An Unsurpassed Good Morning. Charles Leclerc wins in Melbourne and continues the world sprint.

Charles was unsurpassed today, mentally, physically. We have already understood for some time that he is ready for the world championship, but now there is the whole world to support him, and finally cheer for a red, like the dawn that accompanied us in this sweet Australian awakening. He does it once again as in Bahrain, taking pole, fastest lap and victory. According to Charles, the F1-75 is "a Beast", which however he knows how to tame to perfection. Today came the umpteenth showdown by the entire sector, in which if there is so much positivity and optimism it is due to the great work done in these two years. It was worth the wait, one might say. A victory today, never questioned. We were used to seeing duels between Max and Charles but today we only saw two effective ones: at the start and at the restart from Safety. In both cases, however, the Monegasque came out without problems. We are 3 out of 3, and not of victories, because at the moment there are "only" 2, but of circuits where the F1-75 has shown it can fight for the win. The prediction of 5 victories made by Charles just over a month ago is curious.

Red Bull lots of smoke and little fire

But there is another scenario that was repeated today, and it is perhaps the darkest one, not linked to the Monegasque but to the new world champion Max Verstappen, who was forced to retire due to a problem with his car which caught fire in the rear. It's fine to have a competitive car, but reliability for Max risks being a significant problem from a global point of view. At the moment, Red Bull together with Ferrari is the most competitive car on the track, but it is also true that in 3 races it has suffered 3 retirements against 1 from Ferrari, who arrived today but due to a mistake by Carlos Sainz, not to add to the problems had from the other Red Bull / Honda powered AlphaTauri. A leak in the hydraulic system would be the problem that forced the Dutchman to retire, therefore not implicated in the Power Unit, but nature matters little if this is the result. So much so that now Max slips to 6th place in the world championship with 25 points against Leclerc's 71.

Ferrari from dusk to dawn

Sainz's out at the start of the race was a cold shower for Ferrari. Starting with a retirement wasn't ideal given the numerical superiority of Red Bull on Charles' heels. Ferrari experienced this race from dusk to dawn. One driver fights for the win, the other has probably had his worst weekend since he arrived at Ferrari. Perhaps Sainz paid the price of having to manage a different strategy from that of his teammate, with whom he has always been by his side in this first part of the season. The strategy of mounting the hards on Sainz and the mediums on Leclerc on paper was the winning one, also considering the condition of the fights in the middle of the standings and the management of the race, and considering the excellent pace of Ferrari. However, waiting is not in the nature of the Spaniard who was called to the climb. After losing positions at the start, he ends up in the gravel, calling into question the first Safety Car of the day, thus interrupting the chain of allowances that he had managed to maintain in 2021 in which the Spaniard did not collect even one retirement.

The Safety Cars mix everything up

The second Safety is due to Sebastian Vettel, a very difficult weekend for him too. Back on track after an absence in the first two races Sebastian was unable to get a good feeling with his AMR22. The Safety Car reshuffled the cards giving Russell the opportunity to make a pit stop and carve out the time necessary to stay in the podium area.

Mercedes and McLaren positive

Russell on the podium, the second in his career, the first since wearing the black suit with the three-pointed star sewn on the chest. The young driver is now second in the championship, at 37 points, 4 more than the Spaniard from Ferrari. We have already seen him quite fierce and not only on the track, also in the radio teams. From the wall they tell him not to sacrifice the tires to keep the position on Perez, but he doesn't agree and opens into a dry "I don't want to hear these things", and it's clear why, he wanted a Mercedes to fight for the win, so much so that second place has much more value than third. However, Mercedes is above all the home of a 7-time world champion, Hamilton, who arrived behind his young teammate after having played a decent race anyway. Mercedes is where Red Bull is wrong, and this, given the difficult start, could be an excellent advantage for the Brackley team who still have to collect data to correct the shot. The driver duo is not unbalanced, but you also need to have the right car. More updates will arrive at Imola and we'll see if Mercedes can really fight for victory again.

He didn't disfigure McLaren either, although he finished about 50 seconds behind leader Charles Leclerc. Norris and Ricciardo have always been very close, the gap between the two was in fact minimal. Furthermore, they collected a good haul of points with 5th and 6th place. A booty that allowed him to hook the Alpine for 4th place in the constructors' standings.

Williams 1 Aston Martin 0

The constructors' classification sees the first point for Williams arrive with Albon's 10th place. On the other hand, Aston Martin remains 0 points and continues to suffer despite a race that could have finished in the top 10 at least with Stroll, who also takes a penalty for hindering Magnussen. It hurts to see a 4-time world champion in a car like this but without updates this Aston is going nowhere.

Here is the order of arrival of the Australian Grand Prix: