The Flying Ferrari: Five talking points from the Australian GP

After more than three years of waiting, Melbourne finally rolled out the red carpet for one of the most eagerly-anticipated Australian Grand Prix in decades.

With so much drama through just three races, there are talking points-a-plenty after Melbourne, but here's my top five.

No surprises for driver of the day, it can’t be anyone other than Charles Leclerc.

Sure Alonso was brilliant and brilliantly unlucky, Albon was certainly plucky, but Leclerc was a class above.

It’s pretty clear Ferrari have the best car on the current grid, but the Monegasque is having an unbelievable start to the season.

That he had a 20 second gap to second place - in a race that featured both virtual and safety cars - is astounding.

Leclerc’s 71 points would be enough to sit second on the constructor’s championship.

An honourable mention has to go Alex Albon’s way though, who was running 7th after a mammoth 57-lap stint on his hard tyres, climbing from last on the grid to secure Williams’ first point of the season.

He now almost has as many points as teammate Nicholas Latifi has crashes this year, and also means Aston Martin are the only pointless team left on the grid.

Bahrain was ominous, Saudi was glorious, Australia is now dangerous territory for Red Bull.

When Max Verstappen’s RB18 limped off the track in Australia with a suspected fuel leak, that dreaded "r" word is front of mind.

Reliability.

The defending world champion has now failed to finish two of the opening three races, with his teammate also limping out in Bahrain.

Even more worrying for Verstappen and co, they were reportedly concerned a hydraulic issue could force them out of the race this weekend.

For it to be another issue entirely shows there’s plenty of work to be done back at HQ.

But reliability wasn’t their only head-scratcher in Melbourne.

Albert Park was a track that appeared destined to favour their car, a high-speed layout that many predicted would see the bulls charging past the field on any of the track’s straights, let alone when you factor in DRS.

But in reality, both Red Bulls was consistently, and then considerably off the pace all weekend.

The fact Perez struggled to pass an under-power Mercedes mid-race was also a worrying sign.

And say it quietly (in case Twitter’s #TeamVerstappen overhears) but if Verstappen gets another poor result while Perez picks up another decent points haul, the defending world champion might even find himself playing second fiddle in his own team by mid-season.

Okay, masterful is definitely a stretch.

But rewind a month, and the problems that were seeping through the cracks of the W13 on track looked very serious, and any hopes of a major upgrade looked at least a few weeks away at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

During that same period they’ve picked up two podium places, George Russell’s second only to Leclerc in the drivers’ standings, and Mercedes are only behind Ferrari for the constructor’s title.

But crucially for Mercedes, they’re the only team on the grid to have both drivers finish each of the three races so far this season.

Early-season reliability may prove to play a huge part come the end of the year.

If the whispers are true, they now head back to Europe where major upgrades could be in the pipeline.

If that car suddenly unlocks the potential pace the team says it has, the Silver Arrows are well in the hunt.

420,000 fans lined around Albert Park for the F1 weekend, a record Aussie crowd.

The first return to the city since the thing-that-shall-not-be-named took over the world.

And from hearing and reading accounts of those on the ground, as well as what was obvious on the coverage, it was a celebration of all things F1.

With a few subtle, and other not-so-subtle changes to the Albert Park track, it was also expected to be the most competitive and exciting Australian Grand Prix in years.

The fact the race was eventually a convincing runaway win for Charles Leclerc shouldn’t detract from what was overall a solid step in the right direction for the circuit, albeit with a little left to be desired.

While we’d have loved to see more battles at the front, the midfield action painted a much better picture than previous iterations of the Grand Prix.

But even with the new regulations, we still saw numerous examples of seemingly unbreakable DRS ‘trains’, with the cars effectively putting on 200 kmp/h parades for the watching fans.

In hindsight, you wonder whether removing that 4th DRS zone was the right call.

For a second straight race, teams now have an extra week to prepare for the next Grand Prix, which takes the F1 fanfare to Europe for the first time this season.

And worryingly for most of the grid, it’s a home race for the high-flying Ferraris.

Yes, yes, I know about Monza. But the circuit at Imola is literally called Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

But beyond the romantic home advantage, the technical layout of the track should also suit the Ferrari perfectly, with only the one substantial straight past the pit lane.

Writing off the title this early would be an exercise in foolishness, but a stat worth keeping in mind; only six drivers have ever come back from a larger points deficit in the driver’s championship than defending champion Verstappen currently faces.