00:01And it's lights out and away we go! Decent start from Charles Leclerc and he gets ahead then of Max
00:07Verstappen with Sergio Perez coming at his teammate.
00:10There's Lewis Hamilton and George Russell down the inside. Leclerc through from Verstappen.
00:14Lewis Hamilton has moved his Mercedes up and into a further place as we head now down towards Turn 3.
00:20There's Esteban Ocon having a move on Daniel Ricciardo. Leclerc goes through from Verstappen, then Hamilton ahead of Perez, then
00:26in third.
00:26Then comes George Russell, Lando Norris gets slightly compromised, Daniel Ricciardo all over the back of his teammate's rear wing.
00:33Carlos Sainz bogged down there, behind the fast starting for once, Alfa Romeo and Valtteri Bottas.
00:39As we now head through the little flick, 9 and 10, and going wheel to wheel side by side, Valtteri
00:45Bottas and the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.
00:48Bottas is in 11th, Tsunoda's 12th, Alonso's dropped to 10th, Ocon in 8th.
00:53And they're all just compressing up now at Turn 11. Carlos Sainz, he's struggling a bit in these opening laps
00:59and barging wheels there with Mick Schumacher.
01:01Sainz tried to go around the outside. Remember Sainz and Alonso on the hard compound tyre.
01:07Just watching Sergio Perez and his start and watching closely once again how he has to pull out before he
01:15collects his teammate Max Verstappen.
01:17Yeah, he had to be cautious there, didn't he?
01:19This visor cam is going to be very interesting later on in the race as the sun starts to go
01:24down.
01:24And we'll see how the sun can impact the driver's vision out-ground here.
01:29He's constantly checking his mirrors, isn't he? Constantly.
01:34That is Carlos Sainz, who looks like he's beached that Ferrari in the gravel on the exit of Turn 10.
01:43Past Mick Schumacher and then...
01:45Wow.
01:45It's going in a little bit too hot, couldn't keep it on the tarmac.
01:48And that grass, not exactly grippy, even though we haven't had much rain round here.
01:52Yes, he's gone in a little bit deep, had to turn in and correct a slide across the grass and
01:57he's had a miserable, miserable weekend.
02:00Oh, and going off, Sebastian Vettel, who's only had 26 laps around Albapark this weekend.
02:09This is down at Turn 11, we saw the results and that was the cause.
02:14Yeah, sorry about that. It's so difficult to test, I can't, I'm afraid.
02:22He's tipped in, look. Gone in deep.
02:25Oh, okay, Kev.
02:27Yeah, my bad, sorry.
02:30Daniel Ricciardo coming out. Will the Williams get in Ricciardo's way?
02:34Oh-ho-ho! Almost going into the back.
02:36Alex Albon on Daniel Ricciardo and Albon is now getting a little bit squeezed by Lance Stroll and the Aston
02:41Martin.
02:42There's three of them trying to go into Turn 3 now. Ricciardo on the inside.
02:46Albon goes the long way round the outside. He's going to lose out to Lance Stroll, who really picked his
02:51moment well.
02:53The warm-up is bad on this tyre. Just do what you can.
02:57As Lewis Hamilton sees the Red Bull going round the outside, trying to pass it, going into the chicane, and
03:03he has done that.
03:05Sergio Perez, he had the pace advantage. Going round the outside, gets a ripple of applause from the crowd.
03:11Now the safety car is out because Sebastian Vettel has stopped by the side of the track.
03:17George Russell has come into the pits. George Russell out again and up into third place.
03:25He was right behind Alex Albon.
03:27Oh no, he's on the exit of Turn 4. That's highly unusual. He's dropped it coming off the kerb.
03:37Holy cow, that was close.
03:39Yeah, understood.
03:41Whoa!
03:44Charles Leclerc, now we're going green, did not get away well.
03:47And Max Verstappen is right on his tail, and they're going to go wheel-to-wheel into Turn 1 here.
03:52Charles Leclerc has been leading this race. Verstappen fancies his chances.
03:55Leclerc stays ahead, but now we've got the rundown towards Turn 3.
03:59Can Verstappen get a slipstream behind the Ferrari and make an impression and take the lead of this race?
04:05Leclerc under braking, Verstappen second. Hamilton and George Russell, I should say, all over Max Verstappen.
04:11Behind him comes Fernando Alonso as well. And what an exciting restart this is.
04:18George Russell got into the dirt a bit there. Sergio Perez thought he might go round the outside into Turn
04:239.
04:23Now we've got the run down towards Turn 11, and Perez much closer than he has been before.
04:28Russell's looking in his mirrors, sees where Perez is. Perez, well, he doesn't need to look at his mirrors now.
04:34Sergio Perez has got past.
04:38Max Verstappen has pulled over to the side of the track.
04:42OK, Max, stop the car, please.
04:44Oh, and is this another power unit issue for Red Bull and Red Bull Powertrains?
04:56Well, that's, did he shut that off, the engine off himself?
05:00Yeah.
05:02I smell some weird fluid.
05:04Everything is shitting itself.
05:06So he smelt it, turned the engine off, was told by the team to turn the engine off and pulled
05:11over at Turn 2.
05:16This is Valtteri Bottas.
05:17Ooh, getting very, very close indeed, as the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll squeezes his way down the inside.
05:27Stroll made me go off the track. Just a bit of revealing. Overtake.
05:33Understood, understood. Keep pushing.
05:37Pierre Gasly has locked up into Turn 13.
05:40And there's another one that has gone onto the grass.
05:43And as a result, Gasly has been passed by Valtteri Bottas.
05:46Here he is. Nice gap on the inside. Don't mind if I do.
05:50Charles Leclerc keeping up Ferrari's happy hunting ground in Australia.
05:56His three previous career wins have come from pole.
05:59Make that four career wins from pole position as Charles Leclerc takes the fastest lap of the race and wins
06:06the Australian Grand Prix.
06:09Perez finishes on the podium, takes second place.
06:13And for his first podium of the season, George Russell comes home to finish in third.
06:18Ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
06:21Fifth for Norris, sixth for Daniel Ricciardo.
06:24Good finish for Pierre Gasly.
06:26They lost time in the early pit stops behind the safety car and it's a good recovery there.
06:31Alex Albon taking the final points of the day.
06:34Well done, Williams. Very good strategy.
06:36Left him hanging on 57 laps on a set of hard compound tyres.
06:42And they pitted him right at the final moment.
06:45Charles Leclerc started on pole and he came home to take the win as well.
06:50It has been a bumper weekend of motorsport festivities here in Albert Park.
06:55What a weekend as Formula One returns down under.
07:06by Ben Davies.
07:08You
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