It was a case of Charles Leclerc in charge as he took his Ferrari to victory in Melbourne. Photo / Don Kennedy
A Ferrari driver has not won the driver's world championship for 15 years, but Charles Leclerc intends to change that.
As massive crowds flocked to the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix after an absence of three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Leclerc turned on a driving masterclass.
Ferrari topped the practice times and Leclerc followed that up by taking pole position for the race from defending world champion Max Verstappen.
Then came Sunday's race. With more than 125,000 fans present, Leclerc was never headed, winning the event for the first time, and extending his championship lead after his victory in the season opener in Bahrain, and a second-place finish in Saudi Arabia.
He also achieved what is called the grand slam of F1 - being pole position, the race victory and fastest lap.
Verstappen spent most of the race chasing Leclerc in vain, because for the second time in three races, his Red Bull had a mechanical failure.
It will be little consolation to him that his teammate Sergio Perez finished second, with the Mercedes of George Russell in third, just ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who is used to starting on pole in Melbourne. But Mercedes is still playing catch-up after an auspicious start to the season, which has had regulations changes having an impact on the pecking order.
Leclerc's victory was seemingly never in doubt, although he was nearly overtaken by Verstappen after the one and only pit stop when he ran wide at turn 1. But he was soon able to pull away again from the Red Bull and later agreed that while his fourth victory in F1 was probably the easiest so far, in terms of the championship he is not getting ahead of himself.
"It is still very early in the season, but it is good to be in the lead in the championship," he said in the press conference. "I think I lead by 34 points. It is always good to take wherever you are in the calendar, but I do not want to focus too much on the championship for now."
"I think it is extremely important not to put on ourselves extra pressure and not to try to overdo things," he added.
After a close tussle with Verstappen in the first two races, Leclerc admitted the pace of the Ferrari came as a pleasant surprise. His pole position qualifying time was two-tenths quicker than Verstappen, but as the race went on, he was able to extend the lead almost at will.
"I think we were all surprised by our pace," Leclerc noted. "What a car today. I did a good job all weekend, but it was not possible without the car and this weekend. Especially with the race pace, we were extremely strong. The tyre felt great from the first lap to the last lap."
The same could not be said for Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz, who qualified only ninth, and after a poor start, he dropped to 14th and on the second lap beached the Ferrari. It was a case of mixed fortunes, one car finishing first, and the other being the first car to retire from the race. Likewise for Red Bull, with Perez finishing second and Verstappen
retiring with an engine on fire on lap 39, and then lamenting how far behind he already is in the championship after just three races.
"We are already miles behind, so I don't want to even think about the championship fight at the moment, I think it is more important to finish races" the frustrated and distraught world champion said. "Of course, today was in general just a bad day and not really having the pace and just managing my tyres and trying to bring it to the end because it looked like quite an easy P2 anyway."
"And I knew I could not fight Charles, there was no point in trying to put pressure on him, but yeah, I did not even finish the race, it's pretty frustrating and unacceptable."
"We have retirements, I'm not happy with the balance of the car. There are a lot of things to work on. There is no clear solution."
Perez also conceded he could do nothing about the pace of Leclerc.
"I think Ferrari were super-strong today," he said. "We couldn't match them at any point. It's the first weekend that they are a step ahead. I think we were also a bit poor with our balance. We took a bit of the wrong direction with the car. So I think there is some analysis to do."
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko says the team has more than reliability issues to deal with.
"We don't just have these reliability problems, which are actually largely unknown by us - we don't know that at all," he said. "The other thing is the weight problem. We're well ahead [heavier] of Ferrari there. That's a difficult balancing act, even with the cost cap. Difficult times ahead of us. We were surprised at how fast Ferrari was today."
Team boss Christian Horner has acknowledged the team's problems, but said: "I'd rather fix a fast car than try to make a reliable and slow one fast."
For Mercedes, their drivers are well into the points, as Russell is now second in the championship after finishing third, testimony to the reliability of the Mercedes rather than sheer pace. He has finished fourth, fifth and now taken his first podium with Mercedes, and along with Hamilton's placings of third, tenth and fourth, Mercedes are second in the Constructors' title race, albeit 39 points behind Ferrari.
The results will be encouraging for the Brackley-based team, which many expect will become a major factor in the championship once it gets the car sorted.
Encouragement, too, for McLaren, with Lando Norris and local hero Daniel Ricciardo, fifth and sixth respectively. Everywhere he went over the weekend, Ricciardo was in great demand for autographs and selfies. After two frustrating races to start the season, his trademark smile was back, just like F1 was welcomed back to Melbourne after a three-year absence, with 123,000 in attendance on Saturday and more on Sunday. Crowded House was the star attraction for the post-qualifying concert and the band's name was a perfect fit for the occasion.
Norris was quick to point out that the improvement for McLaren was more related to the track than any changes made by the team.
"We've not brought anything which has changed much," Norris said. "And it's not like we actually just make it suddenly go a lot quicker. It's more 70-30 or 80-20 - in terms of 80 per cent is just track and 20 per cent is hard work."
Riciardo said he was "happy to walk away with my first points of the year at home, which is also nice for all the fans who came out here, so I'm feeling pretty content. We leave Melbourne in good spirits, which feels nice as it's probably been four years since I left here in good spirits".
Two former world champions did not fare so well. Fernando Alonso had pace in his Alpine car throughout practice, and in Q3 of qualifying, looked like he could take pole, until a hydraulics issue put him in the wall at turn 11. He started the race 10th and was
running fourth at one stage, but when he changed from hard tyres to medium, the pace was gone and soon the tyres were also. He pitted again to try to take a point for fastest lap, which he did on lap 57, until Leclerc was told, and as if to underline the Ferrari pace, took back fastest lap on the last lap of the race.
Sebastian Vettel, returning to F1 after recovering from Covid, looked ragged and drove accordingly.
His support for the situation in Ukraine was evident as his helmet carried the Ukraine flag with the words "No War". But Seb was at war on the track and with himself, breaking down in practice, then grabbing a scooter to get back to the pits, only to be fined $5000 for not wearing his helmet securely! In the race itself, he crashed out, admitting he pushed too hard and made a mistake. Ralf Schumacher, commentating for Sky Sports Germany, said "it was so bad you almost felt sorry for him".
No sadness, though, for Ferrari fans, as F1 heads to Italy in two weeks for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, which is 89km from the home of Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari. The official name of the Imola circuit is The Autodromo Internationale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, so it will be quite emotional for Leclerc as championship leader to return there.
"Italy will be incredible, but we need to approach the race weekend just like we approach the first three weekends," Leclerc said.
"We are working as a team extremely well since the beginning of the season and we just need to keep doing our job just like we did in the first few weekends."
Next to Ricciardo, Leclerc was the most popular driver in Melbourne, and if he maintains his form in Italy, he will be assured of a hero's welcome there. For Melburnians, having their race back was welcoming after the Covid lockdowns, and with Leclerc running away with the victory, the Italian restaurants in Lygon St were overflowing with celebrating Ferrari fans.
42 Havelock North homes are out of limbo after two-and-a-half years.