By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE, March 8 (Reuters) - George Russell struck the first blow in the Formula One championship for Mercedes as he claimed an emphatic victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli and crushed an early challenge from Ferrari.
Having dominated qualifying, pole-sitter Russell's first win at Albert Park underlined Mercedes' promising pre-season form.
The Briton finished nearly three seconds ahead of Antonelli, with Leclerc more than 15 seconds behind
on a cloudy afternoon at the lakeside circuit on Sunday.
Russell engaged in a thrilling early duel with Leclerc as the racers swapped the lead seven times in the opening nine laps.
But there was soon daylight between Mercedes and the rest.
After swapping out medium tyres early following a virtual safety car deployment, Russell rode the hard compounds for 45 laps and Mercedes' pace did the rest.
"Great job everybody, it's been a long time since we've been here," he said over the team radio.
It was a tough day for McLaren, with home hero Oscar Piastri's race over before it begun with a crash during a reconnaissance lap some 40 minutes before the start.
His teammate and defending champion Lando Norris finished fifth, one place behind seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari.
Four-times champion Max Verstappen was sixth for Red Bull.
Only 20 of the 22 cars started, with Audi's Nico Hulkenberg scratched just before the race due to a reliability problem.
Another three cars failed to finish, Red Bull's Isack Hadjar among them.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
