10
07:20
Overtaking by Sergio Pérez
On lap 10, Pérez moves up to third ahead of Hamilton. He sucks in and then stabs inside Turn 3. However, the gap to the front is already four seconds.
9
07:18
Leclerc settles down slightly
At the front, Charles Leclerc is meanwhile slightly driving away from Verstappen with a fast lap. 1.4 seconds lie between him and Verstappen.
7
07:17
Pérez has to pass
Sergio Pérez must now quickly find a way past Lewis Hamilton, because the gap between the Mercedes and the top duo is already growing enormously.
7
07:16
Schumacher in 13th place
Mick Schumacher is currently in 13th position in the Alfa Romeo sandwich. Sebastian Vettel is 16th behind Schumacher’s teammates.
7
07:15
No difficulties for Leclerc
Charles Leclerc gets off well at the restart and can maintain his lead in front of Verstappen. Hamilton tries to attack Verstappen, but then has to back down and falls straight back.
6
07:14
Safety car comes in
At the end of this lap, the safety car will come back into the pits and Charles Leclerc will set the pace. Verstappen needs to be careful. Because from Australia there is a new rule that clearly states that you have to stay behind the person in front of you and are not allowed to sit next to them. A procedure that Verstappen liked to use.
5
07:13
Pit stop by Lance Stroll
Stroll has pitted again. He now switches back to the hard. Either there was some problem or you are trying to get something out of this with a risky strategy.
4
07:11
Pit stop by Lance Stroll
For his part, Lance Stroll decides to stop early. All other drivers stay outside.
4
07:09
Schumacher in luck
A repetition shows that Mick Schumacher was really lucky with the Sainz departure. Because the Ferrari star almost hit him when he was spinning.
3
07:08
safety car
The race control changes their decision again and now sends the correct safety car onto the track to collect the field. Leclerc is the leader ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton.
2
07:07
Virtual Safety Car
The virtual safety car is deployed while Sainz is stuck in the gravel trap. He tries to free himself, but no chance.
2
07:06
Accident by Carlos Sainz
What a race start to forget! Sainz loses his Ferrari and ends up in the gravel. The Ferrari is stuck and the race is over. Is the safety car already coming?
1
07:05
Mick Schumacher overtaking
Class! Mick Schumacher uses the duel in front of him and it goes past Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard is now just 14th and doesn’t seem to have gotten any temperature in his tires at all.
1
07:04
Start race
The lights are off, the race is on! Leclerc can keep his top position. Behind them, Hamilton is putting a lot of pressure and with his strong start, the Brit jumps up to third place. Sainz, who is only 13, didn’t get away at all.
07:02
It’s about to start
The cars return to the starting grid. Now it won’t be long until the start of the race!
07:00
Warm-up lap started
The warm-up lap has started and Charles Leclerc is leading the field around the track one last time before the start. Most drivers start the race on Medium. Sainz, Vettel and Stroll are on the used hard. Alonso, Magnussen and Albon pull up a fresh Hard at the start.
06:56
More action through conversion?
The track in Melbourne is not necessarily considered a hit on the Formula 1 calendar and there have been hardly any overtaking maneuvers in many years. A route conversion should change that this year. Five corners have been significantly widened and changed in the camber area – including Turns 1, 3 and 6. The chicane in Sector 2, which formed the former Turns 9 and 10, has disappeared, giving way to a long approach designed to allow drivers to at to drive closer together at high speed. There are three DRS zones in total.
06:53
Albon ran out of fuel
Only Alex Albon is further behind. Williams took too many risks with fuel in qualifying and Albon got stuck with his car. Since no fuel sample could be taken, it rained a disqualification.
06:50
Vettel from 17th on the grid
For Sebastian Vettel, the return after his corona infection was anything but smooth: First he missed the 2nd practice session due to a defect, then his Aston Martin ended up in the 3rd practice session in the barriers and Vettel had to worry about qualifying for a long time. He was able to do one more lap there, but it wasn’t enough for more than 17th place on the grid. Even further behind is teammate Lance Stroll, who, by crashing with Latifi and triggering red flags, was the one who unintentionally bought Vettel’s crew valuable time on repairs. Stroll subsequently received a three-position penalty for his accident, but this did not change his starting position. On top of that there are three penalty points.
06:45
What can Schumacher get out of it?
Mick Schumacher came to Australia with big ambitions because the Haas went really well in the first two races. But already in the first training session it became apparent that Haas was struggling with balance problems in Melbourne. The results from the first races seemed far away and 15th and 16th places for Schumacher and Magnussen were the maximum in qualifying. The way to the points is further than one had certainly hoped for before the weekend.
06:42
What’s up at Alpine?
You can also be curious about Alpine. Fernando Alonso hit the barriers on his flying lap in Q3 after a mechanical problem and was therefore unable to implement what the car is really capable of. He starts from tenth place today and it will be interesting to see what will be possible in racing trim. Esteban Ocon starts from eighth place.
06:38
Carlos Sainz only ninth
Carlos Sainz experienced a Saturday to tick off. The Spaniard was among the front runners in practice and the first qualifying sessions, but was unable to set a top lap in the crucial Q3 of all times and couldn’t get past ninth place. First he got red flags, then his Ferrari didn’t want to start, which meant that Sainz lost time and couldn’t do two warm-up laps.
06:33
McLaren on the up
After two difficult races, McLaren was able to record an upward trend. Lando Norris secured fourth place in qualifying and will start next to Pérez from the second row of the grid. Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo will also start at his home Grand Prix in seventh place from the top ten. The two Mercedes drivers have gathered between the two McLaren drivers. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have been struggling with the balance of the car since the first practice session in Australia and thus played no role in qualifying when it came to allocating the best grid positions.
06:27
Leclerc versus Verstappen
Also in the third race of the season it seems that Charles Leclerc will be the big duel against Max Verstappen. The two drivers dueled for victory in the opener in Bahrain before Verstappen retired with three laps to go and there was also a close duel between the two drivers in Saudi Arabia. In Sunday’s race, Charles Leclerc will start from first place after a strong qualifying lap, while Verstappen will start the race right next to him from second place. Sergio Pérez will start from third place in the second Red Bull.
Warm welcome!
After a three-year break, Formula 1 is back at Albert Park in Melbourne this year. Will there be another duel between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in the third race of the season or can another driver strike? It starts at 7:00 a.m.!