CHARLES LECLERC was crowned champion of Australia when he cruised to a Grand Prix victory in Melbourne on Sunday.
The Ferrari driver secured the fastest lap on the final lap alongside leading for the entire race.
Whilst his nearest rival, Max Verstappen was forced to retire having burnt out on lap 39.
As for Lewis Hamilton, the British icon disappointingly missed out on the podium altogether with Sergio Perez and teammate George Russell finishing ahead of him.
- Results: Leclerc (1) Perez (2) Russell (3) Hamilton (4)
- TV/Live stream: Sky Sports F1
- Grand Prix start time: 6am BST – April 10
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Pushed it to the max
Charles Leclerc’ arch rival was forced to retire from the Australian Grand Prix due to a fuel problem.
The Red Bull racer was going strong in second place when an issue with his engine caused him to stop in lap 39.
There appeared to be an issue with either his hydraulic fluid or engine oil and the Dutchaman was not happy in the slightest.
During the event, Verstappen said: “I smell some weird fluid. Everything is s******* itself.”
And after the race, the F1 icon stated: “
We are already miles behind so I don’t even want to think about the championship at the moment – it’s more important to finish races.
“Today in general it was a bad day, not really having the pace and having to manage my tyres.
“It looked like quite an easy P2 and I knew I could not reach Charles (Leclerc) so there was no point trying to put pressure on him.
“Not even being able to finish the race is frustrating and unacceptable.”
Verstappen added: “I knew there was a problem, there was always going to be a question mark of finishing the race. These kinds of things if you want to win the championship cannot happen.
“I don’t know (what the issue was). They have. to get the car back to the factory to investigate.”
Perez is second and Russell completes the podium
Great stuff from Russell, who comes home ahead of his unhappy teammate.
Russell says: “We’ve got to be in it to win it and capitalise on others’ misfortune and obviously we got a little bit lucky today twice, but we’ll take it.”
Great to see McLaren scoring big points, too.
Leclerc wins the Australian GP
That was an easy one for the Ferrari man, who had the added boost of seeing his nearest rival retire from the race.
That was pole position, victory, fastest lap on the last lap, and all laps led for Leclerc. Dominant.
Lap 58 Albon pits
The first stop of the race for the Williams man on the final lap. It means he finishes 10th and scores a point.
He started last and made an excellent recovery. Driver of the Day.
Hamilton critical of his team
Just the way the cookie crumbles? Hamilton is not happy being behind Russell.
Tells his team: “You guys have put me in a really hard position”
A word on Albon
He is in seventh place in his Williams. That is an excellent effort. Still yet to pit for tyres though.
Lap 46
Leclerc is leading and has the fastest lap.
Perez in P2, Russell in P3, Hamilton in P4. Norris in P5 and Ricciardo in P6.
Penalty for Stroll
The hapless Aston Martin driver is penalised with a five second time penalty for weaving on the straight.
He also bumped Bottas off track just moments ago.
That clearly caught Red Bull out
There was no sign of any problems and will be a huge concern to the team.
A double failure in Bahrain and now another one in Melbourne. And without the pace of Ferrari.
Lap 39 Verstappen’s Red Bull goes up in smoke
Big drama as his title defence is off to a shaky start.
He is told to pull over and stop the car and his car has caught fire.
Wow. That is his second retirement of the season in only the third race of the campaign.
Lap 37 Perez gets past Russell
The Mexican is back in the podium places as Russell, who had lucked in on the pitstop under the safety car.
Russell is in fourth and Hamilton is fifth.
Leclerc is unchallenged
Lap 34
Norris gets past Magnussen and in to seventh place. It has been a much-improved weekend for McLaren so far. Ricciardo is in ninth.
Alonso now dropping out of the mix
The Spaniard had not pitted to form a cork in the bottle. But he is now out of the way down in sixth place.
Halfway stage of the race
It is Leclerc, Verstappen +2.470, Russell +3.829.
We have lost Sainz and Vettel from this GP.
Lap 27 Safety Car In
We are racing again…
Leclerc comes under attack from Verstappen.
And Russell is also in the mix behind the Red Bull.
Thrilling stuff, but the order remains the same.
Russell has pitted too
He did so behind the safety car and that has allowed him to get past Hamilton. He is running in third place.
It is Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell…
Lap 23 Vettel is out – Safety Car deployed
The Aston Martin man has come to a stop after smashing into the barriers at turn four.
That’s a bad mistake from the German, who has had a miserable week. He was fined for using a scooter on track, he was also fined for speeding in the pitlane.
He is now out of this race and that mess will take some time to clear up.
Lap 22 The race leader pits
Leclerc is in for fresh tyres, as is Hamilton. Leclerc still leads and Hamilton remains ahead of Perez.
Lap 21 Perez and Norris stop
Two quick stops and Perez is in 9th and Norris in 12th.
Lap 19 Verstappen is in the pits
He is coming in for fresh tyres. A stop of 2.9 seconds and he has gone for the hard tyres.
He was in second place and returns to the track in seventh place.
Close calls for both Haas drivers
Mick Schumacher AND Kevin Magnussen both go off track a different points, as Haas seem to be struggling with their set up.
Problem for Verstappen
The Red Bull man is struggling on those tyres. He has just had a lock up and complaining over the radio that he needs to pit.
This was supposed to be a one-stop strategy, but he may need more than that.
Meanwhile, Leclerc is pulling away in P1. He has a five second lead now.
Lap 10 Perez gets past Hamilton
The Mexican, who lost position at the start, has now managed to squeeze past the Brit at the first attempt.
He had the benefit of DRS to get the move done, but he is now 6.4 seconds off the race leader.
Leclerc holds the lead
But the Red Bull of Verstappen is very close behind and looks to have the quicker car.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
