The practice laps are over: now the race weekend is really starting. At least, for the nineteen remaining drivers. Verstappen and Hamilton are still struggling with the set-up, while McLaren joins the top three and Pérez is a few tenths behind his teammate. At Ferrari it all seems to happen automatically. Can Leclerc and Sainz keep Verstappen from his 35th pole position?
During the third and final free practice in Australia we saw a special development. The drivers drove up for a long time mediumtires and only switched to the softest tires at the end of the session. Normally these tires go a tenth or three faster, but that was not the case during FP3. Let's see if drivers also go faster on the medium tires during qualifying.
Q1
For the time being, all drivers are opting for the soft tires. The sun is now shining better on the track, making it a bit warmer. After the first few laps Ferrari leads, followed by Alonso and Verstappen. The Red Bull driver reports after his first fast lap that he still suffers from understeer. He is almost half a second short halfway through Q1.
Verstappen directs his team to adjust the front wing to gain even more grip on the front. This is at the expense of straight-line speed. Not a bad idea, because Verstappen is faster in the first and second sectors, but loses seven tenths compared to Sainz in the last sector, which mainly consists of corners.
At the end of part 1 comes Verstappen. He ends up with . According to Verstappen there is still too much understeer. He argues for this by indicating that the front tires still look great. More weight can be placed on it. Sainz is the fastest with Pérez and Verstappen within a tenth of his time. Zhou, Ricciardo, Gasly and Hülkenberg drop out.
Q2
The first lap times of the second part of qualifying in Australia come in and suddenly Ferrari fails. Verstappen is more than two-tenths of a second faster than Sainz and Leclerc. There is enough room for Oscar Piastri to position himself between Verstappen and the Ferraris. Esteban Ocon seems to have no chance in advance. At Alpine they will be happy to have a car in Q2. He is almost 2.5 seconds slower than Verstappen.
With a few minutes left on the clock, Sainz, Verstappen and Pérez stay inside. They do believe it. Tsunoda takes the lead again and manages to finish ninth. Great work by the Japanese driver. This is at the expense of Lewis Hamilton. He drops out in Q2 together with Albon, Bottas, Magnussen and Ocon.
Q3
For the final part of qualifying in Australia we are left with two Red Bulls, two Ferraris, two McLarens, two Aston Martins, a Racing Bull and a Mercedes. Fernando Alonso looks for the limit in his first lap and goes over it. He manages to stay out of the wall, but the floor of his Aston Martin undoubtedly doesn't like this.
After the first times, Verstappen is the fastest with a lead of almost three tenths over Sainz and more than three tenths over Leclerc. For the first time, Verstappen responds positively to the question of the balance. Did Red Bull peak at exactly the right time? The last few minutes of Q3 will reveal that.
Verstappen and Sainz make it an exciting final lap together. Verstappen crosses the line first and shaves off his previous time. But is it enough? Sainz comes through the last corner and crosses the line. There he falls 0.27 seconds short of pole. Leclerc is still on his way, but makes a mistake and brings his Ferrari to the pits. So Verstappen still takes his 35th pole in Melbourne.
Qualifying results for the 2024 Australian GP
- Verstappen
- Sainz
- Pérez
- Norris
- Leclerc
- Piastri
- Russell
- Tsunoda
- Stroll
- Alonso
- Hamilton
- Albon
- Bottas
- Magnussen
- Ocon
- Hulkenberg
- Gasly
- Ricciardo
- Zhou
What time does F1 start at Albert Park?
Sunday March 24
Race: 5:00 am
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