F1: Leclerc And Ferrari Dominate In Australia

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari dominated the Australian GP as the Monegasque driver extended his world championship lead with the fourth win of his career by almost 20 seconds. He beat Red Bull's Sergio Perez who managed P2 thanks to another retirement by defending world champion Max Verstappen who was in hot pursuit of Leclerc but largely had no answers to his pace. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr who had a terrible qualifying session retired in the early phase of the race while running P9 after running wide and beaching the F1-75 in the gravel. This means George Russell in the Mercedes came P3 ahead of 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes now sits behind Ferrari as P2 in constructors ahead of Red Bull. 

The McLaren duo of Lando Norris and homeboy Daniel Ricciardo managed some pace to get P5 and P6 respectively. Alpine's Esteban Ocon came P7 while his teammate Fernando Alonso who was looking good for a top-five place for the large part of the race just managed just P17 after a number of pit stops. Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo Sauber came P8 ahead of Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri who managed P9. Alex Albon in the Williams drove brilliantly to manage P10 as he pitted for the mandatory tyre change only in the last lap of the race. 

The Haas duo were fighting each other this weekend

Guanyu Zhou managed P11 for Alfa Romeo while Lance Stroll finished P12 thanks to a five-second penalty for weaving during the race. Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen didn't have a merry time for the Haas in P13 and P14. Yuki Tsunoda came P15 ahead of Nicholas Latifi. Vettel in the Aston Martin in his first race of the season didn't finish the race aside from Sainz and Verstappen. 

The big underlying theme for the race was Leclerc's dominant pace in the Ferrari which also allowed him to get the fastest lap of the race and was voted driver of the day. Ferrari's pace was impressive considering there are active rumours that it has big updates in the works for Imola and Barcelona. At Imola, a new floor is expected which is lighter and makes it easier to run with the bouncing effect. At Barcelona, it is expected to turn up its engine after completing its reliability validation program. Mercedes and McLaren have also found some pace which and now that Mercedes is P2 in the constructors Red Bull will have a hard time catching up to Ferrari if the 8-time world champions are back in the mix as well. 

Red Bull would be worried as Verstappen's retirement pointed toward yet another power unit issue which means there could be trouble with the new E10 fuel as it is in its first year as an engine manufacturer. 

Race Result

1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull +20.524s
3 George Russell Mercedes +25.593s
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +28.543s
5 Lando Norris McLaren +53.303s
6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +53.737s
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine +61.683s
8 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Racing +68.439s
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +76.221s
10 Alex Albon Williams +79.382s
11 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo Racing +81.695s
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +88.598s
13 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 LAP
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 LAP
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1 LAP
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams +1 LAP
17 Fernando Alonso Alpine +1 LAP

Did not finish

Max Verstappen - Red Bull - Engine
Sebastian Vettel - Aston Martin - Crash
Carlos Sainz - Ferrari - Crash

Driver's Championship Standings After Round 3 - Australian GP