Leclerc wins Australian GP for second victory of the season

MELBOURNE: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc clinched his second victory of the Formula One season with a comfortable pole-to-flag win at the Australian GP here on Sunday while reigning champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull was forced into another retirement. Leclerc (1:27:46:548) dominated on the Albert Park circuit as the Monegasque bagged his fourth career win by finishing more than 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Sergio Perez (+20.524 seconds) from Red Bull in the 58-lap race. The Mercedes duo of George Russell (+25.593 seconds) and Lewis Hamilton (+28.543 seconds) came third and fourth respectively. Verstappen was second behind Leclerc when his car suffered a reliability problem and rolled to a halt in the 39th lap. The Dutchman had endured a similar fate in the season opener in Bahrain.