Australian GP: 2 winners and 2 losers from the weekend's race in Melbourne

Round three of the 2022 Formula 1 world championship took place at Albert Park over the weekend, with Charles Leclerc taking pole position and the victory.

The Monegasque certainly appears to be the man to beat and, with a 34 point lead in the Drivers’ standings, already his championship chances look to be very good indeed.

He kicks off our latest winners and losers piece, then, as we look back on the action in Melbourne…

Winner – Charles Leclerc

Leclerc has a win and a bit in his pocket in terms of his advantage in the championship already.

He looks at one with the car, is soaking up any pressure very well, and is seeing his rivals trip over themselves or have mechanical issues.

Of course, there’s a hell of a long way to go but Leclerc has broken free of the chasing pack, and now he just needs to keep them at bay.

Loser – Max Verstappen

Once again reliability has hit Red Bull when good points were in the offing and suddenly Max has a huge job on his hands to try and defend his title.

Yes, there are a lot of races left to overhaul the points deficit but if the Ferrari of Leclerc remains as bullet proof as it is looking at the moment, it is hard to see how the Dutchman turns this around.

Red Bull need to be pretty much perfect in terms of reliability for the rest of this season already.

Winner – George Russell

Incredibly, for all their issues so far this season, Mercedes and Russell sit second in the respective Constructors’ and Drivers’ standings.

If the W13’s issues can be solved, they’ve still got a chance of reeling the Ferrari of Leclerc in and it just shows how important finishing the Grand Prix is – they’ve done very well to pick up points when others have faltered this year.

Loser – Sebastian Vettel

“It can’t get