F1 news LIVE: Red Bull ‘facing difficult times’ as Lewis Hamilton questions Mercedes’ hunger

Charles Leclerc considers himself a “real Monegasque”; not the sort that arrives in Monaco with a bulging bank account and a significantly lower tax bill but the natives who were born and schooled there, writes Lawrence Ostlere.

His parents, Hervé and Pascale, were not poor but he did not grow up accustomed to the flash Monte Carlo lifestyle many might imagine. He is proud of his beginnings, and jokes that the typical Monegasque is “like the French, but maybe more polite”.

Leclerc is certainly that. The laid back Ferrari driver and current leader of the F1 world championship gets on with everybody and has only love for his rivals – “I have no enemies in the paddock,” he says. His name, which sounds like a sweet delicacy in French, is regularly botched by the English-speaking world with a hard “z” on the end of Charles and a firm “erk” at the end of Leclerc, but he never corrects the mispronunciation. “I like both,” he says with a smile.

The unassuming 24-year-old was immersed in motor sport from a young age. Hervé was a Formula 3 driver in the 1980s and 1990s, and later he would take Charles and his two siblings (older brother Lorenzo and younger brother Arthur, now a Formula 3 driver himself) to a local karting track owned by his best friend and fellow racer Philippe Bianchi.

Toto Wolff believes there is reason to be “very optimistic” about Mercedes after an encouraging performance at the Australian Grand Prix.

Despite again struggling to match Red Bull and Ferrari’s pure speed, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were able to capitalise on the struggles of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz to record third and fourth-placed finishes respectively.

Both drivers, and team principal Wolff, have spoken openly of their lack of belief in the car, which has struggled with “porpoising” amid wider performance problems in the opening skirmishes of the 2022 Formula 1 season.

Yet Mercedes are second in the Constructors’ Championship after three races, and new recruit Russell is the closest challenger to Charles Leclerc, who leads the chase for the world title by 34 points after taking his second victory of the season in Melbourne.

Lewis Hamilton has praised the performance of Mercedes teammate George Russell and clarified an apparent complaint about team strategy made during the Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished fourth in Melbourne, one place behind Russell, as Mercedes produced a solid showing despite continued performance issues with their car.

It leaves the German team second in the Constructors’ Championship standings, ahead of Red Bull, with defending champion Max Verstappen forced to retire for a second time in the opening three races of the season.

That allowed Hamilton and, particularly, Russell to take advantage, with the 24-year-old recording his first podium at Mercedes to climb to second in the Drivers’ Championship.

Hamilton had appeared angry at his team’s strategy during the race, claiming they had put him in a “difficult position” after Russell moved ahead of him after pitting during a safety car period, but the seven-time world champion explained afterwards that he was instead frustrated at an engine issue that prevented him challenging his colleague.

Martin Brundle has praised George Russell for his “classy” and “fault-free” early season performances after the Mercedes driver climbed to second in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

Russell secured his first podium at Mercedes at the Australian Grand Prix, beating teammate Lewis Hamilton to third after a timely pit stop during a safety car enabled him to gain race position.

The 24-year-old has finished in the top five at each of the three races to start the season despite significant performance issues for the German outfit.

The British driver arrived to partner compatriot Hamilton at the start of the season from Williams, and has thus far out-performed the seven-time world champion.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has slammed former F1 race director Michael Masi, calling him a ‘liability’ who was ‘disrespectful’ to the drivers.

Masi’s handling of last season’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix cost Lewis Hamilton an eighth world title and led to his dismissal from the role in the off-season by the FIA for breaking the rules - something that Wolff won’t be losing any sleep over.

Wolff said: “It is quite interesting because I had lunch with him [Masi] on the Wednesday before the race [Abu Dhabi], and I said to him that ‘I really want to tell you, without patronising you, that you need to take criticism on board and develop from there. Lewis does it every day, but you are guy who always seems to know better’.

“It wasn’t about influencing him but really giving my honest feedback that he shouldn’t block outside opinion as simply being wrong.

“You hear from the drivers and how the drivers’ briefings were conducted [by Masi] and some of the guys said it was almost disrespectful how he treated some of them.

“There is a promoter of one of the races in the Middle East who said he was so relieved he had gone because he got so much abuse from him. He was just immune to any feedback and even today he has not properly reflected that he did something wrong.

“He was a liability for the sport because everybody kept talking about Abu Dhabi and the race director, and the race director should not be somebody that people talk about, but someone who does the job and makes sure the race is run according to the regulations.”

Italy has seized €105million (£88m) worth of property owned by Russian former Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin and his oligarch father.

The operation targeted a villa - known as Rocky Ram - located in the north of the island of Sardinia.

It is part of broader efforts aimed at penalising wealthy Russians linked to president Vladimir Putin after the invasion of Ukraine.

Mazepin - who was fired by Haas in March - has been included in an EU sanctions list along with his father, Dmitry, who the European Union’s official journal described as a member of Putin’s closest circle.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has admitted Red Bull have “two or three” problems to solve before F1 heads to Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen was forced to retire for the second time in three races after a suspected problem with his fueling system in Melbourne, already leaving the world champion a huge 46 points behind leader Charles Leclerc.

“There are two or maybe three different things at play,” Marko told Servus TV. “Firstly, the reliability problems, which we hardly had last year, but the lag behind Ferrari was also alarming.

“We were negatively surprised by the speed of Ferrari. They had almost no graining and we already had after a few laps. Ferrari can find a good balance with the car more easily.”

“We are clearly heavier than the Ferrari. I think we have a weight handicap of about 10 kilograms. Converted to lap time, that equates to about three tenths per lap. But lowering the weight is expensive. It’s, to start with, a financial issue and secondly it is also related to reliability, so it is a difficult split due to the budget ceiling. We are facing difficult times.”