Scuderia Ferrari has won the Australian Grand Prix for a tenth time. Charles Leclerc represented the Maranello marque on the top step of the podium, taking his second win of the season, his fourth with Ferrari, putting him level with Eddie Irvine, Clay Regazzoni and John Surtees. Leclerc led all 58 laps around Albert Park, also setting the race fastest lap, thus taking his first ever “Grand Chelem.” It was Scuderia Ferrari’s 240th victory. The only regret on the day was Carlos Sainz’s retirement on lap 2.
It’s always great to win and it also boosts the morale of the team who deserve all this, because they have all developed the right mentality to face difficult moments head on and make the most of any opportunity. We always say that you can only come out on top in Formula 1 if you do everything to perfection and I think today’s race proved that. Charles delivered a mature performance, something he is now making a habit of.It’s a shame for Carlos, because his weekend was complicated by a series of circumstances in both qualifying and the race, which affected his performance. I know him well enough to believe that he will turn the negatives to his advantage and come back stronger next time he’s in the car. The start of the season has been positive and the work of the past few months is paying off. We will continue to concentrate on ourselves and take it one race at a time. We have earned some time with our families over Easter, but then we will get back to it, working on the next race, which being at Imola, takes on even greater importance. We can’t wait to be there and we’re looking forward to seeing the circuit packed with our fans, to share this good start to the year.
Mattia Binotto #EssereFerrari
“
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.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!
Charles Leclerc #Charles16
“
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. 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.
Carlos Sainz #Carlos55
4Qualifying
CHARLES LECLERC QUALIFYING SESSIONS
Q1 - SOFT TIRE
1:18.881
Q2 - SOFT TIRE
1:18.606
Q3 - SOFT TIRE
1:17.868
POSITION
1
GAP FROM LEADER
+0.0
CARLOS SAINZ QUALIFYING SESSIONS
Q1 - SOFT TIRE
1:18.983
Q2 - SOFT TIRE
1:18.469
Q3 - SOFT TIRE
1:19.408
POSITION
9
GAP FROM LEADER
+1.540
“
I’m happy with my result today.
This circuit is really tricky and I've always struggled here in the past. It may not have seemed like it this weekend because we’ve been quite fast, but I’ve done a lot of work to optimise my performance. The team did a great job. We stayed calm at all times, despite red flags, yellow flags and traffic. The biggest limitation for me was the sun. It was low and at an inconvenient angle and it was almost impossible to see where I was in Q2 and most of Q3. I took a lot of risks and I’m glad that I managed to put together such a good lap in the end. It doesn’t look too bad in terms of race pace. It’s very close with our competitors so it will be a difficult but exciting race tomorrow.
Charles Leclerc #Charles16
“
We had good pace today
but my Q3 went completely wrong. We got the red flag right before the finish line of the first flying lap and on my second one, I was about to go out but there was a delay in firing up my car. We finally got going but I didn’t have time to do the preparation lap, which meant the tyres were far from ready for the push lap, sliding everywhere. Tomorrow I’ll obviously try to recover as much as possible, but without the fourth DRS zone the circuit hasn’t changed that much from the old one and it will be tricky to overtake. Anyway, tomorrow is another day and we’ll try to come back.
Carlos Sainz #Carlos55
5Practice sessions
Charles Leclerc Practice sessions
FP1 - POSITION: 2
1:20.377
FP2 - POSITION: 1
1:18.978
FP3 - POSITION:
1:19.249
Carlos Sainz Practice sessions
FP1 - POSITION: 1
1:19.806
FP2 - POSITION: 3
1:19.376
FP3 - POSITION: 5
1:19.419
6Circuit Info
Sectors
Turns
Max Speed
DRS
LocationMelbourne - Albert Park
First GP1996
Circuit length5.279 km
Race Distance306.24 km
Laps58
Lap Record1:24.125Michael Schumacher (2004)
7Melbourne Circuit
Scuderia Ferrari has nine Australian wins to its name