Charles Leclerc finished the Australian Grand Prix in eighth place after a thrilling season opener at Albert Park.
Rain hit the track early in the day and forced all the drivers to start on wet tyres, including Leclerc, who was running in fifth place early on in the race.
The rain intensified in the opening laps of the race but dried up later on, with Leclerc managing his intermediate tyres as Ferrari waited for the track to dry up.
At one stage he radioed his engineer to ask if there was a problem in his cockpit, prompting a bizarre response from his engineer Bryan Bozzi.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Leclerc: “Is there a leakage?” | |
| Bozzi: “A leakage of what?” | |
| Leclerc: “I have a seat full of water! Like a lot of water.” | |
| Bozzi: “Must be the water.” | |
| Leclerc: “I’ll add that to the words of wisdom” |
F1 fans were on hand to react to the moment on social media, which could be an early contender for team radio exchange of the season.
F1 fans react to bizarre Charles Leclerc and engineer moment in Australian GP
Fans of Leclerc reacted to the moment during the race, with one saying: “Just adding ‘comedian’ to Charles Leclerc’s CV.”
Another thinks this was one of the most ‘iconic’ moments that fans will remember: “Leclerc’s radio conversations with his engineer will go down as some of the most iconic moments in radio history.”
Others made jokes about it being the typical Ferrari strategy team: “peak italian engineering” while another commented “leclerc worried about a leakage and his engineer says the dumbest thing ever.”
Two fans made reference to journalist Will Buxton, who was the subject of a meme during Drive to Survive where he states the obvious: “Leclerc’s engineer might be Will Buxton,” and another said: “didn’t know Will Buxton was Leclerc’s race engineer.”
Ferrari fumbles Australian GP strategy in rain-affected race
The conditions were treacherous with several drivers crashing out of the race, with only 14 finishers making it to the chequered flag. The experienced Fernando Alonso was one of the retirees, having crashed his Aston Martin exiting Turn 7 on the greasy track.
Alonso’s crash prompted a late Safety Car and a conundrum for the teams, as they all gambled on slick tyres but were aware of impending rain in the final 10 laps. After the race restarted, within four laps the rain poured down and leaders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both skated off track.
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Leclerc was briefly in second place behind teammate Lewis Hamilton after McLaren and Max Verstappen dived to the pits, but the rain was too much for Ferrari and they had to pit their drivers. This caused Leclerc to drop back to P10, but a stunning overtake on Hamilton at the final restart enabled him to take P9.
He would later be promoted to P8 after a moment from Pierre Gasly, who lost the rear of his Alpine exiting Turn 2 and allowing both Ferraris through. Leclerc would go on to finish the race in P8, with Hamilton in P10 on his Ferrari debut.
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