At the end of the first run of Q3 there were five drivers in a tenth: the feeling was that F1 on the flying lap had suddenly found an extraordinary balance with four different cars that were never so close. Then Max Verstappen launched himself for the second attempt and things fell into place again: the world champion set an incredible time, 1’16″732 which is the new absolute record of the Melbourne track, 1″1 more faster than the previous record. The difference today was made by the Dutchman, more than the RB19 who struggled to find the right setup in the cold conditions of the Australian GP. Max’s 37th pole start takes on a higher value, not only because he put everyone at a distance, but because he immediately reduced the ambitions of his teammate, fresh winner in Jeddah.
The exclusion of Sergio Perez who will line up last tomorrow is sensational: the Mexican was unable to set a time in Q1 because he ended up getting covered up in the escape route of Turn 3 after locking up under braking due to a distribution problem . Checo repeated the mistakes of Saturday morning (he ended up wide five times in FP3), but this time he got stuck in the wet sand and was unable to restart so he was recovered by the crane after the red flag was displayed. The South American driver complained about the set-up of the RB19, which was too unstable in the cool temperatures. Strange that the world champion team didn’t want to give him two sprint laps to warm up the tyres, even though Max only needed one to take pole!
Behind Verstappen, the Mercedes woke up with George Russell 236 thousandths behind and Lewis Hamilton 372 thousandths behind Red Bull: the young Englishman was devastating with the W14 because he managed to improve the performance obtained in the first run by six tenths, surprising Hamilton who hoped to savor the front row.
The Black Arrows invented the lap, but they don’t seem to have the pace to maintain position in the race and we risk being threatened by Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin which will close the second row. The Spaniard was the most consistent in yesterday’s long run, so it’s easy to bet on the Asturian as a challenger to Red Bull.
Ferrari disappointed in the flying lap: Carlos Sainz clung to the SF-23 and put the red in fifth position half a second off the lead. The Madrilenian suffers from his grid position, more than his gap, given that the Scuderia is in Max’s pursuers. It’s easy to think that in Maranello they worked more thinking about the race (and tire life), but the drivers didn’t they were flawless this time.
It should therefore come as no surprise to find Charles Leclerc only seventh: the Monegasque was behind his teammate throughout the weekend, a sign that he is missing something in exploiting the SF-23. Charles tried to launch with just one warm-up lap, while the Iberian used two. The young prince admits that he did not exploit the red’s real potential and complained that he was conditioned by Carlos who was in front of him.
The fact is that Lance Stroll slipped between the two Ferraris in sixth with the second “green”: the Canadian could be a big thorn in the side tomorrow for the two Prancing Horse drivers.
Excellent performance by Alexander Albon eighth with Williams: the Anglo-Thai took advantage of the incredible supremacy of the FW45 in the second sector. Nico Hulkenberg also proved to be a sniper in the flying lap: the German put Haas in the top 10. More can not be asked of him. The Alpine collects the ninth place of Pierre Gasly, while Estean Ocon remains out of the top 10 by 7 thousandths of a second with the A523: the Frenchman hoped to build a better qualifying, but did not enter Q3 with a gap of 712 thousandths from the top position, while Yuki Tsunoda 12th is detached by three tenths from the transalpine with the AlphaTauri. The Japanese with 1’18″099 managed to bring the AT04 to the second cut, doing his duty to the fullest. Nyck De Vries also went well with the other car from Faenza: the Frisian is 15th even if he pays a gap net from the Japanese who took the lead of the first team guide.
Lando Norris seemed resigned when the track engineer told him over the radio that he was only 13th: the Englishman went long in Turn 1, but suffered from an uncompetitive McLaren. Lando was 10 thousandths enough to keep Kevin Magnussen behind with the second Haas: the Dane suffers from his teammate Hulkenberg’s ability to invent a lap and gets nervous by making mistakes that he could have avoided.
Oscar Piastri did not leave Q1 with McLaren: the Melbourne driver wanted to make a good impression in front of his home crowd, but had to settle for 16th place with an MCL60 not up to the situation, pending the changes that will arrive in Baku .
Bad for the two Alfa Romeos: Guanyu Zhou is 17th and does better than Valtteri Bottas who is only 19th. The Finn ended up in traffic on the decisive lap, but the long-nosed C43 seemed to struggle with the low temperatures.
Logan Sargeant is 18th: in the first run he touches the grass and spins without doing any damage: he restarts but must have lost a bit of confidence, given that Williams seemed to have the potential to get out of the first cut. Inexperience pays off…
