The surprise biggest indicator of Ferrari's 2022 F1 points downfall

Looking back to the early races of 2022 and Ferrari’s challenge to Red Bull and Max Verstappen was going better than many expected. But it has lost so much ground a surprise rival can even pip Charles Leclerc to runner-up in the standings if given the chance

Alex Kalinauckas Sep 20, 2022, 1:15 PM

Upd: Sep 20, 2022, 1:24 PM

For anyone fortunate enough to have visited, it’s rather hard not to constantly miss Melbourne. And when he looks back to Formula 1’s first race in the iconic Australian city for three years, that really applies to 2022 Melbourne winner Charles Leclerc.

The Ferrari driver was dominant on a weekend where Red Bull couldn’t match its red rival on outright pace or tyre performance and its star ultimately stopped at the side of the track. That put Leclerc 46 points clear of Max Verstappen and in prime position for first title glory if he and Ferrari could keep it up. As we now know, neither could.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.