After lively Free Practice 3, it was difficult to say who would be in pole position at the end of qualifying. Lando Norris set the fastest time in his McLaren, but the team admitted that he was carrying very little fuel, which was the reason for a message from his engineer at the end of the session, asking him to save fuel. fuel.
Behind him, the Ferraris and Red Bulls still seem the strongest cars, with Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez rounding out the top three. Fernando Alonso also looked in great form for Alpine F1.
Carlos Sainz was behind his teammate, like Max Verstappen. But the Dutchman failed to set a single time on soft tyres, complaining of balance issues on his RB18 since the start of the weekend.
On the Mercedes F1 side, porpoising continued to pose big performance problems, while Haas F1, on fire in Bahrain and Jeddah, failed to make progress ahead of the qualifying session.
One of the issues before the qualifying session was the Aston Martin F1 time trial. The Silverstone team had to repair the two AMR22s, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll having both sent their single-seaters into the barriers in EL3.
Alex Albon has taken three penalty places on the grid, which should send him back to the last part of the classification.
Q1 – 18 minutes
Ferrari drivers were the first of the top teams to hit the track, while work continued at Aston Martin to try to get Vettel and Stroll into this Q1, from which they will struggle to get out anyway. .
Leclerc was the first to set a reference time of 1’19″391. Yuki Tsunoda and Guanyu Zhou placed far behind, quickly beaten by Norris, who was second less than four tenths behind the Monegasque Ferrari.
Sainz then took the best time with the other Ferrari, in 1’19″179. Sergio Pérez took the second time less than two tenths behind the Spaniard, while Verstappen provisionally set the fourth time.
Leclerc then regained the lead in the standings in 1’18″881! Daniel Ricciardo placed himself just behind his team-mate Norris, while behind, Mick Schumacher finally placed himself ahead of his team-mate Kevin Magnussen. An expected reaction from the German driver after a tricky start to the season.
One lap after spinning, Valtteri Bottas moved into fifth position, just ahead of Fernando Alonso, who impressed in free practice. Norris confirmed McLaren’s good form by taking fourth place.
Verstappen improved and was 0.044 behind Leclerc. Alonso also improved and took fourth place. The Mercedes F1 drivers finally set a time, but it was not reassuring.
Indeed, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton positioned themselves in tenth and 11th positions, while Bottas moved up to fifth position. Verstappen improved and took first place in 1:18.580.
Pérez then took second place, while Sainz complained of a “really weird, totally crazy porpoising”. Lance Stroll finally took to the track less than 5 minutes from Q1.
Hamilton improved and took eighth place, as an incident was noted between him and Tsunoda. Magnussen moved up the rankings to 14th place, and Schumacher to 13th. Haas F1 was clearly less fit than in the first two races.
Gasly failed to improve, Russell moved up to ninth, Esteban Ocon returned to 10th, while Zhou improved and eliminated Albon with 2:20 to go. Vettel remained in his garage and his AMR22 was not ready to roll.
The session was interrupted by a huge accident for Nicholas Latifi, who destroyed his Williams after a collision with Stroll, who fell back when the Williams driver passed to his right!
A misunderstanding that suggests that Stroll did not see Latifi, who had just let him pass, in his mirrors when letting an Alfa Romeo pass. But the Aston Martin driver is risking a lot in terms of penalties.
8h28 : The session will resume for 2 minutes at 8:31 a.m. French time!
8h31 : Vettel was able to get out of his garage as Aston Martin completed repairs following the crash between Stroll and Latifi. And the session was relaunched!
The situation on the track was very complex, the drivers trying to cross the line before the end of the clock, and all went very fast to achieve it. Hamilton and Russell could not achieve this, despite being eighth and ninth before this restart.
Gasly improved, while Vettel was able to set a time and pass Latifi and Stroll. With Albon’s penalty, he will start 17th tomorrow.
The eliminated from this Q1 were Albon, Magnussen, Vettel, Latifi and Stroll.
Q2 – 15 minutes
Williams asked Albon to stop his car on the track, and race management announced that Q2 would be launched at 8:40 a.m. French time, time to evacuate the Thai’s Williams FW44.
Finally, the start of Q2 was delayed indefinitely, as the marshals were pushing the English single-seater on the track, with the help of the driver.
The session officially started at 8:45 a.m. French time, as the sun began to bathe the Albert Park course.
Verstappen set a time of 1’18″611 from the start of this Q2, when a yellow flag was displayed in the third sector. It was Russell who was in a loophole.
Pérez was three tenths behind his teammate, and Leclerc slightly behind the Mexican in 1’19″008. Sainz was two tenths behind his teammate, while Gasly and Ocon positioned themselves behind the Spaniard.
