Ferrari hope boosted as Leclerc reveals insight into Australian GP win

Charles Leclerc has revealed Ferrari was confident over its win chances in Australia after the opening practice session.

Leclerc’s team-mate Carlos Sainz took Ferrari’s maiden victory of the season following a commanding drive at Albert Park, while the Monegasque crossed the line in second place.

Ferrari’s prospects were raised when Red Bull's Max Verstappen retired in the opening laps after suffering a right rear brake issue.

However, prior to his retirement, the three-time World Champion was overtaken by Sainz before the Spaniard went on to dominate en route to his third career victory.

When asked how vital the win was for Ferrari’s morale, Leclerc replied: “It's extremely important.

“It’s been a long time since we have had the genuine pace to have Red Bull... I wouldn't say under control, because we don't know what was the real pace of Max.

“But I will say that from FP1, we knew that pole position and the race win was possible because we had very good tyre degradation, very good pace, and that is a very encouraging sign.”

Leclerc sees 'still a lot of work to do'

Despite Ferrari's strong outing, Leclerc was coy over the Italian squad's chances for the remainder of the season.

“However, if you look at the first three races, two out of the first three races they had the upper hand in the race,” he said.

“So we still have a lot of work to do. But that's exactly what we need to do as a team.

“Whenever we have the opportunity to actually win a race we need to take it and this weekend we did it, Carlos did it today.

“On my side, second with the fastest lap, so there are not any more points that we have got.

“And looking back at the first three races, there is not one race where we didn't maximise the result.

“So we need to do that until we get the car that is consistently better than the Red Bull, especially in the race.”