Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc's huge early championship lead is slightly misleading, but Max Verstappen and Red Bull need a quick solution to their car issues to stop a ...

"But there are many other little improvements we can make on weight and other things we can optimise and we just need to chip away the small gains while understanding the car. "And then to keep up with Red Bull in terms of development is going to be difficult, but yeah, it's the same team that did this car, that will work on the development for this year's car, so I am confident. On average, Mercedes has been 0.85 seconds off pole position at the first three rounds of the season, and the gap to pole as a percentage has been slowly creeping up at each round. That's perhaps no surprise given the time and resources Ferrari was able to pour in to the development of this year's car over the last two years while Red Bull and Mercedes were fighting for championships. But years of championships titles in the junior series prior to F1 means he is not entirely unprepared, and he has already adapted his approach to the championship campaign. "Obviously they started this project a lot earlier than we did, so to a degree we are playing catch-up," he said. "Of course I did a good job all weekend, but it was not possible without the car and this weekend, especially on race pace, we were extremely strong. The tricky balance of the car also seemed to impact tyre performance, as Red Bull tore open the surface of their front left tyres while Ferrari managed to avoid a similar issue with Leclerc. But Verstappen's misfortune should not take anything away from the performance of Ferrari and Leclerc this year. On the basis of pure performance, there has been very little to choose between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen this season. I think it might be a fuel issue, but we need to get the car back, we need to be able to look at what's exactly happened." Not really having the pace, I was just managing my tyres to bring it to the end.

The Ferrari driver cruised to victory, while Mercedes' George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished an impressive third and fourth respectively.

“Looked like a bit of a photo finish, I was told Lando had a few issues towards the end. Keeping up with Red Bull in terms of development is going to be difficult [but] I’m confident. “I had to control myself a little bit but of course, a fifth and a sixth is a massive result for us so far this year.”

Charles Leclerc scored his second win of the season in dominant fashion for Ferrari as Formula 1 raced the Australian Grand Prix for the first time in three ...

On lap 39, Max Verstappen ran out of power in turn one and retired from second place, his second retirement of the season from a downed power unit. Sainz was unable to continue and was the first driver out of the race. Far behind the two were Lando Norris in fifth and home-country hero Daniel Ricciardo in sixth. Tyres felt great from the first lap to the last lap, we were managing the tires extremely well. Leclerc dominated the race, leading every lap from the pole and comfortably driving away from any challenges on two safety car restarts. And this week, especially in the race pace, we were extremely strong.

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.”

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Charles Leclerc completó el domingo un fin de semana dominado por su Ferrari tras convertir su pole position en una victoria en ...

“Creo que lo más importante es trata de completar la carrera, porque el de hoy, en líneas generales, fue un día muy malo. “Ni siquiera quiero pensar en el campeonato ahora mismo", dijo. “Pero siendo honesto, tenemos un monoplaza muy fuerte, que ofrece buenas garantías y hemos estado en todas. “Nunca vamos a rendirnos. Fue el más rápido durante todo el fin de semana, algo que describió como una agradable sorpresa. Qué día”, dijo Leclerc.

Checo Pérez nada pudo hacer para interponerse entre Leclerc y la bandera a cruadros en Melbourne.

El neerlandés Max Verstappen (Red Bull), último campeón del mundo, también abandonó -a falta de 19 giros- una carrera que el séptuple campeón mundial inglés Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) acabó cuarto, por delante de los dos McLaren de su compatriota Lando Norris y del australiano Daniel Ricciardo, sexto este domingo ante su afición. El francés Esteban Ocon (Alpine) fue séptimo, por delante del finlandés Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo). Charles Leclerc, de 24 años, que salió desde la 'pole', firmó su cuarta victoria en F1 -la segunda del año- al ganar de forma clara, marcando también la vuelta rápida, por delante de Checo Pérez, segundo en Melbourne, y del inglés George Russell (Mercedes), que completó el podio; en una carrera que el doble campeón mundial español Fernando Alonso (Alpine) acabó decimoséptimo; y en la que su compatriota Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) tuvo que abandonar, tras accidentarse -sin mayores consecuencias- en la tercera de las 58 vueltas.

Concretando una apabullante gestión, Charles Leclerc dominó completamente el Gran Premio de Australia, disputado en el circuito de Albert Park, en Melbourne, ...

Ferrari es el cómodo líder en el campeonato de constructores, contando con 104 puntos, escoltado por Mercedes son 65. Ya desde el inicio de la actividad, Leclerc demostró que iba a ser gran protagonista y que su Ferrari F1-75 mantenía el excepcional rendimiento que había tenido en las dos primeras fechas del campeonato. Leclerc se aleja en la vanguardia del campeonato con 71 puntos.

Charles Leclerc completa un fin de semana dominado por su Ferrari tras convertir su pole position en una victoria en el Gran Premio de Australia.

“Creo que lo más importante es trata de completar la carrera, porque el de hoy, en líneas generales, fue un día muy malo. “Pero siendo honesto, tenemos un monoplaza muy fuerte, que ofrece buenas garantías y hemos estado en todas. “Nunca vamos a rendirnos. Fue el más rápido durante todo el fin de semana, algo que describió como una agradable sorpresa. Qué día”, dijo Leclerc. Qué carrera.

Formula 1's return to Australia after a three-year absence resulted in a comprehensive victory for runaway title leader Charles Leclerc and a disastrous ...

“We always make sure that the safety car is out at the wrong time,” joked Haas boss Guenther Steiner. “But seriously though—sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get unlucky. Sainz had a lot of setbacks in Melbourne out of his control but ultimately a score of zero was on him. Haas knew it would not repeat the heroics of Bahrain every weekend but Australia was a tricky event for the squad. “I’ve been in this situation in junior categories but to be here in Formula 1 means a lot, especially after the last two years, and especially with Ferrari,” he said. Verstappen was never as far as 46 points behind during his title-winning season in 2021 and accepted he is “already massively down in the championship so now I don’t even think about the title fight. As a consequence the back-up steering wheel wasn’t as accurately tuned in and Sainz suffered anti-stall at the start, dropping five positions from ninth to 14th. Carlos Sainz’s weekend was undone in qualifying by elements out of his control but in race trim he wrecked his own prospects. But Verstappen was not just thinking about the points situation, having been running a distant second to Leclerc when the RB18 packed up. On occasion Leclerc overstepped the limit in his attempt to drag Ferrari’s machinery higher than it deserved, but with a rapid and compliant title-leading machine under his belt that approach has been modified. “34 is always good to take wherever you are in the calendar but I don’t want to focus too much on the championship for now.” As you can see, we’re just not in the right window. He already has a 34-point lead in the standings just three rounds into the season.