After the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races I was looking forward to a more entertaining grand prix in Melbourne as past Melbourne Grand Prix have proven.

The race got underway in what is now usual fashion with Verstappen taking the lead and starting to move away from the field to try and be over a second ahead of the opposition so as to be clear of DRS. But instead of the usual 2 lap delay for DRS there was only one before it was enabled. Verstappen's gap on Sainz was 0.9 seconds at the end of lap one, so Sainz was able to use DRS to catch up to Verstappen and then after a moment from Verstappen going a bit wide in one of the corners leading up to the back straight, he was able to overtake Verstappen down the back straight(s) to take the lead at the end of lap 2.

There was audible excitement from the crowd as Sainz headed down the main straight well ahead of Verstappen to start lap 3. Verstappen's Red Bull was having rear brake issues which cumulated in his slowing down at the back of the circuit with plumes of smoke coming from the rear of the Red Bull. Verstappen crawled back to the pits with the right rear brake assembly on fire. Verstappen was out of the race.

Meanwhile, the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc were leading the way ahead of the McLarens, Mercedes and Aston Martins, these being the standout contenders. Tyre degradation was a bit of an issue and teams opted for a 2 stop strategy. Some tried to make a one stop strategy work but soon realised this was not a viable option.

Hamilton was the next retirement on lap 15 after a power unit failure. Hamilton's qualifying at 11th was not helpful but choosing to start the race on soft compound tyres enabled him to climb up the field before his retirement. At least he relax and have a cup of tea with Verstappen... if he wanted to.

The final retirement was that of Russell in the other Mercedes. On the penultimate lap (56) Russell got a bit too close to Alonso's Aston Martin and Russell lost control and sent his Mercedes off into the barriers and out on to the track resting sideways on 2 broken wheels. Russell blamed the incident on the fact that Alonso braked earlier than he had previously braked before and the stewards post race agreed, penalising Alonso 10secs. I thought this was pretty ordinary all round. Alonso was always going to try something to slow Russell down as they were coming up to the DRS zone for the last time and I am sure Alonso was trying to create the largest possible gap between himself and Russell before the DRS. Russell should have realised this and also he should have realised he was carrying way too much speed. Russell would have been trying to get as close as possible to Alonso before the DRS zone so that he had the best chance of overtaking Alonso so I feel that Russell was not being entirely honest and clearly needs to mature some more as a racing driver... but this is just my opinion.

Nothing can be taken away from Sainz though, who 2 weeks ago had his appendix removed and could not drive in Saudi Arabia. He drove a good race to bring his Ferrari home in first place. A well earned and deserved win. Leclerc brought his Ferrari home in second spot to give Ferrari a 1-2 finish which they haven't experienced in a long time. The McLarens did very well with Norris taking 3rd and Piastri taking 4th much to the delight of the home crowd. Perez finished in 5th having tyre balance issues causing greater tyre degradation than the opposition. Alonso finished over the line in 6th only to be given a 10 second time penalty for "dangerous" driving incident that saw Russell loose his Mercedes into the wall. Next to finish was Stroll in the other Aston Martin upgraded from 7th to 6th followed by Tsunoda in the RB Honda also upgraded from 8th to 7th. Then Hulkenberg in the Haas in 9th and Magnussen in the other Haas in 10th.

Albon finished just outside of the points in 11th place. It was a shame they did not get any points for their efforts on what was a difficult weekend for them having had to write-off a chassis after Albon's crash in practice. This resulted in Sargeant giving his chassis to Albon for the race and Sargeant then sitting out of the grand prix.

The other Australian driver in the race finished 12th in his RB Honda some 5 places lower than his team mate. Ricciardo appears not to be able to get any pace out of his car and rumours have already started about his being replaced sooner than later. Either way he needs to do better as there is a raft of talent coming up from the F2 and F3 ranks that are going to be knocking on doors looking for a drive next year.

The Alpine Renaults and the Saubers filled the remainder of the finishing field. The Alpine cars are struggling to show any real form this year and Gasly crossing the pit lane exit white line for a 5 second penalty does not help. Let's hope that both these teams are able to close the gap along with Williams and generate some more exciting close racing for us.

Well we are off to Suzuka in Japan in about 10 days time for Round 4. Let's hope the racing gets better and better as the year progresses. Until then, stay safe well and happy.