F1 news LIVE: Australian GP reaction as Lewis Hamilton urges Mercedes to make improvements

Toto Wolff has questioned new Formula 1 race boss Niels Wittich’s jewellery ban by asking: “Is that a battle he needs to have?”

Lewis Hamilton defied the FIA’s clampdown as he competed with piercings in both ears and a nose stud at the Australian Grand Prix – and said afterwards that he has no plans to remove them in future outings. “They are personal things. You should be able to be who you are,” Hamilton said. “There is stuff that I cannot move. I literally cannot even take these out. These ones on my right ear are welded in so I would have to get it chopped off. They will be staying.”

Wittich was hired by the FIA following Michael Masi’s dismissal for breaking the rules at last season’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – an event which denied Hamilton a record eighth championship.

“How he has run the first few races has been respectful, solid and he hasn’t put a single foot wrong,” Mercedes team principal Wolff said of Wittich.

“But is that [jewellery ban] a battle he needs to have at this stage? However, if it turns out to be the biggest unfortunate misstep of a race director, I would take it a thousand times over.”

Charles Leclerc says he is not thinking about winning the F1 World Championship just yet after taking a second victory in the opening three races of the 2022 season at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The Ferrari driver led from start-to-finish around the revamped Albert Park circuit as he stretched his lead at the top of the standings to 34 points from Mercedes’ George Russell, who took third behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

“It is incredible to win here!” Leclerc told Sky Sports F1. “In Formula 1 it’s [my first victory] where we controlled the gap [from start-to-finish]. What a car today! I did a good job all weekend but it was not possible without the car.”

Read more of what the Monegasque had to say:

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says he understands Max Verstappen’s frustration after the Dutchman was forced to retire from an F1 grand prix due to a mechanical failure for the second time in three races at the beginning of the 2022 season.

Verstappen was running a consistent second at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday morning befort stopping abruptly after the pit straight when he began to smell fluid leaking from his RB18. The Dutchman pulled over at the side of the road and was told to turn off the engine by race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, before a marshal took a fire extinguisher to his stricken RB18.

World champion Verstappen previously retired late on at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix in March when he suffered an engine failure, and called the Red Bull team’s lack of reliability “unacceptable” in his media interview after the race in Melbourne.

And Horner said he empathises with the the Ducthman’s feelings:

The 2022 Formula 1 season was supposed to bring with it a new era of unpredictability. In plenty of ways, it has.

The biggest regulation change the sport has undergone in a generation has changed things forever, dramatically altering the ways cars race one another, shaking up the establishing running order, rendering old masters also-rans, and characters who were previously mere extras into show stopping leads.

Mercedes – the winners of eight consecutive constructors titles in a row – are unable to challenge for race victories, with Lewis Hamilton looking less and less likely to win an eighth world championship every time he steps inside his heavy, bouncing silver car. Their old rivals Red Bull have built a car which, while quick, on the evidence so far is also an unreliable mess. Current champion Max Verstappen is furious and languishing down the order.

Haas and Alfa Romeo are no longer backmarkers approaching the end of their time in F1, instead capable of challenging for strong points in the midfield. And Ferrari, after enduring two of the most chastening seasons in its seven-decade history in the sport, are winners once again.

Lewis Hamilton demanded Mercedes act now to salvage his dwindling F1 title dreams.

The seven-time world champion departed Australia 43 points behind Charles Leclerc following the Ferrari driver’s one-sided victory at Melbourne’s Albert Park on Sunday.

Hamilton started fifth and finished fourth – one place behind George Russell who claimed his first podium in Mercedes colours.

“I will be on Zoom calls with our bosses, and really trying to rally them up,” said Hamilton. “We have got some improvements that we need to make and we need everyone’s support in doing so. It is about making sure we leave no stone unturned, that the hunger is there and we are maximising every moment. I will be chasing the people in the wind tunnel, the aerodynamic guys, and just looking at every single area. There is performance to be gained and we need it now, not in two or three races. I have got to keep that encouragement and energy high.

“I prefer to stay optimistic. There are 20 races to go. I am really hoping we can get in the fight, but with every bit of improvement we make so will Red Bull and Ferrari. It is not going to be easy. The gap is pretty big right now but there is a long way to go.”

Charles Leclerc won the Australian Grand Prix in style yesterday to extend his lead in the F1 World Championship.

Leclerc completed an impressive lights-to-flag victory with Sergio Perez runner-up, 20.5 seconds back, and George Russell third. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth.

World champion Max Verstappen failed to reach the chequered flag for the second time in three races after his Red Bull expired with 19 laps remaining.

Leclerc, a two-time winner this season, is now 34 points clear of second-placed Russell in the standings. Hamilton is fifth, 43 points adrift.