Max Verstappen will have to fend off two hard-charging Mercedes cars into turn one at tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull ace earned his first pole position in Australia with a fine performance in what was an intriguing and, at times, dramatic qualifying session.
Indeed, his team-mate Sergio Perez provided one of the early talking points and not in a positive sense for the Mexican as he slid off of the circuit with an issue at turn three in Q1, with him beached and out of the session moments later – he’ll start from the back of the grid.
Up at the front, though, his title rival Verstappen will take on George Russell, who starts in P2, and old rival Lewis Hamilton, who lines up in P3, at lights out.
Here are some of the key quotes from after the session…
Verstappen eyes first Aussie victory
Max has taken his first pole position in Melbourne and will now eye his first race win there as well. Red Bull have not won in Australia for over 10 years and that is something they are itching to change this weekend.
“I think the last run was very good,” said the Dutchman.
“The whole weekend it has been very tough to get the tyres in the right window, to push straight away, but it all worked out in Q3. I’m very happy with the lap and of course very happy to be on pole position.
“I’ve been on the podium once [in Melbourne,] but I want to be on a different step this time.”
Russell delighted with Mercedes improvement
Much has been said about Mercedes’ struggles this year but they certainly looked in good nick in qualifying with them eyeing a double podium finish this weekend now.
George Russell outqualified Lewis Hamilton to earn a front row starting spot tomorrow and admitted after the session he was even a little disappointed to miss out on pole:
“We weren’t expecting that, that’s for sure. A lot of hard work is going on back at the factory and here in Melbourne and, wow, what a session for us.
“The car felt alive, the lap at the end was right on the limit and I’m going to be honest, I was little bit disappointed that we didn’t get pole position.”
Lewis Hamilton gunning for P1 in Australia
Lewis Hamilton also look energised after qualifying and has talked up his chances of challenging Verstappen out in front.
“This is a totally unexpected, I’m really proud of the team.
“George did an amazing job there today so for us to be up on the front two rows in honestly a dream for us. We are all working as hard as we can to get right back up to the front so to be this close to Red Bull is incredible.
“I am super grateful for this position and I am just going to work as hard as I can tomorrow. [My aim] is to get to first.”
Fernando Alonso calls out Mercedes over performance
Fernando Alonso couldn’t resist commenting on Mercedes’ impressive showing. Alonso will start fourth tomorrow for Aston Martin and has suggested that, especially after today’s running, that the Silver Arrows’ W14 car is nowhere near as bad as the team have been making out:
“They were definitely very fast in Jeddah already and they were fast in FP2 [in Australia],” Alonso said to Sky Sports. “They are always fast. If you read their comments it seems like they have a car that is out of Q3, but it is a fast car.”
On his own qualifying, meanwhile, the double world champion said:
“In terms of performance, arguably, this was the best qualifying for us of the three [races so far this season.] It’s the closest we’ve been to pole position, so I feel fast and the car is easy to drive and I enjoy it.”
Sergio Perez bemoans issue
The fight at the front is going to be fun to watch tomorrow, then, but carving through the field will be Sergio Perez and his progress will also give us something to look out for.
A technical issue carried over from FP3 saw him sliding into the gravel at turn three early in qualifying and he’ll line up at the back of the grid tomorrow in Melbourne.
“We had a bit of a technical issue from FP3 and we thought we fixed that, but we obviously didn’t,” said Checo. “It was very difficult to do anything out there, just braking. I became a passenger as soon as I touched the brake. It’s something that is moving the brake balance quite far forwards on the braking.”
Alex Albon shines in Melbourne
Finally, one of the most feel-good stories developing this season is the improvement of Williams.
Of course, they’re not fighting for victories or anything like that but they are back in the midfield mix and that is really positive to see.
Alex Albon did a sterling job and will line up in P8 tomorrow – behind the ‘big dogs’ as he rather aptly put it:
“We have the big dogs in front of us,” he told Sky Sports F1. “We were one of the next best. We were struggling with the tyres a lot in Jeddah and the car was much trickier than they actually showed.
“We kind of left Jeddah disappointed because we felt like there’s so much more potential in the car and it was all good until qualifying and once qualifying hit the tyres were struggling. We just couldn’t get the tyres to click, then we came into this weekend.
“[Albert Park] is actually a very similar track with similar weather, cold street track, smooth. We worked hard on it. Came up with a game plan for me for this weekend and we executed it. Once the tyres were [there], everything feels good.”
Lights out tomorrow is at 6am UK time – set those alarms!
Full classification from Australian Grand Prix qualifying
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. George Russell (Mercedes)
3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
4. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
6. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
8. Alex Albon (Williams)
9. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
11. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
12. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
13. Lando Norris (McLaren)
14. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
15. Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri)
16. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
17. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)
18. Logan Sargeant (Williams)
19. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
20. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
