Charles Leclerc remained dominant from a pole position into a triumphant victory in the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, extending his Formula One championship lead.
The 24-year-old dominated the Australian Grand Prix from start to finish to take the chequered flag.
“The car was incredible today. Really. What a race. What a day,” Leclerc said after the race.
It’s a win ❤️
Soooo happy! Perfect weekend.
Forza Ferrari @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/Hzhab92JwQ— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) April 10, 2022
The champ, Max Verstappen failed to finish for the second time in three races in 2022.
Gutted. Very frustrating to end another race like this as we were looking at an easy P2 😤
Congrats to @SChecoPerez on scoring another podium. 💪
We have to work hard the coming days to get on top of things and improve for Imola. pic.twitter.com/6hEUlkvwZK
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) April 10, 2022
Sergio Perez finished second, followed by both Mercedes and McLaren cars.
Leclerc has two wins and a second from the opening three races.
Happy to be back on the podium! Its a shame that we lost Max. It was an important day for the championship. We know there’s plenty of work to do. Lets go @redbullracing 👊🏻
#AustralianGP pic.twitter.com/LQ10DZ0mty— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) April 10, 2022
But Leclerc is not getting carried away, playing down the Ferrari fever gripping fans ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on April 24.
“I can imagine (the excitement in Italy) but I don’t want to think too much about it. It’s very early in the season obviously,” Leclerc said after his fourth grand prix victory.
“It’s good to be in the championship lead – 34 points is always good to take wherever you are in the calendar, but I don’t want to focus too much on the championship now.
“Italy will be incredible but we need to approach it as we do every race weekend,” he added.
“It’s extremely important not to put extra pressure on ourselves and try to overdo things.
“We are working as a team extremely well since the beginning of the season and we just need to keep doing our job like we did in the first three weekends.”
You will not miss a second of the action with every practice session, qualifying and race live on DStv’s SuperSport Motorsport (channel 215).
| Rank | Driver | Team | Points |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 71 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | 37 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 33 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 30 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 28 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 25 |
| 7 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 20 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 16 |
| =9 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 12 |
| =9 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 12 |
| 11 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 8 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 6 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 4 |
| 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 2 |
| =15 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 1 |
| =15 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1 |
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