John N
Charles Leclerc
Leclerc led all 58 laps on his way to the first win at Albert Park, Verstappen challenging but ultimately retiring from a likely second-place finish on Lap 39. While Leclerc’s lead over the Dutchman hovered at just over five seconds before Verstappen stopped on track, the Ferrari driver warned his rivals that this had been the first time he had been able to control a race lead in his career.
“In Formula 1, it’s the first race where we controlled a little bit the gap. What a car today. Of course, I did [well] all weekend, but it was impossible without the car. And this weekend, especially in the race pace, we were solid. The tires felt great from the first lap to the last lap, we were managing the tires extremely well, and I am just so happy. Well, we are only at the third race, so it’s difficult to think about the championship – but to be honest, we have a powerful car and a very reliable car too, and for now, we have always been there [at the top], so I hope it continues. And suppose it does [continue], we probably have chances for the championship like this. In that case, we will be fighting for the championship, which makes me very happy after the last two years that have been difficult for the team and myself, so it’s great to be back in this position’’.
Leclerc leads the championship going into Ferrari’s home race at Imola – while Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz will be looking to bounce back, having spun out from P14 early in the Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell
George Russell took his first podium for Mercedes and second in the drivers’ standings with a P3 finish in the Australian Grand Prix – the Briton later admitting that he was surprised to be in that position, given his team’s deficit to Red Bull and Ferrari.
Russell qualified P6 behind teammate Lewis Hamilton but capitalized on Sebastian Vettel’s Lap 23 crash (below) by pitting when the Safety Car emerged. The former Williams driver conceded that his new team didn’t have the pace to earn a podium on pace – but praised Mercedes for their continued reliability.
“Credit to the team at Brackley and Brixworth because we want more performance, and we are a step behind Ferrari and Red Bull in terms of pace, but you’ve got to be there at the end to pick up the points – and that’s what we’ve done on several occasions now. This weekend [we were] the fifth-fastest team behind these guys [Red Bull and Ferrari], McLaren and Alpine, currently standing P3 on the podium, and P2 in the championship, is pretty crazy. We had a bit of fortune there, but it’s part of the game, that’s part of the sport. Sometimes it goes your way; sometimes, it doesn’t. I’ve been on both ends many times before, which is part of motorsport.”
Not only is Russell second in the standings, 34 points behind Leclerc, but Mercedes are second in the constructors’ championship with a 10-point lead over Red Bull heading to Imola.
Alexander Albon
A job well done by @alex_albon and @WilliamsRacing with a bold strategy that played out perfectly! 🙌
From last to P10, what a mighty effort 💪#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Gu67C3TcDM
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 10, 2022
Alexander Albon described his first point for Williams as “completely unimaginable” after the team’s strategist predicted both cars would finish at the back. The Williams driver ran 57 laps on the same set of hard tires he started the race on before pitting on the final lap for soft tires, rejoining ahead of Zhou Guanyu in tenth place and holding the Alfa Romeo off to take the last point. Albon said that was a much better result than the team had expected. Their pre-race expectations were more pessimistic after Albon was sent to the back of the grid following his disqualification from qualifying.
Albon ran almost the entire race on the C2 hard compound tires, which the team did not plan to do before the race. However, as the race unfolded, they realized it could work. “I wasn’t asking [to come in] because I knew we were okay on pace,” Albon explained. “I knew that these VSCs and Safety Cars are great times to pit. But we stayed out, we stayed out, and then they said, in code, ‘can we go to the end?’. And I was like, ‘yeah, we can go to the end.’
“I didn’t know how tight it would be, coming out. We had a slow front-left change, making it quite close with Zhou. Today, as I said, we came in, and we were like, ‘oh, we’re going to finish 19th and 20th – it’s just how far we’re going to be to P18,’ and we’ve come in tenth. So anything can happen. That’s twice this week we can’t do the numbers,” his race engineer James Urwin said on the radio. “We need to have a go at Rich,” Albon joked, referring to the team’s head of race strategy Richard Lockwood,’’ said Albon.
