Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the victory at the Australian Grand Prix with a dominant performance, converting his pole position to a first place finish. He led all fifty-eight laps comfortably with his competitive F1-75, earning the fastest lap and the award of Driver of the Day.
“What a great victory this was for us! We managed our pace well and were extremely competitive. We didn’t suffer from tyre degradation, even when pushing hard. The car was just amazing and I’m very pleased with how my race went. On paper, this was a track that we expected to be tough for us, so we have to review our data because we were in fact very strong.”
After three consecutive finishes in the podium positions, two of which being wins, Leclerc is proud of the results he has achieved with the team so far. He did, however, emphasise the importance of keeping up with development to ensure they hold on to their position on top of the championship.
“It’s a great way to start the season, but we have to keep in mind that we are only three races into a very long championship. We can’t afford to relax at any moment and have to stay on top of things, most of all on development. Congratulations to everyone on our team. What an amazing job you have all done! I’m very proud of how far we’ve come and can’t wait to continue fighting. Forza Ferrari!”
“This is definitely a difficult weekend to digest.” – Carlos Sainz Jr
For teammate Carlos Sainz Jr, the Australian Grand Prix brought misfortune, he spun out on lap two after losing several positions on the opening lap. Already in a less-than-optimal starting position of ninth, as he was unable to put in a final lap in Qualifying Three after a red flag, he described why he dropped down to fourteenth and ultimately found himself stuck in the gravel.
“This is definitely a difficult weekend to digest. After all that happened yesterday, I was looking forward to the race but we hit problems even before the start. On the laps to the grid we had an issue with some switches on the steering wheel and we had to change it one minute before the formation lap. Unfortunately, at the start, the anti-stall kicked in.Trying to recover and overtake, I made a mistake as I pushed too early when the tyres were probably not ready.”
In spite of his retirement and the unlucky circumstances he faced on the tail end of the weekend, Sainz is confident in the car and looks to “learn and move on” as the team prepares for the next race in Ferrari’s homeland.
“Up until Q3 the weekend was going ok but from then on everything just went wrong. We will analyse it carefully, learn and move on. The car felt good so congrats to the team and to Charles for the win. We’ll come back stronger in Imola.”
