Lando Norris takes pole position in the Australian GP of F1 and Piastri achieves the second fastest time, in an exhibition by Mclaren, who only reached their maximum potential in Q3. Verstappen achieves the third fastest time, squeezing the maximum out of his Red Bull. An error by Fernando Alonso deprived him of a place in Q3, and Carlos Sainz qualified tenth, but the Williams demonstrated their progress after Albon’s sixth place finish
Mclaren dominates the first qualifying session
The Mclaren team kept their cards close to their chest until Q3. Lando Norris and Óscar Piastri were on a par with their rivals throughout the qualifying session, but in Q3 they showed they were a step ahead, taking the top two places and leaving Verstappen, in third place, three tenths behind.
Verstappen shows his class once again
Max Verstappen achieved a creditable third place, as can be seen from the fact that his team-mate, Lawson, did not get past Q1. Despite the problems of Red Bull, the Dutchman managed to squeeze the car into the leading positions.
Disappointment at Ferrari
The Ferrari was one of the disappointments in this first qualifying session. In the first head-to-head between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, the Monegasque driver qualified ahead of the Briton, two tenths of a second better, but they only managed seventh and eighth place. Much more was expected of the Italian team, many thought it could stand up to the McLarens, but the qualifying session shows that they are a step behind.
Williams confirm their step forward
The Williams team has confirmed what had been seen in testing and practice. Carlos Sainz managed to qualify in tenth position, and Alex Albon sneaks into sixth place. They had been calling for caution all this time, claiming that the times did not correspond to reality, but it has been seen that the legendary English team has taken a step forward. We will see if the Spaniard is capable of making the most of his great qualifying and how he adapts to the possible rain that may fall on the circuit tomorrow.
An error by Alonso leaves him out of Q3
Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin seemed set to be one of the big surprises in qualifying. In Q1 he achieved ninth place, saving himself the last run and qualifying just 3 tenths of a second behind the best time set by Norris. However, a run off track on his first attempt in Q2 prevented him from setting a time and could have damaged the bottom of the AMR25. He started his second attempt seconds before the end of the session, with a lot of traffic. The first sector of the track was bad and he couldn’t recover in the second and third, with the Aston Martin qualifying in 12th place. Despite the mistake, he managed to overtake his team mate, Lance Stroll, who qualified in 13th place.
A Mercedes and a Red Bull, out in Q1
Antonolli and Lawson, the rookies with Mercedes and Red Bull respectively, caused a surprise after failing to get through Q1. Two of the big F1 teams were left out at the first hurdle, a sign of the great equality across the whole grid.
Wet race
Qualifying has once again shown that there is great equality, in general terms, between all the drivers on the grid. Tomorrow’s race could be affected by rain. It is known that it will rain during the day, but it is not known what the track will be like during the race. Despite this, there seems to be no doubt that Norris and Piastri are one step ahead of everyone else and that they will be the ones to contest the race, but watch out for Verstappen. Red Bull does not seem to be at its best, but he is already taking care of contradicting everyone.
Australian GP Qualifying
- Norris
- Piastri
- Verstappen
- Russell
- Tsunoda
- Albon
- Leclerc
- Hamilton
- Gasly
- Sainz
- Hadjar
- Alonso
- Stroll
- Doohan
- Bortoleto
- Antonolli
- Hulkemberg
- Lawson
- Ocon
- Bearman