Leclerc won comfortably, Verstappen and Sainz out of the race!

Australia, which has not hosted Formula 1 since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is back on the calendar this year and there were ideal conditions on the track over the weekend.

While wondering whether the track will suit Ferrari or Red Bull with its renewed structure, Charles Leclerc took the pole position in the qualifying laps.

The race, which was held on Sunday, was also held in similar conditions to the previous two days. For the start, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll and Alex Albon preferred hard dough. Other names started with medium dough.

Leclerc made a good start and took the lead in the first corner, while Max Verstappen kept his second place. In fact, Sergi Perez also started well, but in order to avoid contact with Verstappen, he braked a little early in the first corner and was passed on to Lewis Hamilton, who had a strong start. Thus, after the start, the ranking was as Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez and George Russell.

Carlos Sainz started badly in his ninth start and fell to 13th place after the first lap. The Spaniard then missed the apex while attempting to overtake, and spun up onto the grass at great speed.

Sainz, who was buried in the gravel pit and could not get his car out, was out of the race in the first laps, and then a safety car entered the track.

Although the differences between the drivers were closed again after the safety car, there was no change in the ranking when the race restarted.

Perez began to increase the pressure on Hamilton as the race progressed, pressing the British driver into a tight fit. The Mexican driver, who made a good attack on his opponent in the 10th lap of the race, took back the third place. But at this point he was 5 seconds behind Verstappen.

At the front, Verstappen started to lose a lot of time due to the exhaustion of his tires and could not prevent the gap to open. The difference was 6 seconds in the 15th lap.

Red Bull finally pitted Verstappen on the 19th lap of the race after the lead was 9 seconds and returned to the race after a smooth pit stop. At the same time, Hamilton closed the gap with Perez, who lost pace, and began to squeeze his opponent. Red Bull then pitted Perez the next lap.

As of lap 22, Leclerc had an 18-second lead over Hamilton and it was a quiet race for the Monaco driver. However, as Verstappen had a good pace, Ferrari didn’t want to take the risk and pitted Leclerc on lap 23. On the same lap, Hamilton pitted.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18

Photo: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Both pit stops were smooth. As Hamilton returned to the race ahead of Perez, the two faced each other in the pit exit and the Mexican driver won the fight.

At this point, Sebastian Vettel climbed into the curbs and lost control of his car and spun and crashed into the barriers. Vettel was out of the race as pieces spilled onto the track. Thereupon, the safety car entered the runway again.

At this point, Mercedes pitted George Russell and the British driver returned to the race in third place. Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, started the race on hard tires and climbed up to fourth place as he did not make a pit stop.

The ranking behind the safety car was: Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell, Alonso, Perez and Hamilton. After a few laps of the safety car period, the race resumed.

While Verstappen came to Leclerc’s side on the first turn, the Ferrari driver retained his position, thus keeping the standings unchanged.

Perez put Alonso under pressure and beat his opponent on lap 30 to move up to fourth place. Then he followed Russell. With the 31-lap tires, Alonso started to lose pace slowly and it was passed to Hamilton.

In the battle for third place, Perez finally managed to overtake Russell, who he had pushed for about 6 laps, and was back in third place. At the front, Leclerc once again made very good laps, opening the gap with Verstappen by about 5 seconds.

Seconds after he took the fastest lap, Verstappen started to lose power and pulled his car out of smoke on lap 39 and said goodbye to the Australian Grand Prix. While the Dutch driver was very disappointed, this year he was out of the race for the second time after Bahrain.

Taking advantage of the activation of the Virtual Safety car, Alpine and Haas pitted Alonso and Magnussen, who had been on the track since the start of the race.

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42

Photo: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Leclerc continued to push even though he had the fastest lap in the later laps of the race, and he was more than 20 seconds away from his closest rival, Perez.

Leclerc, who did not make any mistakes for the rest of the race, saw the checkered flag in the first place and took his second win in the first three races.

Ferrari wins in Australia for the first time since 2018, while Leclerc brings his total number of wins to four.

After Leclerc set the fastest lap of the race, he left the weekend with 26 points and increased his score to 71 in the championship.

Perez was the team’s only representative on the track after Verstappen’s resignation at Red Bull. Although the Mexican driver fell behind his opponents at the start and after the pit stops, he managed to come back every time and saw the checkered flag in second place and took his first podium this year.

Third place went to Mercedes driver George Russell. Despite starting the race behind Hamilton, Russell took advantage of the virtual safety car and pit stops ahead of his teammate.

The British driver, who held his position despite Hamilton’s pressure, saw the checkered flag in third place and Mercedes caught the first podium of his career.

Hamilton climbed to third place after a good first lap, but was passed first by Perez and then trailed by Russell due to the virtual safety car. As a result, he finished the race in fourth place. Thus, Mercedes left the weekend with 27 points.

The McLaren drivers had a similar pace to the Mercedes drivers in the first half of the race. But they lagged behind in the second half of the race and despite this, they entered the top six with both cars. Lando Norris saw the checkered flag in fifth place, bringing the team’s best result this year, while Daniel Ricciardo finished in sixth place at home, 0.4 seconds behind Norris.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36

Photo: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

In Alpine, Esteban Ocon moved up to eighth place after a strong start and finished in seventh place after a faultless drive.

Valtteri Bottas scored for the second time this year after finishing in eighth place in the race, where he experienced ups and downs.

AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly was ninth after his mistake in the last episode, while Alex Albon, one of the stars of the race, was 10th.

The Thai driver started the race on hard tires and did not pit until the final lap. His pace on hard tires was very good and he was in seventh place until the final lap. The Williams driver, who pitted on the last lap, saw the checkered flag in 10th place, bringing Williams his first point of the year.

Although Zhou Guanyu came very close to the point, he placed 11th, while Lance Stroll took 12th place in the race, which he led in the top ten for a long time.

It hasn’t been a very good race for Haas drivers. Although Mick Schumacher caught a good pace from time to time, he finished 13th with the effect of his mistakes. Kevin Magnussen was only 14th when his strategy didn’t work.

Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-22

Photo: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Yuki Tsunoda was only 15th in the difficult race for him, while Nicholas Latifi was 16th and Fernando Alonso was 17th.

Although Alonso finished fourth after the safety car, he lost pace after his transition to the middle battalion and failed to make the expected progress. He had to make another pit stop in the last section because his tires were completely gone and he was the last.

Alongside Verstappen, Vettel and Sainz were also out of the race.

Following these results, Leclerc is first in the drivers’ championship with 71 points, Russell is second with 37 points, Sainz is third with 33 points and Perez is fourth with 30 points. Hamilton is fifth with 28 points, while Verstappen is sixth with 25 points.

Ferrari maintains its first place in the constructors’ championship with 104 points. Mercedes 65, Red Bull 55, McLaren 24, Alpine 22 and Alfa Romeo 13 points.

The next race of the season will be held on April 24 in Imola.

Race result:

Alex Albon, Williams FW44

Photo: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images