Charles Leclerc wins Melbourne Grand Prix while Verstappen suffers more reliability issues

Charles Leclerc wins his second race of the season in Melbourne, meaning he has now won more races in 2022 than Max Verstappen has finished collectively.

The first Melbourne Grand Prix in three years resulted in a somewhat surprising podium of George Russell, and Sergio Perez and topped off by Leclerc.

The Ferrari driver led the race from start to finish, looking like a different class of driver than the other 19 on the grid.

The Monegasque driver oozed with class and coolness, not letting the pressure (or the lack thereof) get to his head – despite seeming to get a bit heated with his engineer when he was told he was not allowed to go for another fastest lap attempt.

Charles’ teammate Carlos Sainz, however, did not have the start he’d have hoped for last night. The Spaniard began the race in 9th place, hoping he would be able to fight through the field to a potential podium. However, Sainz just kept falling and found himself in 14th before beaching his car in the gravel trap at the turn 10/11 flick.

A similar pain befell Max Verstappen. The world champion’s car lacked the pace to compete with Charles Leclerc before his car to a grinding halt on the side of the Albert Park race track.

On lap 39 of the Grand Prix, after the Dutchman reported various mechanical smells, Verstappen was asked to pull over and retire the car to prevent any further damage from being done to his already broken car.

The retirement in Australia means that Verstappen has only finished one race so far in the 2022 season and finds himself further down the championship standings than he would have liked at this stage in the season.

Mercedes pounced on Red Bull and Verstappen’s misfortune, which allowed for George Russell to claim the first podium of his Mercedes employment and put him in a surprising second place in the drivers’ standings.

Alex Albon also pulled off a surprising result having scored points for Williams despite only stopping once and on the last lap of the Grand Prix. The Williams driver managed 57 laps on the hardest compound of Pirelli rubber before switching to softs for one lap at the end of the race to follow the FIA rules and regulations.

Sebastian Vettel’s poor weekend carried over into Sunday’s race too, as he seemed to lose the rear end at turn 4 before smashing his front wings into the concrete barriers on the side of the track – forcing the German into an early finish.

The Red Bull team have a lot of work to do to ensure that their title contenders can put up a fight throughout the rest of the season – while Ferrari will be left scratching their heads about why Carlos Sainz struggled so much at the start of the race.

Here's how the race affected both the drivers' and constructors' standings.