So there we go. A dominant win from Charles Leclerc, which confirms what we thought we knew: he might just go on and win this thing. Mercedes, meanwhile, are on the road back, while Red Bull and Max Verstappen in particular still have problems. Thanks for your company and comments – we’ll be back in a fortnight for the Emilia Romagna Grand prix at Imola, the first of two in Italy. Otherwise, enjoy what might just be the most ludicrous sporting day of the year – and don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Enjoy!
Updated
And here’s Giles Richards’ race report!
Driver standings
1 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 71
2 George Russell (Mercedes) 37
3 Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) 33
4 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) 30
5 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 28
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 25
7 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 20
8 Lando Norris (McLaren) 16
9 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 12
10 Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 12
Horner is also frustrated, saying he doesn’t know what’s wrong with the car at this point. He doesn’t want to guess, preferring to know the facts, and congratulates Perez on a great move to get past Hamilton, noting that he didn’t see such speed from Ferrari in qualifying, “but it came alive for them today”.
“We can’t accept DNFs,” he continues – that sounds like people will be getting a rocket – and admits that Verstappen has’t been happy all weekend. There are “things in the pipeline that’ll help,” he adds.
Still, he expected to be closer to Ferrari in terms of pace, and acknowledges there’s work to do before Imola in two weeks.
Verstappen speaks: “We’re already miles behind,” he says, adding that he can’t think about winning the driver championship. He knew that he couldn’t fight Leclerc so didn’t bother, describing his travails as “frustrating and unacceptable”.
They’re playing this a little quickly if I may say so, but if I may also say so, Siiiiiiiii.
George Russell gets his first podium as a Mercedes driver, then Charles Leclerc enjoys the Monaco anthem, a jaunty number, then we get the Italian anthem, a glorious by-product of Ferrari’s win. Bom bom bom.
Leclerc is as happy as you would be. He knows he’s in a title fight. “In a Formula 1, it is the first one where we controlled a little bit, the gap, and honestly, what a car today. Of course, I did a good job where we can, but it was not possible without the car, and this we especially with the race pace, we were especially strong. The tyre felt great from the first of the last lap. We were managing the tyres extremely well and I am just so happy.”
“It was very difficult, especially the safety car restart. I had an understeer into the last corner, and I thought it would be difficult to keep the first position, but then we managed to do so, and after the last two, three corners I managed to regain the gap flash grip and it was ...
Obviously, we are only at the third races so it is difficult to think about the championship, but we have a very strong car, a very reliable car too, and for now, we have always been there. So, I hope it continues like this, and if it does, we probably have chances for the championship, which obviously makes me smile after the last two years that have been difficult for the team and, obviously, for myself, so it is great to be back in this position.”
Russell says he got a bit lucky with mistakes made by and problems endured by others, but he reckons his team can make things better yet. Perez says he was unlucky to lose two positions because of the safety car and he’s sad he lost Verstappen, and enjoys reminiscing about his passing of Hamilton.
Final standings
1 Leclerc (Ferrari)
2 Pérez (Red Bull)
3 Russell (Mercedes)
4 Hamilton (Mercedes)
5 Norris (McLaren)
6 Ricciardo (McLaren)
7 Ocon (Alpine)
8 Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
9 Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
10 Albon (Williams)
11 Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
12 Stroll (Aston Martin)
13 Schumacher (Haas)
14 Magnussen (Haas)
15 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
16 Latifi (Williams)
17 Alonso (Alpine)
DNF Sainz Jr (Ferrari)
DNF Verstappen (Red Bull)
DNF Vettel (Aston Martin)
Updated
Incredibly, Mercedes are the lead constructors this weekend. Just goes to show; what, I’m not sure, but definitely something. I’ve not a clue how this season is going to shake down.
Leclerc now leads the driver standings by 33 points from Russell. “Amazing, the car was incredible today, well done. What a car, what a race!” he tells his team.
Charles Leclerc wins the Australian Grand Prix for Ferrari!
It’s a brilliant drive, leading from lights out to chequered flag! Sergio Perez of Red Bull is second, the Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton third and fourth; the McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo are fifth and sixth.
Lap 57/58 Leclerc had that one nasty moment when Verstappen had a shy at him after the second restart, but he held it down and this has been an absolutely dominant drive.
