Australian Grand Prix 2022: Key highlights of the race in Melbourne

Fans had been waiting for the Australian Grand Prix for 1100 days since Valtteri Bottas won the race in Melbourne in 2019. After the unsuccessful attempt to host Formula 1 in Albert Park because of Covid-19, 750 days passed. And now here we are celebrating the Charles Leclerc victory and recapping the top highlights of Australian Grand Prix 2022.

Upgraded Australian racing circuit layout, but still without the flow.

As previously, there were few places for overtaking on the Melbourne racing circuit. It needed modernization. Frankly, there were no places for wheel-to-wheel battle, according to the layout. The results of F1 qualifying in Melbourne and the racing strategy were therefore key.
Although, following the layout change before the Australian Grand Prix, we still didn’t see overtaking except in special DRS zones. We were encouraged by the updated F1 cars in 2022 and the closed gap between the speeds of different teams, but alas.
While there was a battle behind Charles Leclerc, the retirement of Max Verstappen because of technical problems is not the way we wanted to see racing.

Charles Leclerc increases his power at the Australian Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc becomes more successful as a driver and also as the leader of the Formula 1 championship with Scuderia Ferrari.
It wasn’t as easy as it seemed for the Ferrari driver to win. Leclerc kept his rival Verstappen at bay through two Safety Cars–the first when teammate Carlos Sainz spun out from P14 on Lap 2, and the second on Lap 23 after Sebastian Vettel’s crash. The two safety cars reduced his advantage to zero, but he survived against Sergio Perez, leaving no options for the Red Bull driver.
The last threat dissolved on Lap 39 when Verstappen stopped with his engine on fire. This allowed the Ferrari driver to cruise to victory over Perez with the fastest lap to boot.

Charles Leclerc grabs the full package of awards at the Australian Grand Prix 2022. He won the race in Melbourne, took the pole, made the fastest lap, led every lap and became the Driver of the Day. Thus, he is only the second Ferrari driver in the last 18 years to achieve this. Fernando Alonso was the last to do it in Singapore in 2010.

Leclerc leads the drivers’ championship with 46 points. It’s a larger margin than anyone did at any point in the 2021 season. Ferrari have won three of the last four races in Australia–Sebastian Vettel did it for them in 2017-18.

Besides, another Scuderia Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, is clearly inferior to his teammate. Perhaps the Spanish driver needs more time to adapt to the new Ferrari F1 car. As Carlos’ contract with the team expires this year, he does not have too much time left in his pocket.

Mercedes drivers are still far from winning pace.

George Russell has taken a step up in his career with the team.
In third place, Mercedes completed the podium at the Australian Grand Prix 2022. Russell is claiming his first podium in Australia and in the role of Mercedes driver. In Formula 1 2021, George already has third place to his name since he finished third with Williams in a very controversial race in Belgium at Spa Francorchamps.
He pitted during the caution for Vettel’s crash, and it was pure luck.

Perhaps everything could have been better for Lewis Hamilton. When he pitted at the green light on the Melbourne racing circuit, he lost out on another podium spot by two seconds in P4.

Mercedes outscored Red Bull to keep P2 in the constructors’ standings. However, P3 and P4 are reasonable results under current circumstances, not at Mercedes pace. However, this is still far from the mode of last year.

Mclaren drivers were cautious about Australian Grand Prix 2022.

McLaren got both cars on the points. Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo had the pace, but both drivers were cautious and finished P5 and P6. Lando Norris, a few tenths ahead.

Despite that Australian star Ricciardo could overtake Norris as there was less than a second gap, he preferred to wait. At the finish line in Albert Park, the difference between the two was only 0,4 seconds. There was a 53-second gap till Charles Leclerc, almost a lap difference.

An awry Australian weekend for Alpine F1.

During the F1 qualifying session in Melbourne, we held our breath when Fernando Alonso made the third time. Although the spaniard ran flat out. F1 fans crossed their fingers for Alonso the following day, but it didn’t help. After making a late pit stop, he finished P17.
Another Alpine driver, Esteban Ocon, had a straightforward journey to P7 for Alpine and scored points for the team.

Valtteri Bottas leads the Alfa Romeo

Valtteri Bottas’s diligent work was essential to the success of the Australian Grand Prix 2022. Despite the poor qualifying results, Bottas plunges headfirst into the racing battle. Highlights of his race in Melbourne were his wins against Lance Stroll Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly Alpha Tauri. Fin finished in P8 and is the only Alfa Romeo driver to score points.

Williams scored points against expectations.

No matter how many points Williams scored in the Australian Grand Prix 2022. Alex Albon made it against expectations! After the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2022 in Jeddah, they penalized Alex Albon for an incident with Lance Stroll. He ended up at P17 on Saturday after running out of fuel during Australian F1 qualifying. Albon dropped three places after taking the penalty and started the race last. Alex and Williams immediately changed their strategy. That was the brilliant attempt, as he ran 57 laps on hard tires before pitting.

The strategy should have failed twice for Alex Albon as both times the Safety Car reduced Williams’ advantage to zero, but he survived, racing for P7. The late pit stop on Soft tires improved his pace for a while before he stepped away for P10. Williams gets one point against expectation.

The situation is that Williams is competing today against Aston Martin for the place that Haas F1 took last year.

Lance Stroll is out of the mood for Australian Grand Prix 2022

No reason what happened with Lance Stroll, but it was like the Australian GP brought all the dark sides out. Racing like a bad boy, a Canadian driver got an academic penalty for crashing into Nicholas Latifi in qualifying. He P19 but finished P12 on hard tires, having pitted for mediums on the Lap 4 Safety Car. He was, however, given a five-second penalty for weaving ahead of Bottas in difference of P9 on Lap 42.

Aston Martin came to Albert Park to earn some points. There were big hopes, as Sebastian Vettel finally got back at the wheel, but alas. Unfortunately, the German driver retired soon after the start. What had happened? No one caught on when and why Vettel crashed out at the Melbourne Circuit. Aston Martin finished Australian Grand Prix 2022 with no points, but with F1 fans’ poor impression of Lance Stroll.

Besides, Haas F1 also claimed to get some points when Kevin Magnussen, who ran in Bahrain and the Saudi Arabian GP, was at the top. But all was wrong, as Safety Car ruined all hopes for the top 10.
Following Fernando Alonso’s strategy, Kevin Magnussen found himself captive to the same hopes and finished the race on P14.

It is the engine issue with Max Verstappen that has been making headlines. This is because the season has just begun, but Red Bull has to change the second engine to the third of 23 races in the Formula 1 season.
Compared to Fernando Alonso, it doesn’t look intimidating, but Max Verstappen is the clear favorite for the WDC championship.

Next, Formula 1 racing takes us into the Scuderia Ferrari’ hotspot, as we head to Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. As long as Ferraris are the favorite, both drivers will carry the banner of the Prancing Horses. Charles Leclerc leads the championship; Ferrari leads the constructors standings.

Here is why overtaking Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc will be even more crucial for Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Meanwhile, home victory is the dream that Scuderia Ferrari has aspired to for too long. Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – sounds like the music.