Quali Report
Charles Leclerc takes his second pole of the season with Verstappen and Perez in second and third respectively. Unfortunately for Ferrari Carlos Sainz could only manage ninth after a mistake on his final run.
The first Australian Qualifying since 2019 and it didn’t disappoint. The drama started in Q1 when it looked like the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel was in the garage and not looking like it was going to make it out for a lap. The horrible weekend for Aston continues.
The benchmark time for the Q1 was set by Max Verstappen with a 1:18.580. the biggest surprise was the lack of pace for the HAAS cars, who had been so strong in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Kevin Magnussen failed to make it out of Q1 finishing just behind the Williams of Alex Albon.
The biggest talking point of Q1 was totally unnecessary accident between Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi, both cars sustaining damage, with the Williams taking the worst of it.
The result being both drivers are out of Qualifying and heading for a chat with the stewards.
The Mercedes cars both made it into Q2, however they are off the pace compared to Redbull and Ferrari. Its going to take a while for the reigning Constructors Champion to get involved in the battle at the front.
Heading into Q2, times began to fall with the benchmark time being set by Sergio Perez with a 1.18.340.
Q2 was a more settled session with no big dramas, apart from George Russell taking to the escape road at turn 11.
Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, Guanyu Zhou and Mick Schumacher all failed to make it into the top ten shootout.
Heading into the top ten shootout its between Mercedes, Ferrari, Redbull, Alpine and Mercedes.
The first casualty of the session was for the unfortunate Fernando Alonso who crashed while on a great lap, the Alpine seemed to get stuck in fourth gear as the Spanish driver was coming up to the tight turn 11. With no engine breaking the Alpine slid straight to the scene of the accident and confirmed Alonso’s position will be at least 10th.
After Alonso’s accident it turned Q3 into a 7 minute run for pole. Alonso was guaranteed a 10th place start as a minimum.
The final seven minutes saw nine drivers attempt to take pole, however it was clear that it would be between Redbull and Ferrari for the top step on the grid for the race tomorrow.
It was Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari that took the honours with a 1:17.868, 0.286 ahead of Verstappen, with Sergio Perez making up the top three, however this may change as Perez is under investigation for not slowing enough under yellow flags. Carlos Sainz will be disappointed with a 9th place start after a mistake on his final run.
McLaren have found some pace after a disappointing start to the season with Norris and Ricciardo qualifying 4th and 7th respectively.
Lewis Hamilton, who has consistently been at the front of the grid in Melbourne will have to contend with a 5th place start, his teammate, Russell took 6th in the sister car.
Another round of Verstappen/Leclerc tomorrow, who can take the win?
Top 10
1.Leclerc – 1:17.868
2.Verstappen
3.Perez (under investigation)
4.Norris
5.Hamilton
6.Russell
7.Ricciardo
8.Ocon
9.Sainz
10.Alonso