose very little race time. One loser from this however, was Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, who had started the race on alternative strategy, choosing the hard compound tyre to start the race on, with many of his rivals doing the opposite.

The Spaniard therefore remained in a strong fifth position at the race-restart, but would later have to pit again, tumbling him down the order. The same restart saw Verstappen closest chance at snatching the lead from Leclerc. The Ferrari driver being a tad early on the throttle coming out of the final, caused his car to run slightly wide, compromising his run down the pit straight.

Verstappen tucked his Red Bull under Leclerc’s gearbox, had a look up the inside into turn one, but Leclerc defended resolutely and kept Max behind, again then opening a comfortable gap as the race settled back down.

Red Bull had at this stage accepted second position, but disaster struck with just a handful of laps remaining. Max slowed and then pulled his Red Bull to the side of the track, with flames emitting from the rear of his car. Three races into the defence of his World Title and Verstappen has two DNFs on his scoresheet.

This allowed Leclerc to cruise to victory, albeit pumping in the race’s fastest lap in the process and netting a lucrative additional point. He was followed home by Sergio Perez, giving Red Bull a consolation prize, and Mercedes’s George Russell claimed the final step of the podium in third, keeping his seven-time World Champion team-mate, Sir Lewis Hamilton, behind.

McLaren followed the Mercedes home, with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo taking sixth and seventh respectively. A much-needed strong weekend for the team who have had a tough opening to the season.

The biggest smiles however, where on the faces of Alex Albon and his Williams team. Having done all but the final lap of the race on one set of hard compound tyres, the Thai driver finished tenth and claimed a championship point for himself and the historic team.

The rest of the points paying position were filled by Esteban Ocon seventh for Alpine, Valtteri Bottas eighth in his Alfa Romeo and Pierre Gasly in ninth for Alpha Tauri.

KEY QUOTE – MAX VERSTAPPEN (ORACLE RED BULL RACING)

“We’re already miles behind,” replied Verstappen. “I don’t even want to think about the championship fight at the moment. I think it’s more important to finish races."

“Of course today was in general just a bad day again, just not really having the pace, I was just managing my tyres, trying to just bring it to the end because it looked like quite an easy P2 anyway."

“I knew I could not fight Charles and there was no point to try and put pressure on him. But we didn’t even finish the race, so it’s pretty frustrating and unacceptable.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW

Leclerc now stretched his lead in the championship to 34 points, a gap not seen at any stage in the epic title-fight of 2021. That points gap is to George Russell, who finds himself is a surprise second place in the standings. This has demoted Carlos Sainz to third with Sergio Perez nipping at his heels, just three points behind in fourth. 2021’s title challenger’s see themselves in unfamiliar territory in fifth and sixth places respectively.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The F1 circus will return to Imola in two weeks’ time for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Can Ferrari continue their run of success in front of their adoring Tifosi? We don’t have long to find out with the race weekend 22nd-24th of April.