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Tyres NorthamptonFerrari's Charles Leclerc extended his championship lead with a commanding win in the Australian Grand Prix. The Monegasque led from lights to flag and withstood pressure from Max Verstappen on two safety car restarts to earn his victory. However, another mechanical DNF for Verstappen late in the race somewhat flattered Leclerc's 20-second winning margin. Only three rounds in, and Verstappen's championship defence hangs in the balance as the Red Bull driver sits some 46 points away from topping the table.
F1's return to Melbourne for the first time since 2019 was worth the wait for the attending Aussies fans, who enjoyed a race jam-packed with entertainment and unexpected twists. Mercedes power didn't seem to be as much of a handicap as in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which produced a midfield battle that lasted the entire 58 laps.
With several drivers, including Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso, feeling they had qualified out of position, many gambled on Pirelli's hard compound tyre to start the race. If they could make it work and enjoy the benefits of a pit stop under a safety car, they could put their poor qualifying performances right.
That theory might've worked for Sainz, who started a lowly P9, but the Spaniard suffered a slow getaway off the line as other drivers using the yellow-walled medium tyres got the jump on his Ferrari. Then, in a rush to make up the lost positions, Sainz's aggression had him looking to overtake Mick Schumacher on the outside of the long left-hand run into T9. Unfortunately, the ambitious move left Sainz running out of tarmac when he needed to corner, and he slid over the grass before beaching in the gravel to bring out the Safety Car on Lap 2.
After a miserable Saturday, Aston Martin looked to seize the opportunity and brought P19-starting Lance Stroll in on two consecutive laps. They swapped his hard Pirellis for mediums, then went back to the hards, gambling that the C2 rubber could last the race distance, and he'd leapfrog his rivals as the race unfolded.
Once the race had restarted, Leclerc led from Verstappen, with Sergio Perez in P3 after battling past Lewis Hamilton, who got the jump on the Mexican at lights out. George Russell and the McLaren pair kept a close eye on Hamilton as all four eyed a podium visit with Sainz out of the race and Perez's Red Bull seeming vulnerable.
Despite Hamilton being close to the Perez's pace and then overtaking the Mexican in the pits, the seven-time champ couldn't warm his tyres up, just like in Bahrain, and fell behind Perez again. The new lower tyre blanket temperature rule continues catching drivers out as they emerge from the pits. But it would be Hamilton's teammate, Russell, who became the beneficiary of third place thanks to another safety car.
Sebastian Vettel, back to racing after his Covid time out, lost the back end of his Aston Martin as he exited T4, hit the wall, broke his front wing, and then stopped on track. However, Vettel's misfortune was perfect for his teammate Stroll, who had jumped up to P9 and didn't need to stop, and it looked like his hard tyre gamble would pay off. Russell, too, benefited massively by pitting and emerging ahead of Perez and Hamilton to take P3.
Verstappen was side-by-side with Leclerc on this second restart, but the Ferrari just held on to the lead. The sister Red Bull also looked quick when green flag conditions resumed as Perez overtook Russell to reclaim third place into the reprofiled Turn 11.
Unfortunately for the Milton Keynes-based team, the Red Bull resurgence was short-lived. Verstappen stopped at Turn 2 after losing power to retire from second place; that's now twice in three races. Perez inherited P2, allowing Russell to sit in third, eventually grabbing his first Mercedes podium.
While the frontrunners race had settled down, Stroll's day became more complicated. He lacked the pace of those behind him and was a rolling roadblock for a train of cars all eager to grab a point or two. His weaving down the pit straight, trying to break the tow, had the stewards hit him with a five-second time penalty, and he eventually finished in a point-less P12.
Although Stroll's attempts to get all the performance out of the hard tyre failed, Alex Albon delivered a Pirelli masterclass in the Williams. The Thai driver started last but kept his Pirelli hard tyres working for the full race duration and only pitted on the penultimate lap. Albon's 57 laps and 300km of running on one set of rubber resulted in his and his team's first point of the season after taking P10 at the chequered flag.
As Formula One prepares to return to Europe for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in two weeks, Leclerc's triumph demonstrates the potential of this year's Ferrari. He even suggested that he was managing the pace in his post-race interview – words that should frighten any other championship hopefuls. It's only April, but F1 may already have a champion-elect.
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