With an unchallenged start-finish victory, Charles Leclerc has confidently extended his Formula 1 lead and further increased the pressure on the hapless world champion Max Verstappen.
While the Ferrari driver triumphed at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday with a controlled drive, Verstappen retired early for the second time this season through no fault of his own.
The defending champion had to park his Red Bull, which was burning at the rear, in frustration in Melbourne and watch as Leclerc fell even further in the world championship standings.
After his second win of the season, the 24-year-old from Monaco is already 46 points ahead of the Dutchman, who, like at the start in Bahrain, was eliminated in second place.
Behind Leclerc, who can dream of the first world title of his career early on, Sergio Perez from Mexico came second in the second Red Bull.
The Brit George Russell fought for third place in the Mercedes.
Leclerc's former teammate Sebastian Vettel did not finish in the Aston Martin after his compulsory Corona break.
After a self-inflicted accident, the race was over before half time.
Mick Schumacher failed again in the Haas when trying to score points for the first time in his career.
When he returned to Australia after a two-year break from Corona, Leclerc confidently defended his pole position at the start.
His Spanish team colleague Carlos Sainz, who came second in the World Championship, only lost ten positions and was eliminated on the second lap after an overtaking manoeuvre.
Sainz slid off the track and was lucky not to take another car with him.
Schumacher's car in particular was dangerously close.
In front of more than 120,000 spectators in the sold-out Albert Park, Leclerc also managed to defend first place at the restart after the first safety car phase.
Behind them, Verstappen kept in touch, and third-placed record world champion Lewis Hamilton quickly lost ground again.
Hamilton's Mercedes team continues to struggle to provide a competitive car at the start of the year.
The Constructors' World Champion of the last few years is currently not in a position to dominate like in previous years.
Sebastian Vettel was further away from the top than he had hoped.
After surviving the coronavirus infection, the 34-year-old only started his first Grand Prix of the season from 17th position.
The Hessian had to take a break in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, in Australia he had difficult days even before the race.
An engine failure on Friday and a self-inflicted accident on Saturday meant that the 53-time Grand Prix winner hardly had to be prepared.
Vettel had won in a Ferrari in Melbourne in 2017 and 2018, in the Aston Martin he could not free himself at the end of the field and was last after eleven laps after an involuntary excursion into the gravel bed.
After an early pit stop by Schumacher, Vettel overtook his German compatriot in 17th place, but it was all over on lap 24.
The Heppenheimer lost control of his car after a driving error and crashed into the track barrier.
After the heavy impact, he was examined by the doctors, but a short time later he was back in the paddock in good health.
Leclerc meanwhile extended his lead lap by lap, the two Red Bulls led by Verstappen behind them could not do anything and quickly decided on a tactical maneuver.
With an early pit stop and the switch to hard tires, the world champion increased the pressure on Leclerc.
Leclerc was not impressed by this and held the lead before the safety car had to go to the track, which had been renewed the previous year, for the second time after Vettel's crash.
At the second restart, Verstappen came dangerously close and was right next to Leclerc at the end of the home stretch.
In his Ferrari, however, he was able to defend the lead thanks to the Italians' enormously powerful engine and pulled away again until Verstappen had to get out of his broken car in frustration on the 39th lap.
That was already necessary at the start of the season when he didn't finish in Bahrain in a similar situation.
As a result, nothing more happened at the top and Leclerc met for his fourth career win.