Charles Leclerc managed to maintain a healthy lead during the majority of the race with Verstappen in second place. Unfortunately, second Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s weekend went from bad to worse when his car crashed on the second lap of the race, ending his hopes of glory at Albert Park. The Spaniard had started the race on P9, before quickly falling to P14, and eventually finished his weekend better than anyone else on the grid.
The safety car appeared for the second time after Sebastian Vettel crashed on lap 23 – a disappointing end to his first race weekend in 2022 after being ruled out of the first two races due to Covid 19. Besides, it sure looked like Max Verstappen Will join Charles Leclerc on the podium after maintaining P2 until lap 39. However, Verstappen’s red Bull He ended up coming to a stop with the engine on fire, already making it his second retirement of the season. This helped Charles Leclerc move 46 points away from his opponent.
Charles Leclerc (C) celebrates with runner-up Sergio Perez (L) and third-placed George Russell with the winner’s Shield. (AFP photo)
Sergio Pérez managed 18 points for Red Bull after finishing the race more than +20 seconds behind Ferrari, followed by George Russell in third – his first podium finish for Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Mercedes legends Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, taking his points table to 28, which is currently 9 behind his young teammate.
Besides the two Mercedes drivers, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo were the only teammates to score points at the 2022 Australian Grand Prix after finishing fifth and sixth respectively. Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, Pierre Gasly also managed to score points in yesterday’s race. The final points scorer was Alex Albon, who was nicknamed the “Tire Whisperer” by his team after running for 56 laps on a single set of hard compound rubber. The Williams driver started from the back of the grid, but ended up scoring his and his team’s first point of the season.