Verstappen on Pole, Mercedes Front-Row Start in Melbourne

Max Verstappen secured yet another pole position for Oracle Red Bull Racing in an action-packed qualifying session that saw constant running and the threat of rain in Q3. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton both put in impressive laps and will start second and third respectively.

Q1 – Shock for Perez, Piastri Exit at Home Grand Prix

The session started with drama and following the trend of the weekend so far, we saw the red flag come out and it was one of the Red Bull cars. Sergio Pérez was complaining about an issue, and his car was being worked on before the session. The Mexican driver went straight on into the gravel and he will now start at the back of the grid on Sunday.

There wasn’t just disappointment for Red Bull in the first session, Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake lost both drivers in the first session in qualifying, which is a big blow as they search for their second top ten finish of the season. Valtteri Bottas, who will start nineteenth struggled for pace and his team-mate Zhou Guanyu couldn’t do much better and will start in seventeenth on tomorrow’s grid.

Despite his teammate comfortably getting through to Q2, Logan Sargeant was unable to follow suit and exited qualifying in Q1, for the second consecutive time. Piastri was unable to make an impression at his first home grand prix and he will start in a disappointing sixteenth on the grid.

One of the most impressive runners from Q1 was Alex Albon, who was able to put his car inside the top ten as he looks to put himself in a great starting position to score points at back-to-back Australian Grand Prix. Nyck de Vries was able to make his first Q2 appearance of the season for Scuderia AlphaTauri, while Verstappen topped the session ahead of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team pair of Hamilton and Russell.

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Q2 – Delight for Williams, Pain for Norris and McLaren

There was a mixture of emotions in Q2, that once again saw constant running around Albert Park circuit as the drivers looked to keep improving.

Despite making his first Q2 session of the season, de Vries was unable to make an impression on the top ten and failed to go quicker than anyone, meaning he will start fifteenth on the grid tomorrow. The pain continued for AlphaTauri as they also saw Yuki Tsunoda exit qualifying, but with the Japanese driver starting twelfth tomorrow, both drivers will be hoping points are a possibility.

Kevin Magnussen was out-qualified once again by his team-mate and will start fourteenth tomorrow. McLaren’s pain continued with Lando Norris missing out on Q3 for the third time this season, with the British driver failing to improve enough on his final lap. The final driver to miss out was Esteban Ocon, who was seriously unlucky to miss out by just 0.007s.

Albon was the standout performer of the session once again, alongside Nico Hülkenberg with the pair in tenth and sixth respectively. Verstappen once again topped the session.

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Q3 – Ferrari Lack Pace, while Mercedes Impress

The top ten shootout was a fierce one as usual, which saw once again constant running as the teams battled for pole position.

Hülkenberg will start tenth for the third consecutive race of the season and he will be hoping that he can finally score his first points after his return to Formula 1. Pierre Gasly was the only BWT Alpine F1 Team car in Q3, and he was able to put himself in ninth and in a good position to start the race tomorrow.

Albon will have all the plaudits coming to him and deservedly so, the Williams Racing driver was able to put a superb lap in for eighth as he looks to score his second points finish of the season.

It wasn’t the day that Ferrari would have been expecting and once again they visibly lacked pace. Charles Leclerc failed to show any pace at all and will start seventh on the grid tomorrow, giving him work to do. His team-mate, Carlos Sainz Jr. put in a slightly better effort, but will only start fifth.

Lance Stroll starts sixth, but while Fernando Alonso was able to secure fourth, he will be disappointed that he wasn’t able to join the battle for the front row, with the Mercedes. Hamilton will start alongside the Spaniard after his team-mate Russell put in a storming lap to start on the front row alongside Verstappen. The Dutchman was untouachable once more and was able to take pole position for the second time in three races.

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