After two years worth of missed races, F1 has finally returned to Australia for the FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2022 in front of a full crowd at the newly remodelled Albert Park Circuit.
Charles Leclerc got away well from pole position, covering off Max Verstappen well before the first corner. Both Mercedes drivers had strong starts, managing to get by the McLaren of Lando Norris in the first corner. Lewis Hamilton, who had cleared Norris off the grid, was able to dive up the inside of Sergio Perez. Perez had a stronger start than his teammate, but he had to back out in the first corner to prevent hitting his teammate.
Carlos Sainz had a horrific start from P9 after a poor qualifying session on Saturday. He was slow to pull out of his grid slot at the start, dropping down the field. His race from bad to worse on the second lap when he spun into the gravel at the high-speed turn 9. Whilst battling with other cars, he went too deep into the corner, skidding across the grass and spinning across the circuit into the gravel on the outside of turn 10.
The safety car was deployed to allow the safety marshals to remove the beached Ferrari. After 5 laps behind the safety car, the race resumed. The restart was less intense than the others we’ve seen earlier in the season, thanks to the new “Verstappen rule” that restricts drivers from driving alongside each other under the safety car.
When the race resumed, Leclerc was able to stretch out a comfortable lead over Verstappen, who was struggling with tyre degradation early in the race. After only a few laps, Leclerc’s lead was more than 5 seconds.
On lap 10, Perez made a dive to the inside of turn 3, taking back the last podium position from Hamilton.
Kevin Magnussen nearly had an accident similar to Sainz at turn 9, going too deep while battling with Yuki Tsunoda on lap 17. He scampered across the grass, but was able to keep the car going.
Max Verstappen was the first of the leaders to take a pit stop, changing from the hard to medium tyres on lap 19. He rejoined the race ahead of Pierre Gasly, but was very slow getting up to racing speed. It looked as though he was going to be overtaken by the AlphaTauri, but Gasly slowed. This compromised Gasly, who was promptly overtaken by Fernando Alonso.
The following lap, Sergio Perez pitted for new tyres, under pressure from Hamilton behind. Lando Norris also pitted for tyres on the same lap.
Daniel Ricciardo pitted on lap 21, rejoining the race behind his teammate. He was slow getting up to speed and Alex Albon very nearly collided into the back of the McLaren. This caused a bit of a traffic jam behind, with Lance Stroll and Albon both battling with Ricciardo for the position. The McLaren driver stayed ahead, but a train of cars formed behind him.
The race leader Leclerc made his pit stop a lap later, as did Hamilton. Hamilton came out ahead of Perez, but by the time he got back up to racing speed, Perez was all over the back of him. Perez made the overtake around the outside of the long sweeping left-hand turn, where there once was a chicane. Perez had a slower exit out of turn 10 and Hamilton was starting attack the Red Bull, but the battle was neutralized by the safety car.
Sebastian Vettel’s first race of 2022 (having missed the previous two due to COVID-19) came to a premature end. The German lost rear grip on the kerbs at the outside of turn 4, sending the Aston Martin spinning into the barriers.
The safety car paid off well for George Russell, who managed to make his scheduled pit stop under the safety car and maintained his P3 track position.
Leclerc had a poor run out of the final corner on the restart, putting him under pressure from Verstappen behind. Verstappen was fighting Leclerc down the main straight, but wasn’t able to make a move on the sole Ferrari. Shortly after the restart, the gap at the front had again increased for more than five seconds.
Fernando Alonso started the race on the hard tyres and did not pit under the safety car. He found himself restarting in P4. However, he was quickly overtaken by Perez and Hamilton did the same a couple of laps later. This unleashed Perez to chase down Russell, eventually taking P3 from the young Mercedes driver.
Disaster struck Max Verstappen’s half of the Red Bull garage for the second time this season. He was instructed to turn off his engine after reporting a smell from the car. He parked his Red Bull on the outside of turn 2, bringing out the virtual safety car.
With around a quarter of the race remaining, the battle in the bottom points-scoring positions began to heat up. Lance Stroll muscled his way up to P9 with an aggressive overtake up the inside of Valtteri Bottas in turn 3. The move forced Bottas wide off the circuit and also allowed Gasly to climb into P10. The incident was briefly looked at by the stewards, but no action was taken. But Stroll has not out of hot water in the stewards room, earning a five-second time penalty for weaving on the straight.
A train of six cars formed behind Stroll, whose hard compound tyres had been on the car since the very first safety car period. But the battle gave the fans some entertainment in the closing stages of the race.
In a bizarre move, Alex Albon waited to make his mandatory pit stop until the final lap of the race, having driven nearly the entire race distance on a single set of hard compound tyres. He managed to come out of the pits in P10 to claim a single championship point.
But it was Charles Leclerc who took home the big prize of the weekend, cruising to a comfortable victory and strengthening his lead in the World Drivers’ Championship. Perez stood on the podium alongside Russell.
Next up on the Formula One schedule is Imola. That race will be held in two week’s time on the weekend of April 24.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C. Leclerc | 26 | |
| 2 | S. Perez | 18 | |
| 3 | G. Russell | 15 | |
| 4 | L. Hamilton | 12 | |
| 5 | L. Norris | 10 | |
| 6 | D. Ricciardo | 8 | |
| 7 | E. Ocon | 6 | |
| 8 | V. Bottas | 4 | |
| 9 | P. Gasly | 2 | |
| 10 | A. Albon | 1 | |
| 11 | G. Zhou | ||
| 12 | L. Stroll | ||
| 13 | M. Schumacher | ||
| 14 | K. Magnussen | ||
| 15 | Y. Tsunoda | ||
| 16 | N. Latifi | ||
| 17 | F. Alonso | ||
| DNF | M. Verstappen | ||
| DNF | S. Vettel | ||
| DNF | C. Sainz | ||
