Charles Leclerc wins Australian Grand Prix for Ferrari

Leclerc claimed his second win of the Formula One season for Ferrari with a pole-to-flag victory at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday as Red Bull's world champion Max Verstappen suffered "deja vu" with another retirement. Leclerc's car showed impressive pace and performance on the upgraded Albert Park circuit to seal his fourth career win ahead of Red Bull's runner-up Sergio Perez, while third-placed George Russell grabbed his second podium and first for Mercedes in an encouraging day for the struggling constructors' champions. "What a race and what pace," said a thrilled Leclerc on the team radio, having finished more than 20 seconds ahead of Perez in the 58-lap race.

"The car was incredible today, well done guys." Leclerc has now built a 34-point lead over Russell in the F1 championship. Verstappen was second behind the Monagesque leader when his RB18 car suffered a reliability problem and rolled to a halt during his 39th lap with smoke billowing. "I smell some weird fluid," said Verstappen before coming to a stop at turn two.

It was a similar outcome to the season-opener in Bahrain, where Verstappen retired three laps from the end while on course for a second-place finish. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth for Mercedes after starting fifth on the grid, having been passed by Russell due to a safety car deployment. A first safety car was activated a few minutes into the session after Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who started ninth on the grid after set-up troubles in qualifying, spun out of the race on hard compound tyres.