LECLERC STEPS UP A GEAR AS RED BULL FALTERS AGAIN
Well, that wasn’t in the script. So far in Formula 1 2022, Ferrari and Red Bull, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, had engaged in thrilling, lengthy fights for victory. When they shared the front row for the first Australian Grand Prix for three years – in front of a packed and expectant bumper crowd – more was predicted.
But chapter three wasn’t like the previous two. Instead, Leclerc utterly crushed his opposition, leading every lap from pole position to take a fourth F1 career victory and claiming the fastest lap to boot. Verstappen, from far behind in second, retired with yet more engine trouble.
At the start of 58 laps in the dazzling Melbourne sunshine, Verstappen appeared to react fractionally faster to the lights than Leclerc. But the polesitter made a good enough start to swing right in front of his rival and ward off any attempt to attack to the inside for the first corner. Instead, Verstappen was obliged to go to the outside for the reprofiled and now faster right-hander, which meant the following Sergio Perez had to check up and the fast-starting Lewis Hamilton dived into the free space next to the second Red Bull to slice into third.
That immediately removed Perez from the lead fight, but in any case it was neutralised on the third lap after Carlos Sainz Jr’s miserable weekend in the other Ferrari ended in the Turn 10 exit gravel trap. The Spaniard had been trying to pass Haas’s Mick Schumacher in the preceding fast left, but turned in from too far wide on hard tyres that were yet to reach the best temperature operating window. These quickly cried enough and Sainz squirmed onto the grass, where he lost control
