Mercedes 1-2 in Melbourne
As expected, George Russell won in Australia and Mercedes secured a 1-2 finish. Shuffling the deck at the start of the race was an amazing Charles Leclerc at the getaway and then tough in the fight with Russell for the lead of the race.
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The Ferrari driver always responded blow for blow, staying in the lead, and the Mercedes pit wall therefore took advantage of the Virtual Safety Car caused by Isack Hadjar’s technical DNF to stop both W17s, which thus essentially overtook the Ferraris in the pits (Russell also did it on track against a Lewis Hamilton who was, however, by then at the end of his stint).
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Russell commented on the GP to Sky Sport emphasizing that the VSC was probably decisive: “Qualifying was a surprise, but today the GP went as we expected, with the Ferraris very fast. Without the Virtual Safety Car, I don’t know if we would have won the race because the Ferraris were fast in the right places where you could attack. Will we win all the races this year? No, the competition is too strong. Today everyone expected us to dominate and that wasn’t the case.”
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