Three years since the last time we saw the lights go out at Melbourne’s Albert Park and we couldn’t wait for this one today. Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen were set to renew hostilities at the front today as they lined up on the front row, with two Bulls against one Ferrari in the hunt as Sergio Perez lined up third. Behind them? Lando Norris and the Mercedes.
A perfect start for Charles Leclerc, who retained the lead from Max Verstappen, while Lewis Hamilton was ahead of Perez for third. Unfortunately not a great start for Carlos as he dropped back to 14th after starting ninth. But things got even worse for the Spanish driver, who beached his Ferrari in the gravel: he went far to deep into the high speed left-right. The Spaniard went off the track and it was engine off for Carlos. A miserable, miserable weekend for the Ferrari number 55, who went for a different strategy by starting with the Hard tyres, but didn’t have any grip off the start, which led to his mistake after the slow opening laps.
At the restart, Charles Leclerc headed the field back into Turn 1, with Verstappen unable to make a move. Hamilton was able to hold Sergio Perez back for a few laps, which allowed the first two to create a gap. The Mexican soon regained third from Hamilton as he opened the DRS and flew down the inside of the Mercedes driver into Turn 3. Great pace from Ferrari’s championship leader, who won a five-second lead over his Dutch rival after 14 laps.
Red Bull brought Max Verstappen in, unsurprising given his tyre issues and lack of pace: Hard tyres went on the Red Bull, with the Dutchman in seventh. Alonso and Gasly were battling behind him. Ferrari did not immediately respond, as Charles continued to show a strong pace despite the old tyres. On lap 22, the Maranello team called Charles in and a perfect 2.7s pit stop allowed the Monegasque driver to return in P1, five seconds ahead of Max Verstappen.
Just one lap later, Sebastian Vettel stopped his Aston Martin and it was the end of an woeful weekend for him. And that led to another Safety Car: George Russell took advantage of the Safety Car to pit, and that gained him a couple of positions – he was up to third at this stage, ahead of Fernando Alonso who did not pit, while Sergio Perez actually managed to overtake Lewis Hamilton for fifth just before Vettel’s crash.
Unfortunately the big lead Charles Leclerc had built up – well over 10 seconds – was of course now gone with Verstappen right behind him under the Safety Car. And it was a much better restart for Verstappen this time as he very nearly took the lead into Turn 1: Charles just hung on, while George Russell was also having a look at Verstappen in the Mercedes too. After that restart scare, the Monegasque driver was able to move clear of Red Bull again and soon the gap is back up to 3s.
But there was drama in Australia with 18 laps to go: Max Verstappen was told to stop his Red Bull car and there was smoke pouring from the engine. He was out of this race, and the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. That was the second DNF this season for the 2021 Formula 1 world champion! The Dutch driver’s retirement meant Charles Leclerc was now over 11 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez in second. The Ferrari man had also set the fastest lap just before the Virtual Safety Car as well.
A dominant display by Charles, who faced no opposition in the final part of the race and even improved the fastest lap several times on his way to extending the lead at the top of the world championship. Pole position, fastest lap, all laps led and race win for the Monegasque driver, who ended 20 seconds up the road to make a statement: Scuderia Ferrari is definitely back and is ready to fight for victory week by week!
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