F1 2022: Leclerc wins Australian GP as Verstappen retires

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc picked up his second win of the 2022 F1 season with a dominant display in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing’s reliability woes continued, with reigning world champion Max Verstappen suffering his second retirement in three races. This promoted his teammate Sergio Perez to second, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell in third.

• Leclerc wins, 20.524 secs ahead of Perez
• Verstappen suffers second DNF in three races
• Albon goes from last to 10th

Leclerc claims dominant Australian GP win

Leclerc had to defend his lead through two safety car restarts – the first after his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz spun out on Lap 2 and another after Sebastian Vettel crashed on Lap 23. Verstappen’s retirement allowed him to take a fairly comfortable lights-to-flag win and further extend his championship lead.

He also scored Ferrari’s first ‘grand slam’ since Singapore 2010, by bagging pole position, fastest lap and leading every single lap of the race on course to victory. "Honestly, what a car today. Of course, I did [well] all weekend but it was not possible without the car. And this weekend especially in the race pace we were extremely strong. Tyres felt great from the first lap to the last lap, we were managing the tyres extremely well and I am just so happy," rejoiced Leclerc.

The Monegasque has won two out of the three races so far this year, but he isn’t looking at the overall championship just yet. "Obviously we are only at the third race, so difficult to think about the championship, but to be honest we have a very strong car and a very reliable car too. So I hope it continues and if it does we probably have chances for the championship,” he added.

Verstappen suffers second DNF

Verstappen’s title bid took another blow as Red Bull told him to stop his smoking RB18 on Lap 39. On the back of this and his Bahrain GP retirement, he only has 25 points on board and is 46 points behind Leclerc in the championship.

The reason for Verstappen’s retirement is still unknown, but reliability was an early concern with Red Bull mechanics seen working hard on his car on the grid.

With Verstappen out of the race, Sergio Perez took second place. Russell gained a handful of places after a well-timed pitstop under the second Safety Car, and went on to bag the final podium spot. He was followed by Lewis Hamilton in fourth, helping Mercedes once again outscore Red Bull in the constructors’ battle.

Albon pulls off bold strategy to finish P10

McLaren showed improved form in Australia, but Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo still finished a distant fifth and sixth. They were followed by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly.

Alex Albon’s charge from last to 10^th was another highlight of the race. The Williams racer was one of the few drivers to start on the hard tyres. He ran a mammoth 57 laps on those tyres, before pitting on the last lap to score Williams’ first point this season.

F1 2022 championship standings

Leclerc holds a 34-point lead in the championship now. Red Bull’s poor reliability has promoted Russell to second place in the standings with 37 points, five points ahead of Carlos Sainz.

The next F1 race will be the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola on April 24.

2022 Australian GP results