Max Verstappen has made it three pole positions in three races as he went quickest on the streets of Albert Park.
Q1
There was some pressure on Alex Albon’s shoulders following the news that he would be the sole driver for Williams this weekend following his crash in Q1 which meant the team only had one car available. The session did fortunately go well for Albon, as he managed to comfortably make it through to Q2 in 7th position.
It was a troublesome qualifying for Daniel Ricciardo at his home race, on the back of increased scrutiny following a difficult opening two rounds. Ricciardo had initially done enough to make it through to the next part of qualifying, though having gone wide at turn 4 meant that his lap was invalidated, and he dropped to 18th.
There was some progression from the struggling Alpine team as they managed to make it out of Q1 for the first time this season. Whilst Gasly was only able to go 17th fastest, Ocon was quick enough to move into 15th, which would then turn to 14th following Ricciardo’s time deletion.
Zhou Guanyu had a bizarre incident where his front wing became damaged from the vibration of the car having gone over the exit kerb of the highspeed chicane. This is a kerb that all the drivers would use to maximise their lap times, and Zhou was unlucky to pick up damage. He is even unluckier as it also means he will now have to start tomorrow’s race from the pitlane, since Kick Sauber don’t have another front wing with the same specifications.
ELIMINATED
16. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas N+0.267
17. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.273
18. Daniel Ricciardo – RB +0.376
19. Zhou Guanyu – Kick Sauber +0.479
Q2
Alex Albon’s run in qualifying came to an end in Q2, having gone 12th fastest, leaving some work to be done if the team are to score points on Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton found himself being knocked out of qualifying around one of his more dominant circuits. Hamilton has struggled a lot with the Mercedes W15, which is highlighted through being outqualified by his teammate for the third race in a row.
Charles Leclerc suggested after FP2 that this could be Ferrari’s best chance of a pole position so far this year. His teammate Carlos Sainz, coming off the back of his recovery from appendicitis, managed to top both Q1 and Q2, with Leclerc joining him in 2nd place for Q2, setting up an intriguing end to qualifying.
ELIMINATED
11. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes +0.059
12. Alex Albon – Williams +0.266
13. Valtteri Bottas – Kick Sauber +0.439
14. Kevin Magnussen – Haas +0.526
15. Esteban Ocon – Alpine +0.796
Q3
Max Verstappen hadn’t managed to top the timing sheets so far in today’s qualifying, but it would be at the most important part of qualifying that he would be able to turn it up to 11. In spite of Carlos Sainz having initially gone fastest, Verstappen was able to knock two tenths off that time to get provisional pole.
Fernando Alonso had a close shave on his opening run, having gone wide at turn 6 and skipping across the gravel, a situation that could have easily led to a collision with the wall had he carried a little more speed.
On their final flying runs, everybody was improving their times, including Verstappen who had added improved by a little over a tenth to his time. However, Sainz had gone quickest of anyone in sector 1,but needed to make up 4 tenths. In the end, he was unable to do so, finishing less than 3 tenths down and in 2nd place.
The top three was rounded out by Sergio Perez, but he received a 3 place grid penalty after impeding Nico Hulkenberg in Q1. This in turn has demoted him to P6, whilst Norris will start the race from third, Leclerc from 4th and home favourite Piastri in 5th.
Qualifying Results
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull 1:15.915
2. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari +0.270
3. Sergio Perez – Red Bull +0.359 (3 PLACE GRID PENALTY)
4. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.400
5. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.520
6. Oscar Piastri– McLaren +0.657
7. George Russell – Mercedes +0.809
8. Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri +0.873
9. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +1.157
10. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +1.637
