The second victory of Charles Leclerc in this 2022 strengthens Ferrari’s privileged position at the top of the table, with the Monegasque well distanced from his closest pursuers after a new abandonment of Max Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc was in charge of capturing the ferrari supremacy in the return of Formula 1 to Australia three years after the last race held at Albert Park before the pandemic, even capable of claiming the fastest lap in a race on hard tires for several laps.
Grand Prix Cross Max Verstappen has taken it: after the victory in Jeddah, the #33 was forced to settle for a momentary second place that, to add insult to injury, ended up vanishing with 20 laps to go due to a new mechanical failure in the fuel pump on his not-so-foolproof RB18 that made him drop out.
The bad luck also went through box of a Carlos Sainz who suffered various misfortunes in qualifying, first with a red flag that ruined his first flying lap and then with an F1-75 that did not seem to want to start just before his second attempt, and that barely lasted 2 laps in the race before abandoning for a pilot error.
For its part, Fernando Alonso first lost a pole position on Saturday and then a “very easy” podium on Sunday after one more hydraulic failure that took him straight into the wall, while excessive degradation forced him to stop 4 laps from the end to cross the finish line in last position.