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Formula 1 Australian GP

F1 Australian GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race

Sunday's action from the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park

Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-22, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

Over two years on from the cancelled Australian GP due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, F1 returns to a revamped Albert Park.

The key track changes see sections of the circuit widened, the Turn 9-10 chicane taken out to increase speeds in a flowing back section and the entire layout has been resurfaced. All changes have been made in the hope of increasing overtaking opportunities and creating more exciting races.

F1 world championship leader Charles Leclerc starts from pole position for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in an eventful qualifying which saw two red flags.

Fernando Alonso crashed in Q3 and Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll collided during Q1 which resulted in the Aston Martin driver picking up a three-place grid penalty. Alex Albon was disqualified from qualifying due to an insufficient fuel sample left in his Williams and will also start at the back.

The Australian GP gets underway at 6am BST (3pm local time).

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A flurry of action in the pits under the safety car. Stroll has made his third stop of the race now.
Safety car
Replays show Vettel dropped his Aston Martin on the Turn 4 kerb and finds the barriers. Plenty of damage to the front of the car.
Pit stop
Russell has massively profited in this safety car period as he makes a cheap pitstop and rejoins in third place ahead of both Perez and Hamilton. He must be buzzing.
Safety Car deployed. Vettel has stopped on track at Turn 5.
Hamilton had come out ahead of Perez but on cold tyres he can't keep the Red Bull at bay for long, as the Mexican takes fifth place at Turn 10.
But Norris responds and takes the eighth position back from the Aussie.
Ricciardo has managed to jump his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris now the pit stop shake up is complete.
Pit stop
Leclerc makes his stop at the end of lap 22 and retains the lead after Hamilton also pitted at the same time.
Pit stop
A lap later Ricciardo makes his stop in the McLaren, another 2.4s stop, and comes out directly in front of Albon at the apex of Turn 1!
Pit stop
Gasly and Zhou pit and rejoin behind Ocon in P15 and P16.
Perez, on the hards, comes out in ninth place, with Norris also on the hards back out in 12th.
Bottas has moved into the points in P9 but the Alfa Romeo driver is yet to make a stop.
Pit stop
At the end of lap 21 Perez pits to release Hamilton behind him. Norris has also pitted from sixth place.
Hamilton has stormed up to the rear of Perez and is looking to repay the favour at Turn 3. The Mercedes driver has a look but thinks better of it. Perez's pace has fallen off a cliff.
Alonso dives underneath Gasly for P8 at Turn 3. The pair are behind Verstappen in P7 following his stop.
Pit stop
Verstappen is called in for a pitstop and takes on fresh hards, coming out directly in front of Gasly and Alonso in seventh place. That was close.
Leclerc is producing an unforgiving pace at the front with a 8.6s lead on Verstappen.
Ocon is the first of the top 10 to pit from P8 on lap 18/58. The Alpine driver rejoins in P17 on the hard tyres.
Perez is keeping pace with Verstappen but the gaps between the frontrunners is slowly expanding as this stint continues on. The Mexican is 4.7s off his team-mate.
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Magnussen apologises to the team "My bad, sorry".
Bottas takes P11 from Tsunoda. Magnussen tucked up behind the Japanese driver runs across the grass at Turn 11-12 while trying to pass Tsunoda. Lucky boy.
Leclerc is half a second a lap faster than Verstappen at this stage of the race as he's told over team radio to go, "Plan A plus five". That'll mean a one-stop strategy made five laps later than planned.
Bit more action in pit lane now. Schumacher is next to take service after his little moment at Turn 12.
Latifi is the next driver to venture into the pits for Williams. Hard tyres fitted.
Kevin Magnussen has climbed up to P13 now. The Dane takes advantage of a mistake from haas team-mate Mick Schumacher who runs wide at Turn 12. Haas have struggled for pace this weekend having been unable to nail the set up on its cars.
As expected the Mercedes pair are not able to keep pace with the front three, with Hamilton almost three seconds behind Perez and has Russell, Norris and Ricciardo tucked up behind him.
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Verstappen over team radio: "My left front is completely grained." A lock-up at Turn 13 hasn't helped that situation which allows Leclerc to expand his lead to 4.3s.
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Vettel apologises to his team over the radio for his error that resulted in a visit to a gravel trap. Tough times down at Aston Martin.
Stopwatch
Leclerc puts in another fastest lap to increase his lead to three seconds.
Perez lost around five seconds to the leaders stuck behind Hamilton, as Leclerc's lead on Verstappen grows to 1.8s.
Vettel has run off the road but has got going again, and is now last behind Aston Martin team-mate Stroll.
On lap 10 Perez moves up to third place ahead of Hamilton. He uses the double dose of DRS at the start of the lap and dives up the inside at Turn 3.
Stopwatch

Leclerc puts in a new fastest lap of 1m23.589s to pull out a 1.2s lead on Verstappen and perhaps crucially out of DRS range. Behind Perez is losing touch with the front two behind Hamilton.

Leclerc makes a smooth restart to keep the lead into Turn 1 as everyone else keeps in line to go racing again.
Green flag
Another rule clarification that came this weekend was on the safety car restart rules, basically you can't pull alongside the car in front. Verstappen has been given that reminder over team radio.
Tsunoda has enjoyed a strong start in the AlphaTauri, moving ahead of Bottas' Alfa Romeo to P11.
The safety car is coming in at the end of lap six as Sainz's Ferrari is cleared away.
Stroll has come into the pits again. He switched from hards to mediums in the first stop and then changed back to hards in the second stop.
None of the frontrunners have gambled for a very early pitstop yet, with 53 laps to go in the race and track position usually vital at Albert Park.
Local fans will be happy Ricciardo has had a clean start. The Aussie sits in P7 where he started on the grid ahead of Ocon, Gasly and Alonso. Stroll has come into the pits under the safety car.

By: autosport.com

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