The sniper fired the only shot he had available: Max Verstappen gave a demonstration of his world-class talent by shattering the Albert Park track record with a time of 1'15″915, the only one to break the wall of 1'16″. The Dutchman complained for two days about the setup of his Red Bull, but in the end, after the final adjustments tested in Q2, he found the perfect lap which allowed Max to take the second pole in the Australian GP which is also the third of the season and the 57th of his career.
Nothing new under the Antipodean sun, but this time the qualifying result may not be decisive for the race: Verstappen has hinted that the pole start will not protect him from the attacks of the Ferraris who showed better race pace adaptation to the Melbourne track. The Cavallino's illusion of celebrating the 250th pole was shattered with the second place of an amazing Carlos Sainz: the Spaniard, despite not being in perfect shape after the emergency operation in Jeddah due to the attack of appendicitis which hit in Arabia, he was able to react like a true “knight of risk”.
The Iberian's Ferrari is second with a gap of 270 thousandths: Sainz wedged himself between the two Red Bulls, given that Sergio Perez is third with the other RB20 and the Mexican also followed Verstappen's setup script to defeat understeer. Carlos will have to demonstrate in the race that he can keep up with Max's pace, counting on the fact that the red car could be as competitive as the car from Milton Keynes. Charles Leclerc was disappointed only in fifth, while he was competing for the pole position: the Monegasque was pierced by Lando Norris with the McLaren preceding him by more than a tenth.
Leclerc complained of understeer in Q2 and asked the team to adjust the front wing which then made the SF-24 oversteer. Charles made a couple of errors in the last run, aborting the decisive lap. The Ferrari driver didn't want to settle for one placing and dared to make a change that made him go astray: five clicks were definitely too many, but for the race the tune could change, even if Norris' McLaren is certainly a foreign element that had not been taken into consideration.
Charles will also have to watch out for Oscar Piastri, the home idol, at the start: the Australian arrived behind Ferrari and will be able to count on a big boost from the local public. George Russell had the tenacity to bring Mercedes into Q3, given that Lewis Hamilton remained out: the W15 disappoints expectations given that the technicians returned to the bottom line that had been tried in the tests in Bahrain, rejecting what had been decided to the start of the season. It's the third car in a row that makes a mistake at Brackley: it's no coincidence that they called Simone Resta from Maranello!
Among the heroes of the day, in addition to Sainz, we must mention Yuki Tsunoda: the Japanese brought the Racing Bulls to eighth position, demonstrating that the car is not as bad as it was seen in the first two GPs, but the Asian took of his too, giving the clear sensation of having become the leader of the team. He closes the list of the five top teams Aston Martin with Lance Stroll ninth ahead of Fernando Alonso. The Canadian put the “verdona” in front of the Spaniard and that's enough for him. In reality, a cross at the end of a good lap compromised a performance that could have taken him further up the grid.
The Iberian damaged the floor in the first run of Q3 and knew that he would not have the chance to extract the best from the AMR24 which benefited from the new front wing in search of better balance.
Lewis Hamilton remains out of the Top 10 and just doesn't get along with the Mercedes W15: in Q2 the Englishman pays just 51 thousandths of a second from his teammate, enough to stay out of Q3. The seven-time world champion, annoyed that it is said that he is “boiled”, looked for a reaction in Australia: a slip was enough to leave him out.
Alexander Albon does his part: he brings the only Williams to 12th position. The Anglo-Thai has squeezed the limits of a car that has big limits, also taking big risks. Albon inherited Logan Sargeant's chassis after crashing in FP1. James Vowles, Grove's team principal, decided to leave the American driver alone, preferring that Alexander should attempt the qualification. From a technical point of view the choice was right, but it was highly criticized from a sporting point of view. The Grove team made a fool of themselves by not having a spare body at their disposal. Shameful, because it's not a question of money, as has been said, but of the organization of the team.
Valtteri Bottas climbs to 13th place thanks to the new Sauber wing that debuted in Australia: the Finn drew the maximum potential from the Hinwil car and preceded Kevin Magnussen with the best Haas. Esteban Ocon, who had hit the wall in Q1 by puncturing the left rear with the Alpine and was content to get out of the first trap: the Frenchman celebrated the result as if he had won a pole. This is the maximum the Anglo-French team can aspire to with a disastrous A524.
Nico Hulkenberg does not leave Q1 with Haas: the German takes 16th position with the VF-24. The German precedes Pierre Gasly: the Frenchman has never found a good balance with the Alpine and Pierre has already performed a miracle in leaving the rear of the grid.
Daniel Ricciardo did badly on his home track: the Australian had qualified for Q2, but with the Racing Point he ran wide at turn 5 and the track limit was triggered which erased his time of 1'17″466. Last, on the tenth row, there is Guanyu Zhou: the Chinese with the Sauber broke his front wing on the curb of turn 10 and was unable to complete his second run which cost him elimination.
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