Lap 56/58 It looks a lovely evening in Melbourne and it certainly is for Leclerc, who’s easing towards a 33-point driver championship lead. He’d’ve took it.
Lap 55/58 Hamilton hasn’t managed a hack at Russell yet, and there are no signs of any instructions. Third and fourth would be McLaren’s best finish of the season so far, but the real question is to what extent they can sustain their improvements.
Lap 54/58 Leclerc is told that his fastest-lap point seems safe, but he’s worried about it. Rack em up, Charles!
Lap 53/58 “Perhaps Verstappen used up all his good luck last season,” wondered Peter McDonald. I don’t know what you’re talking about, it was all skill; Christian Horner said so.
Lap 52/58 Bottas passes Stroll to get into the points in tenth; Hamilton needs to make up 1.1776s on Russell. Leclerc moseys towards the chequered flag.
Lap 51/58 Leclerc leads – by 18s because Perez slides onto the grass. Meantime, Hamilton gets to within a second of Russell and will soon have DRS; ooh yeah!
Lap 50/58 Red Bull say it’s too early to say what the issue was – they need to pull it to pieces when it arrives back in Milton Keynes on Tuesday before they can see just which bit of it needs to go in the bin.
1 Leclerc
2 Perez
3 Russell
4 Hamilton
5 Norris
6 Ricciardo
7 Albon
8 Ocon
9 Gasly
10 Stroll
Lap 49/58 This has been a lovely afternoon jaunt for Leclerc, who sets another fastest lap. At what point does he start believing that it’s not just early wins available to him this season, but the whole dang thing. Maybe he believes it already.
Lap 48/58 Russell and Hamilton’s lap-times are pretty similar, and given their 15s+ lead over the McLarens behind, no immediate need to switch the order. If Russell stays where he is assuming Leclerc wins, he’ll go second in the driver standings, 33 points behind the Ferrari driver. That’d also be as wide a lead as anyone had at any point last term.
Lap 47/58 Russell preserves his lead over Hamilton, which is roughly 1.7s; I guess Mercedes would’ve taken third and fourth, and if they can keep improving they might yet do something this season.
Lap 46/58 Leclerc sets a new fastest lap and those 26 points are very nearly his.
Lap 45/58 Stroll’s team warn him, “no weaving on defending” – Gasly is right up behind him – then Alonso nails Schumacher to take 12th. Back at the front, Leclerc leads by 13.384s.
Updated
Lap 44/58 Hamilton closes the gap on Russell to about 1.8s; we’ve still no idea if Mercedes will tell them how things have to be. I’m sure Russell will be delighted to wave his more august teammate by.
1 Leclerc
2 Perez
3 Russell
4 Hamilton
5 Norris
6 Ricciardo
7 Albon
8 Ocon
9 Stroll
10 Gasly
Lap 43/58 Stroll gets a five-second penalty for weaving on the straight. If he pits again, it’ll be served then, if he doesn’t it’ll be added to his time at the end and would take him from 11th to 14th.
Updated
Lap 42/58 Leclerc continues his procession – if he can stay on the track, he’ll have a nice little lead at the top of the driver standings. Perez checks in with his team to see what went on with Verstappen – he’s all heart. Not really, he wants to see if the same problem will affect him, and is assured it won’t.
Lap 41/58 Russell is now in third again, roughly 1.6s ahead of Hamilton. I wonder if he’ll be ordered to move aside at some point.
Lap 40/58 Green flag, track clear, and that all happened so quickly! Christian Horner has his head in his hands, to DNFs out of three, that is no kind of title defence, and Leclerlc leads by upwards of 11s!
Lap 39/58 Third race of the season and Verstappen has pulled out of two of them! The fire extinguishers are out, dealing with the flammable fluid it turns out he could smell, the virtual safety car is out, and I think that’s the problem Red Bull mechanics were trying to resolve up until the start.
Lap 39/58 Verstappen pulls over to the side!
Is this another power-unit issue?! Either way, he is out of the race!
Lap 38/58 Leclerc’s lead seems to have stabilised at around 5.3s, but as I type that, Verstappen sets another fastest lap, so you never quite know. Or you do: Leclerc puts his foot down and stretches the gap beyond 6s.
Lap 37/58 And there we go, Perez eases past Russell and back onto the podium. Mercedes know they’re improving, but not fast enough to hang with the better cars at this point.
