22 March,2024 07:42 AM IST | Melbourne | AP
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne yesterday. Pic/AFP
For the third Formula One Grand Prix in a row, controversies off the track are threatening to overshadow the almost predictable action on it.
News this week ahead of the Australian GP that the FIA's Ethics Committee had cleared its president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, from "interference of any kind" at two F1 events last year was followed quickly by a social media post from Susie Wolff, director of the all-female series F1 Academy and who is married to Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff, announcing that she had filed a criminal complaint in the French courts against the sport's governing body for statements made about her in December.
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It's all against the backdrop of ongoing furore surrounding Red Bull Racing and its team principal Christian Horner. Mercedes' star, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, was quick to support Wolff's legal action. "I think she's so brave, and she stands for such great values," Hamilton said on Thursday at Melbourne's Albert Park circuit. "She's such a leader. And in a world where often people are silenced, for her to be standing up sends such a great message."
The off-track issues continue at Red Bull Racing, where a recently suspended team employee has exercised the right to appeal Red Bull's clearance of alleged misconduct by Horner and filed a formal complaint with the FIA.
The chatter about Red Bull at Albert Park, therefore, hasn't been about its all-conquering Rs B20 car, which has secured perfect 1-2 results at the season-opening events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but whether Max Verstappen was preparing to leave for Mercedes.
"I'm happy within the team," the three-time F1 world champion said on Thursday, rejecting speculation about a switch. "Of course, it's very important that we try to keep the key players in the team for a longer period of time because that's where the performance is. And at the end of the day, it's a performance business."
Verstappen is the favourite on Sunday to take his third straight win for 2024, his second at the Albert Park track in as many years, and his record-equaling 10th straight that dates to last year's Japanese Grand Prix.
"We're in a better situation compared to last year," Leclerc said. "However, we are speaking about maybe four tenths [of a second] a lap in the race, which is still significant. I am more optimistic, not looking at the gap, but more looking at the overall situation at the team," he added.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc went quickest ahead of world champion Max Verstappen in second practice at the Australian Grand Prix on Friday, with Carlos Sainz third barely two weeks after surgery.
Leclerc clocked a best lap round the Albert Park circuit of one minute 17.277 seconds, 0.381 clear of Red Bull's Verstappen, who won the first two races of the season. "It was a solid first day, everything felt good from the start and I was comfortable in the car," said Monaco's Leclerc.
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