Brundle's verdict as magical Leclerc delivers Max, Merc title statement

Ferrari and Charles Leclerc have really aced these new for 2022 F1 cars. The Ferrari F1-75 is a benign and very fast car suitable for every circuit so far including Barcelona, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the revised Melbourne layout.

Leclerc has stepped up to a higher plane, delivering speed with consistency and seemingly always a half a step ahead of this car, rather than close to the edge of the car's limit and the occasional heavy shunt as we've seen in the past. The new regulations suit him and he's developed confidence and increased self-belief.

Two pole positions, two wins, a second, and three fastest laps in three races rather confirms that.

His team-mate Carlos Sainz had the weekend from hell, missing out on a solid qualifying lap when his friend Fernando Alonso caused a red flag by crashing due to technical issues, and then with further engine starting dramas not delivering a representative lap. Out of true position in 9th on the grid he needed a last-minute steering wheel change which led to an awful start, and he then proceeded to have a brutal midfield fight on hard compound tyres, eventually impatiently spinning off the road.

He may well end up having to play a supporting role to Leclerc from here, depending on how the competition shapes up and if he can win the next couple of races, which is not out of the question.

With Max Verstappen registering a victory and two retirements so far he's already 46 points behind Leclerc in the championship down in sixth place.

Max used words such as 'unacceptable' in the pen interviews to describe his unreliability issues before it was smoothed out a little later, but a fuel leak sidelined him from the Australian GP which was generally quite a torrid weekend for the team