Lap 36/58 Perez is after Russell; Mercedes suggest he might want to let him by rather than nail the tyres holding him off, have to stop again and end up ninth instead of fourth.
Lap 35/58 Leclerc is driving like Toad of Toad Hall here, foot down without a care for other road users and leading by 5.065s. Poop poop!
Updated
Lap 34/58 Magnussen has still to pit, so it’s no great surprise when Ricciardo passes him, but Norris runs out of track to do likewise.
1 Leclerc
2 Verstappen
3 Russell
4 Perez
5 Hamilton
6 Alonso
7 Norris
8 Magnussen
9 Ricciardo
10 Albon
Lap 33/58 Leclerc now leads by 4.099s, going away from Verstappen who leads Russell by roundabout seven seconds. Perez is about 0.5s behind that, and Hamilton a further 3.8s adrift.
Lap 32/58 “These are very very good laps,” Haas tell Magnussen, who’s seventh. Behind him, though, Norris puts him under pressure while Perez is getting closer to Russell, who’s third – the gap is about 0.7s.
Updated
Lap 31/58 This has gone almost perfectly for Perez so far, who not only got away first but did so again when the safety car departed and is now as serene as you can hope to be. Hamilton nips down the inside of Alonso, and he takes P5, 2,5s or so behind Perez in fourth.
Lap 30/58 Perez, in fourth, goes again ... but Alonso survives ... no he doesn’t! Perez shoots past, and Hamilton, in sixth, will be fancying his chances at passing too.
Lap 29/58 Leclerc now leads by 2.391s as Perez gets right up close to Alonso with the help of DRS, but he runs out of straight. He’ll be back, but.
Lap 28/58 Alonso – who hasn’t pitted – goes at Russell, who holds him off, and Leclerc is stretching clear again. Holding off Verstappen at that restart might just’ve won him the race – if the safety car doesn’t return, a big assumption to make.
Lap 27/58 The safety car departs and we go racing, Verstappen on Leclerc’s tail and he has a hack! Of course he does! But Leclerc holds him off, building a lead to 1.172s!
Lap 26/58 “I think Verstappen should let Checo go, he is making this too easy for Charles,” emails Edwin Innih Imoesi. I see the rationale, but I don’t see Verstappen allowing anyone to get past him. He’s second now.
1 Leclerc
2 Verstappen
3 Russell
4 Alonso
5 Perez
6 Hmailton
7 Magnussen
8 Norris
9 Ricciardo
10 Albon
Lap 25/58 This is shaping up into a glorious afternoon for Charles Leclerc. He got away first and has motored nicely since, staying well away from everyone – just what you need. But he’ll have to hold it down again when we restsart - which should be soon because Vettel’s Aston Martin is shoved away so we should be back going shortly.
Updated
Lap 24/58 Perez goes around the outside of Hamilton and takes him out at the first time of asking! But Vettel then crashes out, the safety car is back, and Russell uses the opportunity to pit – he was probably going to anyway, but this way he loses very little time. He’s got five-lap advantage over Verstappen, and looks well-set for a podium!
Updated
Lap 23/58 Hamilton has to come in soon and as I type that, he does, coming back out in fifth ahead of Perez. Leclerc leads, from Russell, Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton, Perez, Magnussen, Norris, Ricciardo and Stroll. That’s our top 10.
Lap 22/58 Verstappen passes Alonso, Ricciardo bousts out of the pit and almost clatters Albon, Stroll picks his moment to get by the latter, and both are behind the McLarens, Norris ninth and Ricciardo tenth.
Lap 21/58 Mercedes must’ve been working hard since Jeddah, and Perez comes in, Norris too. Hamilton is 17.821s behind Leclerc and roughly a couple ahead of Russell; Verstappen has just set the fastest lap-time, and he’s up to fifth, 0.8s behind Ricciardo ... who’s just pitting.
Lap 20/58 Leclerc leads by 16.538s, but Hamilton is now 0.2s behind Perez, who’s really struggling. His Red Bull is struggling for grip, and Mercedes will be feeling good about things here – P1 is likely gone, but increasingly, P2 looks in play!