Alonso set an excellent time with a second place between the two Red Bulls, while Pérez was under investigation for not slowing down under a yellow flag. The McLaren drivers came between the Ferrari drivers. Hamilton placed eighth.
Pérez then took the lead in Q2 with a 1’18.340, while Russell in turn entered the top 10. Verstappen hampered Hamilton and had apparently not been warned that the Mercedes behind him was on a lap fast.
Stewards confirmed Pérez’s infringement would be investigated after the qualifying session, while Vettel was handed a speeding penalty.
Bottas failed to improve and remained 12th, while Zhou fell one position behind his team-mate. Leclerc managed to take second, and Sainz fourth, in the quick attempt.
Ocon improved with the eighth fastest time, leaving Hamilton tenth, but the Briton improved. Alfa Romeo and Haas, very lively in Bahrain and Jeddah, are clearly behind in Melbourne.
The eliminated are Gasly, Bottas – who put an end to his series of 103 consecutive passages in Q3 -, Tsunoda, Zhou and Schumacher.
Q3 – 12 minutes
The pilots have all complained about the sun, which is at eye level. Leclerc and Hamilton asked for a helmet with a dark visor, while Verstappen had a piece of tape installed on the top of his visor to act as a sun visor.
Verstappen set his first timed lap in 1’18″399, a very solid performance for the Red Bull driver, who has been improving since the start of the weekend. But his team-mate Pérez beat him by a thousandth of a second!
Ricciardo took third ahead of Ocon, while Leclerc and Hamilton aborted their fast lap. The McLaren was however six tenths behind the Red Bull, like the Frenchman’s Alpine.
Leclerc then took the best time in 1’18″239, the Ferrari being very competitive! Alonso set the absolute best time in the second sector but had an accident just after! What a pity for the Spaniard, who was certainly going to slide in the first or second row, and played a very good weekend…
The Alpine F1 driver complained of a hydraulic problem which prevented him from changing gear on the approach to the corner where he had his accident. The red flag was raised with 6:58 to go.
The session was restarted at 9:25 a.m. for just under seven minutes. Hamilton, Sainz and Russell had yet to do a fast lap at this time.
Hamilton and Russell started one after the other, and Russell complained that his team-mate at Mercedes F1 was too slow on track. The duo restarted for a second lap of warming up the tyres.
Pérez improved but fell short a thousandth of a second behind Leclerc, who retained his provisional pole position for the smallest of gaps. Russell took the fourth time, Hamilton the sixth, 42 thousandths of a second separating the two men.
Verstappen was not improving in either of the first two sectors, but he still set the best time in 1’18″154, but Leclerc regained control in 1’17″868, and the Monegasque took his second pole position of the season.
Pérez will be on the second row in front of Norris, who signs a very good qualification for McLaren. Hamilton and Russell placed the Mercedes on the third row ahead of Ricciardo and Ocon, then Sainz who posted a big underperformance in this qualification. Alonso is tenth, but we will have to see the state of repairs at Alpine.
| Pos. | Pilot | Car | Q1 time | Q2 time | Q3 time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari F1-75 | 1:18.881 | 1:18.606 | 1:17.868 |
| 02 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull RBPT RB18 | 1:18.580 | 1:18.611 | 1:18.154 |
| 03 | sergio perez | Red Bull RBPT RB18 | 1:18.834 | 1:18.340 | 1:18.240 |
| 04 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes MCL36 | 1:19.280 | 1:19.066 | 1:18.703 |
| 05 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes W13 | 1:19.401 | 1:19.106 | 1:18.825 |
| 06 | George Russell | Mercedes W13 | 1:19.405 | 1:19.076 | 1:18.933 |
| 07 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren Mercedes MCL36 | 1:19.665 | 1:19.130 | 1:19.032 |
| 08 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault A522 | 1:19.605 | 1:19.136 | 1:19.061 |
| 09 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari F1-75 | 1:18.983 | 1:18.469 | 1:19.408 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine Renault A522 | 1:19.192 | 1:18.815 | – :—.— |
| — | —————- | ————— | ———- | ———- | ———- |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri RBPT AT03 | 1:19.580 | 1:19.226 | |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo Ferrari C42 | 1:19.251 | 1:19.410 | |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri RBPT AT03 | 1:19.742 | 1:19.424 | |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo Ferrari C42 | 1:19.910 | 1:20.155 | |
| 15 | Mick Schumacher | Haas Ferrari VF-22 | 1:20.104 | 1:20.465 | |
| — | —————- | ————— | ———- | ———- | ———- |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams Mercedes FW44 | 1:20.135 | ||
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari VF-22 | 1:20.254 | ||
| 18 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin Mercedes AMR22 | 1:21.149 | ||
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes FW44 | 1:21.372 | ||
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Mercedes AMR22 | – :—.— |