00:00And it's lights out and away we go! Decent start from Charles Leclerc and he gets ahead then of Max Verstappen with Sergio Perez coming at his teammate.
00:10There's Lewis Hamilton and George Russell down the inside. Leclerc through for Verstappen.
00:14Lewis Hamilton has moved his Mercedes up and into a further place as we head now down towards turn three.
00:20There's Esteban Olcov having a move on Daniel Ricciardo. Leclerc goes through for Verstappen, then Hamilton ahead of Perez, then in third.
00:26Then comes George Russell, Lando Norris gets slightly compromised, Daniel Ricciardo all over the back of his teammate's rear wing.
00:32Carlos Sainz bogged down there, behind the fast starting for once, Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas.
00:39As we now head through the little flick, nine and ten, and going wheel to wheel side by side, Valtteri Bottas and the Alfa Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda.
00:47Bottas is in 11th, Tsunoda's 12th, Alonso's dropped to 10th, Ocon in 8th.
00:53And they're all just compressing up now at turn 11. Carlos Sainz, he's struggling a bit in these opening laps and barging wheels there with Mick Schumacher.
01:01Sainz tried to go around the outside. Remember Sainz and Alonso on the hard compound tyre.
01:06Just watching Sergio Perez and his start and watching closely once again how he has to pull out before he collects his teammate Max Verstappen.
01:16Yeah, he had to be cautious there, didn't he?
01:19This visor cam is going to be very interesting later on in the race as the sun starts to go down.
01:24And we'll see how the sun can impact the driver's vision around here.
01:29Just constantly checking his mirrors, isn't he? Constantly.
01:32That is Carlos Sainz, who looks like he's beached that Ferrari in the gravel on the exit of turn 10.
01:42Past Mick Schumacher and then, wow, he's going in a little bit too hot. Couldn't keep it on the tarmac.
01:48And that grass, not exactly grippy, even though we haven't had much rain round here.
01:52Yes, he's gone in a little bit deep, had to turn in and correct a slide across the grass and he's had a miserable, miserable weekend.
02:00Oh, and going off Sebastian Vettel, who's only had 26 laps around Albapark this weekend.
02:09This is down at turn 11. We saw the results and that was the cause.
02:13Yeah, sorry about that. It's so difficult to judge that car on the freight.
02:17He's tipped in, look. Gone in deep.
02:26Oh, OK, Kev.
02:27Yeah, my bet. Sorry.
02:30Daniel Ricciardo coming out. Will the Williams get in Ricciardo's way?
02:34Oh-ho-ho! Almost going into the back.
02:36Alex Albon on Daniel Ricciardo.
02:38And Albon is now getting a little bit squeezed by Lance Stroll and the Aston Martin.
02:42There's three of them trying to go into turn three now.
02:45Ricciardo on the inside. Albon goes the long way round the outside.
02:48He's going to lose out to Lance Stroll, who really picked his moment well.
02:54The warm-up is bad on this tyre. Just do what you can.
02:57As Lewis Hamilton sees the Red Bull going round the outside, trying to pass it, going into the chicane.
03:03And he has done that. Sergio Perez. He had the pace advantage.
03:07Going round the outside, gets a ripple of applause from the crowd.
03:10Safety car.
03:11Now the safety car is out because Sebastian Vettel has stopped by the side of the track.
03:17George Russell has come into the pits. George Russell out again and up into third place.
03:23He was right behind Alex Albon.
03:27Oh no, he's on the exit of turn four. That's highly unusual. He's dropped it coming off the kerb.
03:37Holy cow, that was close.
03:39Yeah, understood.
03:40Whoa!
03:44Charles Leclerc, now we're going green. Did not get away well.
03:47And Max Verstappen is right on his tail. And they're going to go wheel to wheel into turn one here.
03:52Charles Leclerc has been leading this race. Verstappen fancies his chances.
03:55Leclerc stays ahead, but now we've got the rundown towards turn three.
04:00Can Verstappen get a slipstream behind the Ferrari and make an impression and take the lead of this race?
04:05Leclerc under braking. Verstappen second. Hamilton and George Russell, I should say, all over Max Verstappen.
04:11Behind him comes Fernando Alonso as well. And what an exciting restart this is.
04:18George Russell got into the dirt a bit there. Sergio Perez thought he might go around the outside into turn nine.
04:23Now we've got the run down towards turn 11 and Perez much closer than he has been before.
04:28Russell's looking in his mirrors, sees where Perez is. Perez, well, he doesn't need to look in his mirrors now.
04:33Sergio Perez has got past. Max Verstappen has pulled over to the side of the track.
04:42OK, Max, stop the car, please. Oh, and is this another power unit issue for Red Bull and Red Bull powertrains?
04:51Well, that's, did he shut that off, the engine off himself?
05:00Yeah.
05:01Well, it's now some words for it.
05:04God, everything is shitting itself.
05:06So he smelt it, turned the engine off, was told by the team to turn the engine off and pulled over at turn two.
05:16This is Valtteri Bottas. Oh, getting very, very close indeed as the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll squeezes his way down the inside.
05:27The Stroll made me to go off the track just to review the overtake.
05:33Understood, understood. Good question.
05:37Pierre Gasly has locked up into turn 13.
05:40There's another one that has gone onto the grass.
05:43And as a result, Gasly has been passed by Valtteri Bottas.
05:46Here he is. Nice gap on the inside. Don't mind if I do.
05:50Charles Leclerc keeping up Ferrari's happy hunting ground in Australia.
05:55His three previous career wins have come from pole.
05:58Make that four career wins from pole position as Charles Leclerc takes the fastest lap of the race and wins the Australian Grand Prix.
06:09Perez finishes on the podium, takes second place.
06:12And for his first podium of the season, George Russell comes home to finish in third,
06:17ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton in fourth, fifth for Norris, sixth for Daniel Ricciardo.
06:24Good finish for Pierre Gasly.
06:26They lost time in the early pit stops behind the safety car and it's a good recovery there.
06:30Alex Albon taking the final points of the day.
06:34Well done, Williams. Very good strategy.
06:37Left him hanging on 57 laps on a set of hard compound tyres
06:42and they pitted him right at the final moment.
06:45Charles Leclerc started on pole and he came home to take the win as well.
06:50It has been a bumper weekend of motorsport festivities here in Albert Park.
06:55What a weekend as Formula One returns down under.
