Conclusions Australian GP | Red Bull should be worried

Charles Leclerc also won the race in Australia after the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Monegasque thus showed Max Verstappen, who crashed out after 39 laps, what he is capable of. These are the conclusions after the GP of Australia.

Prior to the season, Verstappen was the big contender for the world title. However, after winning the world championship in 2021, Verstappen seems to be having a hard time with Leclerc. The frontrunner not only has an excellent car with which Ferrari can make it difficult for any opponent but has now also proven his personal qualities.

In Australia, it all started in qualifying. Verstappen set a good time, but then Leclerc squeezed everything out of him in the final lap to take pole position. During the start Verstappen was unable to overtake Leclerc, which resulted in Leclerc taking the win relatively easily. In short, Verstappen will have a tough time beating Leclerc.

On the Red Bull side, meanwhile, things are unsettled. After the Bahrain GP, where Perez and Verstappen had to drop out due to fuel supply problems, it was back to square one in Australia. Verstappen had to give up an almost certain second place to put his car safely alongside the track. They were expensive points for a team that aspires to take another world title.

After the race Verstappen seemed to have put winning the world championship out of his mind for the time being. Rightly so, given the gap Verstappen has now caught up with Leclerc. The Ferrari driver leads the standings with 71 points, while Verstappen can only be found in sixth place with just 25 points. Red Bull clearly needs to hurry, otherwise it is in the process of a lost year.

Mercedes could be quite satisfied with a third and fourth place in Australia. With George Russell and Lewis Hamilton the team has two drivers with great qualities, which became apparent last weekend. On track they showed a healthy dose of battle, with Russell emerging as the winner at the end of the race.

Although Hamilton has more experience with his seven world titles, Russell does not seem intent on making things difficult for his teammate. With twenty races still to go, an internal fight seems to be brewing at the German formation as well as a result. Mercedes only seems to allow this to happen, in order to raise the level of the car further and further.