Race Notes - Leclerc wins in Australia

By Mark Karp

Charles Leclerc won the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in his Ferrari, 20.524 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez in his Red Bull. George Russell in the Mercedes GP finished on the podium in third place, 25.593s behind the winner.

The win is Leclerc's second win of the season, and fourth of his career. Leclerc now leads the Drivers Championship with 71 points, 34 points over Russell in second place, ahead of Sainz, Perez, Hamilton and Verstappen in sixth place.

Ferrari leads the Constructors' Championship with 104 points, over Mercedes with 65 points, and Red Bull with 55 points.

Lewis Hamilton (28.543s) in the second Mercedes finished fourth, followed by Norris (53.303s) in the McLaren-Mercedes in fifth, his team mate Daniel Ricciardo (53.737s) in sixth, Esteban Ocon (1m01.683s) in the Alpine-Renault in seventh, Valtteri Bottas (1m08.439s) in the Alfa Romeo-Ferrari in eighth, Pierre Gasly (1m16.221s) in the AlphaTauri-Red Bull in ninth, and Alex Albon (1m19.382s) in the Williams-Mercedes, running the whole race on a hard set of tyres and pitting on the final lap for his tyre change, taking the final point in tenth place.

Before the start, Leclerc starts from pole with Verstappen alongside on the front row, Perez and Norris on row 2, Hamilton and Russell on row 3, home-country favorite Ricciardo and Ocon on row 4, and Sainz and Alonso, both starting on the hard tyres, rounding out the top ten. The weather is warmer than all weekend, on paper the quickest strategy is one-stop.

At the appointed time the field came around and the lights went out and the race started with Leclerc taking the lead, with Verstappen close in second, Hamilton jumps up to third ahead of Perez, Russell ahead of Norris, Ricciardo, Ocon, Gasly and Alonso rounding out the top ten, Sainz falling back to 14th.

On lap 2 Sainz spins and is stuck in the gravel trap - the Virtual safety car is out, and this becomes a full safety car.

Stroll pits for medium tyres, then pits again the next lap and switches back to hard tyres - the team having taken care of the tyre change and looking to see if they can last to the end of the race.

At the end if lap 6 the safety car comes in and the race resumes with Leclerc ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton and Perez are following.

On lap 10 Perez passes Hamilton for third in the DRS zone.

At lap 10 Leclerc leads Verstappen by 1.8 seconds, followed by Perez (6.4s), Hamilton (7.8s), Russell (8.5s), Norris (9.0s), Ricciardo (9.7s), Ocon (11.1s), Gasly (13.1s) and Alonso (13.7s) in tenth.

Vettel goes off the road and runs through the gravel but continues in the last position.

On lap 12 Verstappen locks up into a corner, and trails Leclerc by 4.9 seconds, his left front tyre graining. Latifi pits.

Bottas is chasing Tsunoda for 11th. Schumacher pits.

On lap 16 Bottas gets past Tsunoda.

Magnussen brakes too late and cuts across the grass and then loses a place to Zhou.

Ob lap 18 Ocon pits from eighth and switches to hard tyres and rejoins in 17th.

On lap 19 Verstappen pits from second switches to hard tyres and rejoins just ahead of Gasly in seventh. Just as he rejoins, Alonso takes Gasly for eighth place.

On lap 21 Perez pits for hard tyres from second, Norris pits at the same time. Perez rejoins ninth and Norris in 12th.

On lap 22 Ricciardo pits from fourth and rejoins in tenth,

The next lap Leclerc pits from the lead for hard tyres and rejoins still in the lead. Hamilton pits as well and rejoins in fifth, just ahead of Perez.

Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m22.533s.

On lap 23 Perez passes Hamilton for fifth. Vettel hits the wall and the Safety car is out. Russell pits.

Behind the safety car Leclerc leads Verstsapen, Russell, Alonso, Perez, Hamilton, Magnussen, Norris, Ricciardo, Albon in tenth, Ocon, Bottas, Stroll, Gasly, Tsunoda, Schumacher, Zhou and Latifi in 18th.

At the end of lap 26 the safety car end and the race resumes with Leclerc leads and Verstappen goes into the first corner side-by-side, but Leclerc holds the position, and starts to pull a bit of a lead.

On lap 30 Perez passes Alonso in the DRS for fourth place.

At lap 30 Leclerc leads Verstappen by 2.6 seconds, followed by Russell (4.7s), Perez (6.5s), Alonso (7.4s), Hamilton (8.2s), Magnussen (9.1s), Norris (9.8s), Ricciardo (10.6s) and Albon (11.7s) in tenth.

On lap 31 Hamilton passes Alonso for fifth.

On lap 31 Leclerc sets fast lap at 1m22.450s, and again the next lap at 1m22.394s.

Norris is challenging Magnussen. Perez Is closing on Russell.

On lap 34 Norris passes Magnussen for seventh.

On lap 36 Perez passes Russell for third. Leclerc sets fast lap at 1m21.986s.

On lap 37 Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m21.677s, and again the next lap at 1m21.291s.

On lap 39 Verstappen stops on the side of the track and he is out of the car with smoke pouring from the engines of the car.

Alonso, Magnussen both take their pitstops, both taking on medium tyres - the safety car ends and the race resumes.

At lap 40 Leclerc leads Perez by 11.7 seconds, followed by Russell (15.6s), Hamilton (16.8s), Norris (27.2s), Ricciardo (28.5s), Albon (32.6s), Ocon (35.0s), Stroll (37.3s) and Gasly (39.1s) in tenth place.

Stroll is handed a 5-second penalty for weaving on the straight - for blocking Bottas on the restart.

On lap 45 Alonso passes Schumacher for 12th.

Hamilton complains to the team of a left front tyre blister.

Leclerc tells Ferrari that they should go for the fast lap near the end of the race.

Aston Martin tells Stroll to push as hard as he can to the end.

At lap 50 Leclerc leads Perez by 15.7 seconds, followed by Russell (21.6s), Hamilton (22.9s), Norris (38.6s), Ricciardo (42.2s), Albon (47.5s), Ocon (48.5s), Stroll (57.3s) with a 5-second penalty, Gasly (57.7s) in tenth, with Bottas, Alonso and Schumacher following close behind.

Gasly passes Stroll for ninth.

Perez runs a bit wide in turn 13, but continues. Bottas passes Stroll for tenth.

Zhou passes Alonso for 12th, with Alonso's tyres struggling. Magnussen passes for 13th.

Albon is running seventh but still must pit for the mandatory tyre change.

Hamilton, running in fourth behind his team mate Russell, tells the team "you guys put me in a really difficult position."

On lap 55 Alonso pits for another set of medium tyres and rejoins in 17th.

Gasly runs wide and Bottas passes for ninth.

On the final lap Perez asks his engineer, "are you still awake?", to which he responds, "still going, jet lag kicking in".

Albon takes his pitstop on the final lap, and rejoins tenth.

On the final lap Leclerc takes fast lap at 1m20.260s.

At the finish Leclerc wins from Perez and Russell.