George Russell wins Australian Grand Prix as wacky race signals new era of overtakes

The race itself was a mixture of the fun and the downright confusing, which was perhaps to be expected as the sport gets to grips with the biggest regulation overhaul in a generation.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, starting fourth, got off to a flyer thanks to his car’s smaller turbo and passed Russell in short order, with Lewis Hamilton almost doing likewise.

The opening laps were frantic. The lead changed hands six times in nine laps as the cars experienced the ‘yo-yo’ effect which had been predicted, with drivers depleting their batteries overtaking each other, then allowing their rivals to re-overtake them. 

By lap 25, five cars were already out of the race, there had been two virtual safety car (VSC) periods and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was already 11 laps down on the leaders as Aston Martin treated the grand prix as an in-race test.

Overall, F1 announced afterwards, there were 120 overtakes in the race, up from 45 last year.

A Ferrari strategy blunder – failing to bring either driver into the pits after the first VSC came out – effectively decided the race, allowing Russell and Antonelli to reclaim the lead once Ferrari did finally come in. 

Russell eventually took the chequered flag 2.9 seconds clear of his team-mate, with Leclerc holding off the fast-closing Hamilton for third. Hamilton, who was chasing his first podium for Ferrari, was just 0.6sec behind his team mate at the finish, which was encouraging for him.