Leclerc pleased Ferrari ‘delivered’ at start in Australia as he suggests P3 result was ‘best we could do’

Charles Leclerc was encouraged that Ferrari “delivered” by enjoying a strong start at the Australian Grand Prix, with the Monegasque pleased that the squad performed better on race day than in Qualifying – while also suggesting that his P3 result was the “best we could do”.

Having lined up in fourth on the grid, Leclerc had a lightning launch in Melbourne which saw him surge into the lead ahead of polesitter George Russell. A thrilling scrap then played out between the pair over the next few laps, continually swapping places as they fought for P1.

While both Russell and Mercedes team mate Kimi Antonelli made a pit stop during an early Virtual Safety Car phase – called due to Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar pulling off the track – Ferrari kept Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton out, as they did during a second VSC phase later on when Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas retired near the pit entry.

This meant that, when the Scuderia pair made their stops, they emerged behind the Silver Arrows cars – and while it initially seemed that Mercedes would pit again, the squad opted to run until the end, with Leclerc having to settle for third place behind Russell and Antonelli.

Speaking after jumping out of the car, Leclerc commented that he had a “fun first part of the race” before adding that “P3 is the best we could do today”. The 28-year-old also said: “It looked like Mercedes maybe had a bit more pace than us today, but maybe not as much as what we saw yesterday so that’s a good thing. I don’t think we would have won.”

When asked later on if he felt that Ferrari were in the mix, the Monegasque elaborated further on his Grand Prix as he responded: “Yeah, I don’t know. It looks like we are much better in the race than in Qualifying for sure, compared to Mercedes, but I don’t know if they’ve shown all their pace that they had.

“Today I was quite surprised that we were on as far as what we expected before, but on my side it’s been quite a poor race in terms of performance. I was quite slow all race long – we’ve got to look at that.

“The car felt very strange in general, so I don’t think I was in the right window of the set-up. This is something I will work for in order to be in a better place in Shanghai, but it was quite a crazy start. It was good to be first – there was lots of expectation on us, and we delivered so that was good.”

Pushed on whether he felt that he and the team could be in contention should they get on top of those issues, Leclerc reiterated the importance of the development race during the season ahead.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but it’s only the first race and it’s going to be a championship won with development, as I’ve said many times,” he explained. “We’ve got plenty coming – I’m sure all the others do too, but hopefully we are on the better side of things. Lots of work ahead anyway.”