Charles Leclerc

The Monegasque took another superb victory for Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Ferrari machinery Leclerc is jockeying is an enormous factor in his early season success, of course. Facing a two-pronged threat from the Red Bulls at the start, with teammate Carlos Sainz toiling in ninth after a disastrous qualifying session, Leclerc headed both off into Turn 1 by managing his launch well and forcing his rivals onto the same portion of tarmac on the left-hand side. This was a performance in which he was rarely challenged from behind but where the serenity of both his driving style and personality perfectly exemplified why he is the solid stone statue standing firm in the middle of Formula 1’s storm right now. The racing in the first three rounds of the season has been ceaseless and breathless, with drivers unable to take progress through the field for granted anymore. Charles Leclerc – hitting his apexes, managing his tyres, and bringing the car home in one piece. And Ferrari, after enduring two of the most chastening seasons in its seven-decade history in the sport, are winners once again.

Max Verstappen's hot-and-cold season continued as he suffered a second DNF in three races, while Mercedes decided to not enforce team orders as George Russell ...

It was an incredibly brave move and arguably put Perez in a strong position to finish on the podium once the race resumed, which of course he eventually did. He also set the fastest lap of the race to give himself an extra championship point. He navigated the two safety car restarts very well and when he did need to defend, did so resolutely. That winning instinct never goes away and that exchange is a perfect example of that. The Red Bull driver tried to dive around the outside going into turn one, but Leclerc defended resolutely and held position. The Scuderia star cruised to his second race win of the season, extending his championship lead as Perez came home second with Russell securing his first podium of the season in third.

Charles Leclerc coasted to his second race win of the Formula One season at the Australian Grand Prix as Max Verstappen failed to finish for the second time ...

In contrast, teammate Sainz had a torrid weekend, undone by an unfortunately timed red flag in qualifying and then having a horror start to the race. He dropped a number of places and struggled for the few laps he was in the race before spinning into the gravel where his race ended. It leaves Verstappen and Red Bull on the back foot, and history does not now favour his chances in the world title fight.

Charles Leclerc took an impressive runaway victory for Ferrari at the Australian GP, as race and championship rival Max Verstappen suffered another ...

It was Russell's first podium for Mercedes and his first 'real' one in F1 after his maiden voyage in the abandoned Belgian GP last year. Heading back to Italy sees the return of the Sprint, the shortened Saturday race which sets the grid for Sunday's main Grand Prix. From the first lap when he aced the start, to the last when he post the fastest lap of the race, Leclerc was in total control and Ferrari were often lapping a second quicker than any other car. Fernando Alonso didn't finish in the top-10 despite his obvious speed in the Alpine, with Alex Albon scoring his and Williams' first points of the season despite stopping for the first and only time with a lap remaining. Hamilton had gone from fifth to third on the opening lap and was ahead of Perez again later in the race, although a Safety Car from Sebastian Vettel's crash in the Aston Martin played into his team-mate's hands. "The car was incredible today," said Leclerc, who put the cherry on top of his display with a last-lap fastest lap to give him the maximum 26 points.

The 24-year-old Leclerc extended his lead in the drivers' championship to 34 points while claiming his second win of the season after victory in the ...

“I don’t even want to think about the championship at the moment,” he said. “We are never going to give up. I hope it continues like this and if it does, we probably have chances for the championship.” We are going to keep on fighting. Russell was able to claim his first podium finish of the year when Verstappen was forced from the race and can only hope the team is capable of closing the gap later in the year. “I knew there was a problem and it was always going to be a question mark for finishing the race, but these kind of things, if you want to fight for the title, cannot happen.”

CHARLES LECLERC has spoken out on Ferrari's porpoising problems after Lewis Hamilton admitted he wishes Mercedes were in the same situation.

He said: "I couldn't fight for third because the engine was overheating so I had to back off. Yeah, that's the goal right now – while we still have these problems, it's just maximise our points and that's what we've done today." But everything went well, it was just not so comfortable to do 58 laps like this." I couldn't have gone faster if I didn't have the bouncing. The Monegasque, now a four-time Grand Prix winner, said in Australia after Hamilton's comments: "I don't know why, but I am not very sensitive to it. We can't get rid of it at the moment."