Australia

Pole: Charles Leclerc

Winner: Charles Leclerc

Fastest lap: Charles Leclerc 1:20.260

Race Summary

1-10

The Mercedes make-up places. Hamilton is up to 3rd and Russell is up to 5th. Sainz loses 5 places on the first lap. Lap 2 Ferrari of Carlos Sainz beached the car lost it on the straight after an overtake on Schumacher. Virtual safety car deployed drives to the delta. Sainz had a slow start off the line. Safety car in on lap 6. Verstappen cannot use his tactics. Ferrari porpoising a lot more visibly than the Mercedes. Leclerc leads the race but cannot build a big gap with Verstappen.

10-20

In lap 11 Hamilton gets overtaken by Perez but there is a 4-second gap for him to catch up to. Vettel has a moment. Alonso pressuring Gasly. Mercedes seem to be close to McLaren. Lap 12 Verstappen complaining about graining on his left front. Leclerc is building a gap of 4 seconds. Latifi pits on lap 14. The race seems to be calming down a lot. Lap 14 Schumacher pits. 1 stop 5 laps further than expected for a lot of drivers. Bottas overtook Tsunoda on the main straight with DRS. Lap 19 Verstappen pits, slow out of the pits Alonso overtaking Gasly at the same time. Hamilton catching Perez up.

20-30

Red bull struggling quite a bit for grip. Perez boxes on lap 21 along with Norris seeing some quick pit stops at sub 2 seconds. Ricciardo boxes on lap 22. Still, Albon and Ricciardo go 3 into turn 3. Leclerc and Hamilton box lap 23. A safety car deployed Vettel stopped on track at turn 3. Russell is now up to 3rd place as he pits under the safety car. Vettel loses it on the exit of turn 4 and that causes him to DNF. Hamilton was about to overtake Perez but that was stopped as the safety car was deployed. Time lost in the pits is 12 seconds in comparison to the average time lost which is 19 seconds. Schumacher narrowly misses contact with Tsunoda on the main straight with him attempting to warm the tyres. Lap 27 safety car restart Leclerc went wide but got away with it, the red bull car again looking quick in the straights.

30-40

Alonso has been running a decent race in the Alpine in 5th place although he has not pitted yet. In lap 36 Russell gets the message to look after the tyres so he can save the tyres to fight later on in the race. Perez closes the gap and overtakes into the last few corners. Lap 39 Verstappen retires with an issue with the power unit or it could be the fuel. The car has caught fire and they are putting it out whilst the virtual safety car is deployed.

40-50

They clear the car quickly and racing is resumed. Charles is planning the fastest lap for the end asking his race engineer. This has moved George Russell up to 3rd place. The race is calming down. Albon is still on the hard tyres and has not pitted. The back of the pack is fighting for the points places.

50-58

Gasly passes Stroll on lap 50 and moves up to 9th place. Lap 54 Leclerc is on the radio asking if he can go for the fastest lap his engineer tells him not to worry but there are a few other drivers that could take that away from him. Alonso finally pits to change his tyres it now only remains Albon on the same tyres from the start if he does not pit he will get a penalty for not pitting at least once during the race. Lap 58 Charles has been comfortable the whole race and has done well again. Perez joked with his engineer if he was awake as he is 19 seconds from the leader and in a little race of his own. Albon pits on the last lap and still manages to finish 10th, he manages to go the whole race without pitting until the last lap is a great performance from the Williams driver.

Overview

An early start for the European F1 fans as we saw the grid line up to race in Australia after waiting over 200 days to race there many were happy to see the Melbourne circuit return to the calendar. All drivers commented on the energy of the Aussie fans and that they could see how much it meant that Formula 1 was racing there again. The weekend was filled with glorious sunshine despite the risk of rain. The Mercedes make up good places on the race's opening laps. However, after Sainz beaches the car at the start, Leclerc struggled to build and maintain a decent gap to Verstappen. It seemed to calm down in the middle of the race with some drivers making early pit stops. Vettel brought out a safety car after stopping on the track. A further virtual safety car and some overtakes, led to some overtakes fighting at the back of the pack for the final points finish. One of the most notable moments from the race is the fact that Alex Albon managed to go the whole race without pitting until the final lap, if he didn't he would have been breaking rules and would have had to serve a punishment. Overall, Australia was a good race and all F1 fans are happy to finally see a race back at Melbourne Park once again after a long wait since Covid.

Australian Grand Prix Podium: Sergio Perez (left), Charles Leclerc (middle) and George Russell (right).