Leclerc exhibits in Melbourne on a disastrous Sunday for Sainz and Alonso

• Australian GP Qualifying and times

• Alonso's ordeal "This bad luck is incredible"

• World Cup 2022 Leclerc, leader with Ferrari

To the supremacy of Ferrari was added the weakness of Red Bull and

gave another blow of authority in Melbourne in this World Cup start.

When with 19 laps to go a breakdown left

out of action , the Monegasque was already dominating with absolute firmness and thus was able to achieve it until the checkered flag.

As if that were not enough, the abandonment of

in the first lap further reinforced Leclerc's status, who was also not demanded by

and

, his companions on the podium.

A round weekend for the leader of the championship, with

, victory and the tip of the fastest lap (1:20.260).

No one bothered Leclerc on his walk through Albert Park, where he won by just over 20 seconds despite two

.

Although considerable, this advantage is not enough by itself to explain the dominance of the World Cup leader.

He did everything well, blocking any attempt by Verstappen, shattering the forecasts that gave Red Bull as the favorite in the long runs, calculating every detail with cold clairvoyance.

As in the golden days of

, he was fourth at the finish line, although with no chance of even disturbing the second podium of his teammate at Mercedes.

Nor was

able to snatch that last bonus point from Leclerc and his second pit stop ended up relegating him to seventeenth position.

As he had announced, the Spaniard bet on all or nothing, white or black, although the circumstances of the race turned their back on him again.

His pace wasn't as explosive as expected at Alpine and doubts about the right time to change tires didn't help either.

That medium compound later suffered severe degradation and

significantly slowed it down, so the two-time champion ended up crossing the finish line last.

configuration error

An unfortunate concatenation of factors ruined Sainz's race, who went out on the grid with a configuration error on his steering wheel.

Ferrari had chosen the harder tire, trying to play against it, but that choice would make their situation extremely difficult against more agile cars with the soft compound.

As if that wasn't enough, the clutch didn't respond promptly at the moment the lights went out and only two laps later, the man from Madrid had fallen to fourteenth position.

When he wanted to get rid of

, he ended up on the grass, which mercilessly spat him onto the gravel.

And there was no way to dig up the car.

His first retirement with Ferrari, the cruelest way to end a streak of 17 consecutive races in the points.

Leclerc was then sailing at an impossible pace for Verstappen, who had complained of

on the front left tyre.

On lap 18, when he was nine seconds behind the leader, he went on to change his tires.

Four more laps Leclerc endured before also mounting the hard tire, with which his great rival dyed the time table purple.

Hamilton was able to win the position from Pérez there, thanks to the

, although what was truly significant in that section was Sebastian Vettel's accident, which gave way to the second

of the afternoon.

This moment could have favored Alonso, who had been stretching the useful life of his tires, always thinking a little further.

He added to his error-free navigation a nice overtaking of Pierre Gasly, so that the privileged positions began to be closer to his reach.

So when the opportunity arose to take advantage of the safety car, a few laps before what would have really favored him, in Alpine they decided to leave him on the track.

That idea seemed to respond to the all or nothing strategy that Fernando himself had advanced yesterday.

The manifest superiority of the SF-75 was punctually transferred to the time table.

No matter how hard Verstappen tried, running in 1:21.2, Leclerc returned every blow with total sufficiency.

Until with 19 laps to go before the checkered flag, a cloud of smoke over the RB18 brought despair to the Dutch fans.

The second abandonment in three races for the current champion, who ordered the stewards to apply the fire extinguishers on the flames in his vehicle.

Pérez, after overtaking Russell on the track and logically alarmed by what had happened, asked his track engineer.

"Don't worry about Max, because he's not relevant to us,"

replied .

Without any option to recover the 13 seconds against the leader, the Mexican would have enough to hold his position against the push of the Mercedes.

If Red Bull doesn't find solutions to these reliability problems soon, Leclerc will open even more of a hole on the way to the title.

Within two weeks, thousands of

are already preparing the flags to enjoy it live in Imola.

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• Fernando Alonso

• Carlos Sainz Jr.

• Max Verstappen

• Red Bull Racing

• Sergio Perez

• Lewis Hamilton

• Mercedes GP