The lessons of the Australian Grand Prix

Created: 04/11/2022 05:19

Max Verstappen (l) talks to his mechanics after his failure in Melbourne.

© Simon Baker/EPA POOL/AP/dpa

After two thrilling races at the start of the season, Charles Leclerc confidently wins the Australian Grand Prix.

Even without his failure, Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen would not have had a chance.

Melbourne – After just three of 22 races, Charles Leclerc is already 34 points ahead of second-placed George Russell in the Mercedes in the overall Formula 1 standings.

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World champion Max Verstappen is already 46 points behind and fears further failures after the disaster at the Australian Grand Prix.

For the two German drivers, there hasn't been much convergence at the start of the season either.

If you want to become world champion, you have to beat Leclerc

Two wins from three races, a comfortable lead in the championship standings and undoubtedly the best car.

After his success in Australia, Charles Leclerc can dream of his first title early in the year.

The Ferrari driver from Monaco impressed without a single penalty in Melbourne and was never beaten.

Overall, the Scuderia is doing a great job and can look forward to a lot of support at the upcoming home game.

At the Grand Prix in Imola, Italy, in two weeks, there could be Ferrari holidays.

"It's great to start the season like this, but we have to keep in mind that we're still early in the season.

We can't afford to rest," said Leclerc.

Unforeseen concerns for defending champion Verstappen

In the past, Max Verstappen rarely had to worry about the reliability of his Red Bull.

However, two failures in the first three races now make the world champion from the Netherlands startle.

According to his team, the defects in Bahrain and Australia had very different causes, which should only worry the 24-year-old even more.

And Ferrari seems to have rushed so far that Verstappen and Co. have to improve significantly.

"The gap is quite large," said Verstappen, who was knocked out in second place on Sunday for the second time: "We still have a lot of work to do as a team."

Vettel sits in the weakest car in the field

Sebastian Vettel would probably like to quickly erase the trip to Australia from his memories.

For the Hessian nothing went together Down Under.

The man from Heppenheim made a driving mistake that led to his early retirement.

The 34-year-old also had to realize that the Aston Martin is currently the weakest car in Formula 1.

The British carmaker is the only one who hasn't scored a championship point yet, and there doesn't seem to be any improvement in sight.

"There are many things that we want to improve, but we don't have the solutions for them yet," said the Hessian.

For Schumacher it's still not enough for points

Mick Schumacher came with great hopes of finally getting his first World Cup points.

But nothing came of it.

As 13th, it was not enough for the 23-year-old in Haas.

"We were too far away with our speed," said Schumacher.

After all, for the first time he finished ahead of his teammate Kevin Magnussen, who finished 14th.

The Dane had already made it into the top ten twice, giving the Americans points.

In his second Formula 1 year, Schumacher now wants to catch up quickly, the car seems capable of doing that if everything goes right.

"We learned a lot, hopefully we can take something with us and do better in Imola," said Schumacher.

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