Lap 19/58 Verstappen and Red Bull know they’ve to do something, so in he comes, emerging in seventh place – that’s not bad, he’s in and out in 19s – and Leclerc now leads by 15.789s.
Lap 18/58 The Mercedes might be “a better race car than the Red Bull,” reckons David Croft, not a statement he expected to make. Perez, in third, leads Hamilton by about 1.8s, and isn’t increasing the gap -– though I’m not sure he’s in danger of being passed.
Lap 17/58 Magnussen has a hack at Tsunoda and almost ploughs through the back of him, bails, and loses a place to Zhou; he’s now 14th. If Verstappen pits, he’ll probably come out 12th, behind Bottas, so he’s hanging in there for now.
Lap 16/58 Bottas and Tsunoda have been fighting since the start and Bottas finally passes; he’s now 11th. Leclerc’s lead is now 7.849s.
Lap 15/58 If Hamilton slows, he could let Russell get DRS to pull away from the McLarens behind, note our commentators; er, that seems unlikely given he’s pulling away from his teammate.
Lap 14/58 Hamilton’s found a bit of extra pace; he’s holding off Russell easily enough now. In front, Leclerc continues building his lead – it’s 6.229s now – and Perez is four more seconds back.
Lap 13/58 Ricciardo is close to Norris, about 0.6s behind, and a further second behind Russell then another behind Hamilton. Leclerc’s lead is up to 5.451s, and Verstappen – or Red Bull – need to make a call.
Lap 12/58 Verstappen’s left-front is causing him agita, the compound ripping up, and Leclerc now leads by 4.3s. That might be definitive.
1 Leclerc
2 Verstappen
3 Perez
4 Hamilton
5 Russell
6 Norris
7 Ricciardo
8 Ocon
9 Gasly
10 Alonso
Lap 11/58 Vettel goes off the track and now sits last; Russell seems to have more pace than Hamilton, so do Mercedes allow him to pass so the battle between them doesn’t assist the two McLarens sat behind?
Lap 10/58 Perez gets DRS going into turn three and he takes Hamilton on the inside! That was his first proper go at him, which tells us plenty about where the Mercedes is at the mo – if we didn’t know already – but the gap to Verstappen is four seconds.
Lap 9/58 Perez picks up Hamilton’s slip and if he’s any plans to win here, he needs to get by before Leclerc and Verstappen leave him; he’s losing a second a lap here. Meantime, Leclerc extends his lead to 1.451, while Hamilton is losing time behind in third, trying to hold his man off.
Lap 8/58 Verstappen looks quicker than Leclerc while, behind, Perez worries Hamilton who leads him by about 0.7s. He looks to have more pace, but he doesn’t have more nous, and Hamilton is holding him off for now. Leclerc’s lead is down to 0.878s, and after one more lap we’ll have DRS back – it’s banned for the two following the exit of the safety car.
Lap 7/58 Verstappen isn’t be able to do his thing, getting level with Leclerc to harry him before the start – the rules have changed this season, so he’ll have to stay behind. The safety car departs, Leclerc becomes the virtual safety car, and off we go again, Verstappen stuck to his rear.
Lap 6/58 Sainz Jr gets onto a scooter to be driven back to the paddock and the safety car is coming in this lap – then we’ll go racing again.
Updated
Lap 5/58 I reckon it’ll be another lap or two with the safety car, necessary rather than the virtual as the field needs to be concertinaed to schlep Sainz’s Ferrari out of the gravel. What a miserable weekend it’s been for him, but his teammate leads, which I’m sure will be consoling him.
Lap 4/58 The full safety car is now out and Hamilton is in decent shape, having gained two places already, and we see Stroll’s Aston Martin gambling with an early pit to get the hards off, taking advantage of the safety-car situation.
Lap 3/58 Sainz went by Schumacher, lost control trying to correct a slide, and the virtual safety car is out. He’s in the gravel off the track, and Leclerc leads by 2.008 from Verstappen. Hamilton is third, Perez fourth, Russell fifth, Norris sixth.
Lap 2/58 Leclerc leads by 0.6s ahead of Verstappen but probably hasn’t cashed in as he needs to. Tsunoda goes by Bottas into 11th, and Sainz will know now that he made an error picking hards. He’s a full pit behind after a lap and a half, then he flies out and this might mean a safety car!
