Leclerc and Verstappen will have the third battle of the season at the Australian GP: time, TV and everything you need to know

Formula 1 will have a new edition of the battle that, so far, has been animating the 2022 season of the divisional maximum: Charles Leclerc will start first in the Australian GP with his Ferrari and in second place on the grid will appear Max Verstappen aboard the Red Bull.

The race, taking place in Australia, will have an atypical schedule for Latin American audiences as it will be run during the early morning.

The Ferrari rider leads the drivers' championship with 45 points after winning the Bahrain GP and finishing second in the Saudi Arabian GP. Behind him on that table appears his teammate the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. , who has so far scored second and third place in the first two rounds of the year. However, the other man from Cavallino Rampante did not have a qualification as expected and will start from 9th place.

The last F1 champion ranks third in the drivers' table with 25 units as he was the winner in Saudi Arabia and is well profiled considering that he had to leave at the end of the first race and was left empty-handed.

Beyond the fact that the Mexican Checo Pérez will be third in the start, the big surprise is focused on what both Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo did, fourth and seventh respectively. McLaren had a start to the year to oblivion with the Briton coming 15th and 7th in the first two Grand Prix and the Australian finishing 14th in the first race as he had to drop out in the second race.

The other significant fact is that both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell overcame the problems that Mercedes is facing after the implementation of the new rules for this year and will start fifth and sixth respectively.

Among the analysis left by the qualifier, which had an unusual accident in Q1 between Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll, is the striking performance of the two men from Haas after being the big surprise in the first competitions of 2022. Mick Schumacher will start from 15th place and Kevin Magnussen will be 16th, barely beating Sebastian Vettel (17th), Latifi (18th), Stroll (19th) and Alex Albon (20th).

Regarding the layout of the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, the most outstanding detail is that the race management finally decided to eliminate the fourth DRS zone that had been tested during the first two free practice sessions held on Friday. The Australian territory will once again host this race after two years of suspensions due to the restrictions imposed in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Until 1995, Australia hosted F1 at the Adelaide circuit but from 1996 onwards Albert Park in Melbourne became the home of the main motorsport division. In 2019, Valtteri Bottas with his Mercedes had won the last race in that country, although Vettel had previously tied two celebrations aboard Ferrari, which allowed him to be one of the most winners on this circuit after the four wins that Michael Schumacher signed between 2000 and 2004.

Schedule: 0.00 (Mexico/Colombia/Peru/Ecuador) — 1.00 (Chile/Venezuela/Bolivia/Paraguay/Miami United States) — 2.00 (Argentina/Uruguay)

Television: Star+/Replay: Fox Sports (10.00 from Argentina)

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