Still early days bur if Mercedes performance doesn't improve soon I can see Hamilton retiring at the end of the season or perhaps even earlier.

Brilliant racing yesterday. I think the track is unsafe and poorly suited to Formula 1 cars, been saying this since second practice last year, and thankfully it didn't produce any serious injuries or worse this year. Schumi Jr must have a few aches and pains this morning though. It's too fast for how blind and tight it is. There is zero run-off and a stopped car in the wrong spot is a disaster waiting to happen. Add to this the fact it is Saudi Arabia, and add to that the fact missiles are in the air, and the bottom line is F1 should get out, in my view. Toto Wolf said he thinks F1 can change the world. I'd tone that down a few notches. F1 isn't changing Saudi Arabia, but it can change the perception of Saudi Arabia, and that's what sports-washing is all about.

There are reports that say that during the driver and team meeting on Friday night F1 was 'encouraged' to put the race on despite fears, because to not do so would affect how easily they got out of the country. A little strong-arming? If that's true then F1 needs to seriously consider its involvement here, not that it shouldn't have been doing so already. But this facility was built at enormous expense, and they only just signed a long extension. F1 is selectively righteous, money talks, and I don't expect much course correction here. But let's see what comes out once they've flown out.

Setting aside the off-track issues, the race yesterday was brilliant. Well done to Max, he ran a great race. I had the television broadcast on, plus had F1 TV Pro running with Max's in-car camera and radio for nearly the entire race. He was complaining about Leclerc crossing the pit entrance line, and I was worried he'd grow impatient, shades of Bahrain last year with Merc continually running over the track limits in turn 4. But he kept cool and calm and got by during a thrilling battle with Leclerc. Those two are at the top of their game, in perfectly matched machinery with nothing between them. Last season was the best F1 season I've ever watched, and this year is shaping up to be even better. Not just the fight in the table, but the actual racing on the track, all down the order.

That's because the new cars are delivering. By retaining downforce in the corners, trailing cars have more exit speed now, and that is translating to much better racing, overtaking not just relegated at the end of the straight via slipstreams, outbraking and DRS. The order's more jumbled, the field is tighter and the two fastest teams have nothing between them. And there are 21 more of these to come.

Charles Leclerc took a dominant victory in the Australian Grand Prix to move into a commanding position in the World Championship.

The Ferrari driver was in total control of the race when his main rival Max Verstappen retired with a technical failure on his Red Bull at two-thirds distance.

Verstappen is 46 points - almost two clear wins - behind Leclerc after just three races of the season, in two of which the Red Bull has failed to finish.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez was second after winning battles with Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Remarkably, in the context of Mercedes' disappointing start to the season, Russell is second in the drivers' championship at this early stage and Mercedes second in the constructors' chase.

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Ferrari and LeClerc seem unstopable this year with another win but what happened to Sainz? He was on the back foot from the start and never got it together. Max has another unpredictable DNF ruining an almost certain second place finish but he just didn't have enough for a win. Russell tops Louis after Louis gets caught out when a safety car comes out right after his pit stop and I don't buy his explanation for the comment that the team put him in a bad place. Shut up and drive.

Russell for me will be the surprise package this season.

Yes, I agree. The bad outcome from last year seems to have broken something in Louis' spirit that a difficult car isn't helping to fix while Russell is riding a huge step up wave. I think that will change in a few more races.

The Miami Hard Rock venue sold out and looks like a big win. That said, I think turns 14 and 15 should get dropped with these heavy duty full size pickup footprint cars running. It's really an F1 fantasy world, and Disney level at that!

And, it appears the major porpoising problem has been solved with the application of short perforated skids near the rear tires that stop the lightweight floor from bottoming out and stalling. I think they will stay legal within bounds so all teams can benefit, but damn if the Mercs don't look fierce at last. :o

George Russell was fastest in Friday practice at the Miami Grand Prix in Mercedes' most competitive showing by far this season.

Russell was 0.106 seconds quicker than Ferrari's title leader Charles Leclerc, whose rival Max Verstappen suffered reliability problems for Red Bull.

Verstappen failed to set a time while team-mate Sergio Perez was third, ahead of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes.

Ferrari are still king with RedBull on their heels although Max is having reliability problems which are worrying. Mercedes fell off a bit today but they still look like things are coming together and I expect Russell would have placed in the top six if he had managed to get in a final hot lap. Turns 14, 15, and 17 look like the trouble zones so far.

I'd like to think Hamilton will make the podium but I very much doubt it.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen survived a late-race assault from title rival Charles Leclerc's Ferrari to win the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.

Verstappen was cruising to an easy win after passing Leclerc early on but a late safety car brought them together for a re-start with 10 laps to go.

Leclerc strained everything for five laps to get close enough to pass but Verstappen broke his challenge.

Verstappen's win cut Leclerc's championship lead to 19 points.

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LeClerc and Ferrari are still magic with RedBull hot on their heels. Mercedes appear to have finally come to grips with their problems and have halved the pace deficit and are a solid third best after qualifying. HAAS puts both cars into Q3 for the first time in part thanks to Norris having a lap deleted for running out of bounds, and speaking of boundaries, I love having the white line back as the only track limit and I wonder if lap records will be stagnant for a few years because of it.

Lewis Hamilton has said he is finding it difficult to get the best out of this year's Mercedes.

Car upgrades helped Hamilton's team-mate George Russell to Mercedes' best qualifying position of the season with fourth at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Hamilton, 0.119 seconds slower than Russell in sixth, said he was "really struggling with the car this year".

"The car has potential to be third or fourth and I am not able to pull that out of the car," Hamilton said.

"I just don't feel that great in the sense of my driving and I'm working as hard as I can.

"I am still way off. I just struggle with confidence in the rear of the car. I don't know how to get around that.

"I don't know what I am going to do but I will keep trying to work hard and trying to figure it out. I just have no rear end in the car in the qualifying sessions."