Updated
Lap 1/58 Hamilton gets way well and gains a place, then another, into third, Bottas gets by Sainz, and Leclerc is away in front. Sainz is down to 13th now!
AND IT’S LIGHTS OUT!
Let’s remind ourselves of the driver standings:
1 Leclerc 45
2 Sainz Jr 33
3 Verstappen 25
4 Russell 22
5 Hamilton 16
The drivers are ready! The formation lap is underway and we see gorgeous drone-shots of Melbourne, then cut to see some last-minute adjustments being made on Verstappen’s car. That looks suboptimal.
Updated
Given the hottest conditions of the week, the majority of drivers will be on mediums planning to change to hards, reckon Sky.
We’re nearly there. The soaring music has started, and there are the graphics of the drivers posing to look wellard – it’s over 110 days since we’ve hard a race from here, and you can be sure the crowd are going to male the most of it – let’s hope the drivers do too.
Sky’s broadcasting team speculate that Lewis Hamilton has been given a grace period to sort the piercings that may now be against the rules. Sounds like school.
It’s building here. Verstappen tells Sky that they were just “checking some things” with the car. He just wants to get a good start, he’s not really thinking about when he’ll make his move.
Anthem time.
Ocon is “feeling good; brilliant, sunny Australia, you can’t be in a better place.” In fairness, he’s not tried my boxroom in north London.
“The wind’s turned around a bit,” says Daniel Ricciardo, “a little different from yesterday.” But he’s happy enough with his car and delighted with energy from the crowd. “It’s nuts,” he says. “It’s been nuts all week.”
Red Bull have “some kind of fluid leak on Max Verstappen’s car,” apparently. I don’t think it’s anything major, but it’s not helpful.
George Russell says his car isn’t the most pleasant to drive, but they’re working as hard as they can to make things better. Dylan Alcott, meanwhile, is loving the response he’s getting from the crowd, and has driven a two-seater F1 car, one of his best experiences. It’s been a tough couple of years in Australia, he adds, so he’s chuffed this is the first even in front of a full crowd; “he’s got a helluva handshake,” notes Martin Brundle.
Lando Nozzer notes that the start’s a bit narrow, which should make things more difficult, but he’s not too bothered as there aren’t many in front of him. Told he’s in the British quarter, he makes clear that he’s in front.
Marco Materazzi is track-side, responding with all the joy you’d expect when baited about Italy’s World Cup absence.
It’s really windy out there, which will increase the intensity of the slipstreams. But it’s not raining as feared.
“The problem is when you push that car a little bit more she is quite spiteful. She is like a viper or like a rattlesnake, you never know.”
Mercedes, and Lewis Hamilton, have a problem.
The grid
1 Leclerc (Ferrari)
2 Verstappen (Red Bull)
3 Pérez (Red Bull)
4 Norris (McLaren)
5 Hamilton (Mercedes)
6 Russell (Mercedes)
7 Ricciardo (McLaren)
8 Ocon (Alpine)
9 Sainz Jr (Ferrari)
10 Alonso (Alpine)
11 Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
12 Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
13 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
14 Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
15 Schumacher (Haas)
16 Magnussen (Haas)
17 Vettel (Aston Martin)
18 Latifi (Williams)
19 Stroll (Aston Martin)
20 Albon (Williams)
Preamble
It’s become fashionable to speak about things in superlatives and absolutes – things can’t just be good or bad, they have to be the best or the worst, putative facts announced in purple prose of the sort you’ve just read. But we can all agree that, without doubt, F1 is the weirdest sport in the world, as illustrated by the end of last season and the beginning of this.
Consequently, it’s not at all easy to get a read on what we’re about to see. The best driver might win, the best car might win, or someone at the back might crash, leading to a concertinaed field and a last-lap free-for-all because our tiny minds can only cope with things that are neatly packaged. Sorry, the most neatly packaged things of all-time, in the world … ever!
Anyhow, today’s race and possibly the next few represent a chance for drivers not named Lewis or Max. Between them, Hamilton and Verstappen won 15 of last season’s 22 races, but things might just be different this, their cars not yet up to that kind of standard. As such, Messrs Leclerc, Pérez and Sainz Jr have the opportunity to do damage – damage of the sort they can’t have anticipated – and they’ll fancy their chances here too. This should be a goodun.
Lights out: 3pm local, 6am BST
