Charles Leclerc wins at Melbourne as RedBull reliability plagues Verstappen with another DNF!

The Australian GP at Albert Park ended with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc taking the win in an incredibly dominant drive, and in the process getting the first Grand Slam of his career (pole, fastest lap, led every lap, winning the race) as he left the rest of the field miles behind. Could this combination of the F1-75 and Charles Leclerc be an unstoppable one? All signs do point towards it – he and the team are just too quick to catch as Leclerc grabs a 37 point lead in the championship ahead of… George Russell! But, it was as unlucky of an afternoon as it can be for the other Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr. His car didn’t start in qualifying, then came a crash and yellow flags and he settled for P9 failing to set a laptime. Come the race, his hard tyre stint was a terrible strategy choice as his abysmal start caught him out while he was trying to fix the steering, stop the car from weaving about and overtake.

The only driver who was able to get close to him was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with the Dutchman fighting the Ferrari for most of the race until a car issue forced him to stop and retire the car. This is Honda’s third race in succession where their engine has failed to finish a race, and Max’s second retirement of the year out of three races so far. His teammate Perez was in no man’s territory for most of the race, and was stuck behind the Mercedes cars for a lot of the race. He finished P2 in the end, benefitting from Max’s misfortunes. He did however make a stunning, daring and bold move round the outside at one of the most dangerous corners on the track, showing his true grit in doing so.

The Mercedes duo had possibly their best race of the year till now, as they legitimately looked to be competitive and fended off other faster cars as well. Lewis did extremely well to hold off a fast-charging Perez, while Russell benefitted from a good strategy call to inherit a podium. Lewis was managing his tires pretty well until he revealed the true race pace of the W13 which was catching up to Perez right as Perez overtook him but was interrupted by a yellow flag due to Vettel’s crash. Although Russell gained from this crash by pitting under the safety car, don’t think it was plain sailing for him, as he worked hard and fought harder to keep the podium place – his first podium for Mercedes and the second podium of his career. This result elevates George into P2 in the driver’s standings as well- the first time he’s been so high up in the championship table since his F2 days!

The McLarens had a fantastic race with double points, as Lando finished P5 with teammate and home hero Ricciardo P6. Their progress has been steady, with a gradual improvement in form over the course of the year. P7 was occupied by Ocon, who had a quiet but eventually fruitful race, P8 went to Bottas who was forced to cede position multiple times during the race and P9 went to Pierre Gasly, the Frenchman getting stuck behind a slower car during the middle and end part of the race.

Albon however was absolutely incredible. In a 58 lap race, he stayed out on the hard tires for 57 laps and pitted on the final lap to make his mandatory pitstop. He had such incredible pace that he ran as high as 7th and after the pitstop emerged in 10th, which was a drive worthy of recognition! It was reminiscent of his drive at China in 2019, going from last place to P10 and scoring points for a fledgling team. To drive 57 laps on a single set of tyres while still maintaining pace and setting personal best lap times is no mean feat.

Zhou Guanyu had a quiet race, finishing just outside the points in 11th. A person who didn’t have a quiet race was Stroll, who defended for all his life and even forced his competitors off the track in doing so. A 5-second penalty for weaving on the straight added to his weekend’s miseries, as he struggled with an uncompetitive Aston Martin and finished way back in 12th at the end.

The Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher finished 14th and 13th respectively, giving us a good battle during the race. Yuki Tsunoda did not do much during the race, finishing a lowly 15th. Nicholas Latifi had another eventless afternoon finishing P16 but he certainly didn’t crash, while Alonso had a torrid race finishing in P17 after getting overtaken and losing pace on the medium tyres.

Max Verstappen retired due to his aforementioned car issues, as did Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz. The German had a crash at Turn 4 which broke his front wing and forced him to stop, while the Ferrari driver spun early on in the race at the fast Turn 9-10 section, beaching his car in the gravel as a result. Albert Park had its best attendance in its time on the F1 calendar, and we were treated to a great race in the process as well!

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For the unluckiest drivers of today, here’s a list for the ones who had the most unfortunate race:

1. Carlos Sainz Jr. – Had an abysmal start to the race after failing to set a time in qualifying and starting P9. Steering issues and the hard tires caught him out as he spun and beached his Ferrari F1-75. Almost none of the happenings have been a fault of his own.
2. Max Verstappen – The current world champion was driving like one and he wasn’t even complaining about Leclerc crossing the pit lane line this time like in Jeddah! Jokes apart, Max was a stunner today even when tyre degradation on the RedBull was pretty bad. A recent ban on his safety car restart tactics didn’t stop him from having a GREAT restart that almost caught Leclerc but, Leclerc was in a league of his own today. In the end, RedBull’s reliability led Verstappen to another DNF and behind Lewis Hamilton in the championship table with just 25 points. This was his second DNF in 3 races.
3. Lewis Hamilton – The man could have easily been on the podium if he knew that half a lap after his pit stop, there would be a safety car. Safety cars seem to be the unlucky thing in Lewis’ career owing to Abu Dhabi 2021 and Jeddah 2022. All in all, he drove like a 7 time champion pushing the not so good W13 into P4. Great work by his teammate who was fortunate enough to have a safety car pit stop AND a RedBull retirement for a podium.
4. Fernando Alonso – If you had any doubt about Alonso’s ability versus his age, this weekend he proved his mettle. He was driving a flawless race where a P5 pr P6 finish seemed VERY viable. Unfortunately, the timing of the safety cars ruined his chances for a better position and he was left out to change tires and finish at an abysmal P17. Dead last. Poor day at work for him.