Verstappen stunned in usual fashion to secure Melbourne pole

In a tense competition for front row glory, Max Verstappen hailed victorious, beating a ginger Carlos Sainz and his teammate to secure pole position with a record time of 1:15.915s. 

Qualifying 1:

It was the sole running Williams of Alex Albon who was eagerly waiting at the pit exit, leading the small queue of cars out onto the Albert Park Circuit to start their Australian Grand Prix qualifying campaign. 

The Williams driver cautiously set off on his first flying lap, with no room for error due to the Grove-based team’s limited supplies. 

As he rounded Turn 10, stomachs dropped in the Williams garage as Albon almost lost his FW46 on the kerbs.

His first time was deleted for exceeding track limits during that moment.

As the first Q1 times began rolling in, Max Verstappen topped the tables, however, by a less-than-expected margin of only four-tenths to Kevin Magnussen. 

As the Ferrari duo crossed the line, they looked to be on track, slotting into P1 and 2, over two-tenths ahead of the Red Bulls.

Esteban Ocon made contact with the wall on exit of the final corner, cautiously limping back to the pits after carbon was seen spraying from his Alpine. 

Alpine’s woes went from bad to worse when Pierre Gasly was later noted for crossing the pit-exit line.

As George Russell crossed the line, his time was only quick enough for P13, a worrying sign as the session neared the halfway mark.

The Brit complained of his brakes not working properly, with drivers reporting of incredibly different track conditions to FP3.

Daniel Ricciardo found himself in P14, a position he aimed to improve on in front of his home crowd.

Daniel Ricciardo driving on track in Melbourne. Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

On their second run, the Bulls improved, with Perez splitting the Ferraris in P4 and Verstappen ahead in P2. 

Fernando Alonso looked stronger, jumping to the top of the order before being relegated by his compatriot. 

Oscar Piastri was also aiming to impress the Australian grandstands, doing so in Q1 as he sat marginally ahead of his teammate in P6.

With just three minutes on the clock, eyes set on the bottom four with Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Zhou and Ocon occupying those spaces. 

Cheered on by the crowd, Ricciardo set off on his final run, successfully distancing himself from a Q1 exit, however, his triumph was short-lived. 

As Ricciardo made his way back to his RB garage, his time was deleted for exceeding track limits at the exit of Turn 4, relegating the #3 all the way back into P18.

Zhou Guanyu picked up damage on his last attempt, returning to the pitlane with a broken front wing, out in Q1. 

Despite being on track, the two Haas drivers weren’t on flying laps, meaning on merit, they were both eliminated, however, with Ricciardo’s lap deletion, Magnussen advanced to Q2.

Pierre Gasly, still under investigation, was knocked out in Q1, however, his teammate advanced through.

The #31’s final dash was just enough to advance, sitting in P14.

Qualifying 2:

Running on the adrenaline to block out the pain of his earlier surgery, Carlos Sainz led the field out  to start the second segment of qualifying.

The Spaniard’s purple sectors were quickly stolen by Verstappen following behind, with Verstappen running a tenth up across the lap.

The Dutchman crossed the line with a 1:16.387s, the opening benchmark. 

Lando Norris charged through his first flying lap, going purple in the first sector before his teammate outpaced him.

Lando Norris during qualifying at the Australian GP. Image: Simon Galloway / LAT Images.

As Piastri crossed the line, the grandstands were cheering because the local boy had set the second quickest time, two-tenths slower than the Red Bull and just seven-hundredths faster than Sainz.

Mercedes’ first attempts only gave them the seventh and eighth fastest times, with Aston Martin slotting in just behind. 

After returning to the pits, Ferrari sent their drivers out on fresh sets of soft tyres. 

Looking to move up from third fastest, Sainz set off once again.

The Spaniard ended the lap at the top of the order with a time of 1:16.189s.

There were no surprises on who was occupying the elimination zone at the halfway mark, with Albon, Tsunoda, Magnussen, Bottas and Ocon all scrambling to make it into the top ten.

Alonso, on the fringes of the top ten, starts this next flying lap on the back foot, not improving through the first sector. 

Fernando managed to advance, slotting into P7.

With two minutes on the clock, an at-risk Lewis Hamilton started his lap while Alex Albon opted to save tyres and end his session in the pitlane. 

Hamilton stayed P9, while Albon stayed P11, his time holding its own against Magnussen’s improvement. 

Albon’s lap was also faster than Bottas and Ocon’s final attempts, only being bumped by Yuki Tsunoda who miraculously put his VCARB 01 into P9.

That wasn’t the only movement caused by Tsunoda’s improvement, however, with the #22 shockingly demoting the Albert Park pole position record holder Hamilton into the elimination zone.

Hamilton will be forced to start the Australian Grand Prix from P11, not having the chance to fight it out for his ninth pole position in Melbourne after missing out by 59 milliseconds. 

Albon will start behind Hamilton, with Bottas, Magnussen and Ocon in his mirrors tomorrow. 

Lewis Hamilton during qualifying at the Australian GP. Image: Sam Bagnall / LAT Images.

Qualifying 3:

Coming off a strong Q2, Sainz once again led the remaining drivers out of the pitlane to start the top ten shootout.

The #55 went fastest across the whole lap, setting three purple sectors to earn 1:16.331s.

Leclerc crossed the line a tenth behind his teammate, while Verstappen proved a threat further back.

Piastri challenged Tsunoda for track position, making the most of his crucial out-lap before setting off. 

His opening time was over five-tenths slower than the benchmark, returning to the pits after reporting of damage sustained on his run.

Verstappen crossed the line to claim provisional pole, 0.283 seconds ahead of Sainz. 

Perez wasn’t a threat to the top three, slotting in behind the Monegasque while demoting the #4 McLaren from a provisional second-row start.

Fernando Alonso failed to set a time on his first run after avoiding what could have been a very costly incident into Turn 6, his Aston Martin flying across the gravel trap before returning to the garage. 

Lance Stroll set off on his first lap while all other cars were in the garage, wanting to make the most of the empty track.

After having to correct through Turn 9, Stroll had to settle for the eighth fastest time. 

With two minutes on the clock, every driver left the pitlane for one last ditch attempt at front-row glory. 

Verstappen led the way, setting an early fastest sector, however, Sainz quickly stole that title.

Despite this, Verstappen’s personal best sectors were more than enough to help the Dutchman secure pole position in Melbourne with a record time of 1:15.915s.

Carlos Sainz, still recovering from appendicitis-related surgery, utilised that fastest first sector to secure a front-row start for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. 

Carlos Sainz in Parc Ferme after Qualifying at the Australian GP. Image: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images.

Sergio Perez completed the top three, ending the session 0.359 seconds behind his teammate. 

The Mexican was free of threat from Leclerc behind, with the #16 aborting his lap after making a mistake at Turn 12. 

As a result of the aborted attempt, Norris got the jump on Leclerc, seeing the #4 McLaren starting the Australian Grand Prix from P4.

Leclerc will instead line up alongside Oscar Piastri, with the Australian setting a time two-tenths slower than his teammate.

Russell and Tsunoda will line up alongside each other on Row 4, with the Aston Martin duo rounding out the top ten.  

F1 Qualifying Results:

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