Formula 1: Australian Grand Prix Day 2, news and results
Smashing through another speed barrier as well as his hapless opponents, Max Verstappen will start the Australian Grand Prix from pole position after a blistering performance almost too good to be true.
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Smashing through another speed barrier as well as his hapless opponents, Max Verstappen will start Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix from pole position after a blistering performance almost too good to be true.
For the third time in as many races this season, Verstappen just blew his rivals away, posting the fastest time in qualifying to put his Red Bull in its usual place, right at the front of the starting grid.
The Dutchman is now chasing a record equalling 10th successive Grand Prix win dating back to the middle of last year and few would bet against the triple world champion doing just that after witnessing another demonstration of his mind-blowing pace and determination.
“So far this weekend it’s been a bit tough to find a good balance in the car,” Verstappen said.
“And even throughout qualifying, Q1, Q2, I didn’t really feel like fighting for pole. But then we made some little tickles on the car and that seemed to help me in Q3 to really push it to the limit.”
Starting alongside Verstappen on the front row will be Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari, after the Spaniard returned to the championship just two weeks following abdominal surgery that forced him to miss the last race in Saudi Arabia.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m not in my most comfortable state when I’m driving out there but I can get it done,” Sainz said.
“And as far as I can get it done without the pain; obviously a lot of discomfort and weird feelings but no pain allows me to push flat-out.”
Verstappen’s Spanish team mate Sergio Perez, runner-up in the first two races this season, set the third fastest time but was demoted to sixth place after the stewards ruled he had impeded Nico Hulkenberg during qualifying.
Lando Norris was promoted to third in his McLaren, directly behind Verstappen, and the young Englishman will be joined on the second row by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Rising Australian star Oscar Piastri will take off behind his McLaren team mate in fifth position, accompanied by Perez.
Some things stayed the same, like Max Verstappen claiming pole again 🔥
— Fox Motorsport (@Fox_Motorsport) March 23, 2024
But there are some shocks too, including a "massive shock" for Lewis Hamilton 😯 👉 https://t.co/154I4AchjS
Brought to you by @Workdaypic.twitter.com/F1KPk5KASs
Trailing Sainz after the first and second rounds of qualifying, Verstappen saved his best for when it mattered, jumping straight to the top of the list with his first flying lap then going even quicker with his final attempt.
The triple world champion stopped the clock at 1:15.915, averaging over 250km/h around the twisting Melbourne circuit, but said he was wary of the improving Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc, who won the 2022 Australian Grand Prix from pole.
“Maybe it’s because we were not on top of things, but they looked well dialled in from the start,” said Verstappen.
“We managed to improve it but the race is going to be quite tough with the softer compounds that we have this year.
The biggest surprise from qualifying was the poor performance from Mercedes, with George Russell scraping into seventh after Lewis Hamilton failed to make it out of the second stage, qualifying 11th.
“We get into qualifying and the inconsistencies within the car, it really messes with the mind,” Hamilton said. “There’s a long list. Our car is on a bit of a knife edge.”
Verstappen is bidding to become the first driver to win the Australian Grand Prix in successive years since Sebastian Vettel in 2017 and 2018.
His victory last year came after a chaotic finish which saw the race finish under a red flag but he expects this weekend’s action to be more routine.
“A win is a win. It doesn’t matter, right? But it was just a bit messy last year with too many red flags,” he said.
“Let’s just hope that that is not the case this year and that we can have a good race in general because I think the fans deserve that.”
HAMILTON MISSES TOP 10
Lewis Hamilton will start outside the top 10 after missing the cut by just 0.059 seconds in Q2 at Albert Park.
It is the worst qualifying position for Hamilton since 2010, when he started in 11th.
It’s a shock result for a man who has started the Australian Grand Prix on pole eight times in his outstanding career.
The Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles LeClerc were again the two fastest, with Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez split by hometown hero Oscar Piastri to round the top five.
RICCIARDO DISASTER
Daniel Ricciardo will start near the back of the grid for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix after being eliminated in Q1 for the first time at his home race in a qualifying disaster.
After setting his sights on a top-10 qualifying performance at Albert Park after practice on Friday, Ricciardo had his best lap time deleted in Q1 after exceeding track limits at turn five.
The RB driver’s 1:17.466 lap time had put him just outside of the top 10, but he was bumped to 18th after the lap was deleted.
It is a disastrous result for the eight-time grand prix winner as he attempts to ignite his season after a difficult start to his 2024 campaign in the opening two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Ricciardo finished 13th in the season-opening race in Bahrain and 16th in Saudi Arabia.
The Australian’s home qualifying heartbreak was compounded with his RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda reaching the final stage of qualifying, Q3, to secure eighth place on the grid.
RB team principal Laurent Mekies said the result was tough to take.
“It is very difficult to swallow, but that’s the way it is,” Mekies said.
“Daniel was doing a very good job, it was probably his best lap so far of the weekend, it was a 1:17.4 it would have been more than enough to get him probably close to the top 10 actually.
“But it is the way it is, he was a bit wide in turn five …. again very difficult to swallow, but that’s the way it is.”
Despite the qualifying blow, Mekies said Ricciardo had felt as comfortable in the car as he had all weekend at Albert Park during his short time on track in qualifying.
And the RB boss predicted a fight back from the Australian in Sunday’s race.
“On the positive side, he has been not fully comfortable with the car for a big part of the weekend and what we have seen in qualy was getting there,” Mekies said.
“So I am sure there was more to come in tomorrow’s race.”
It is Ricciardo’s worst qualifying result of the year after starting the first two races from 14th position on the grid.
The only driver who will start behind Ricciardo is Zhou, with Williams driver Logan Sargeant not taking to the grid after his chassis was given to teammate Alex Albon following Friday’s practice crash leaving just 19 cars to start Sunday’s race.
FERRARIS FLY IN BLISTERING PRACTICE
It could be a red-hot qualifying session later this afternoon for the Australian Grand Prix if the final practice session is anything to go by.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc remained the driver to beat but the margin between the top-four is less than a tenth.
In an interesting session the medium tyres looked to be the best tyre to be on early as the Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez and the Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz took the top four spots for a majority of the session ahead of the rest of the field who used soft tyres.
But in the final ten minutes the soft tyres took over as drivers got quicker on the compound.
Verstappen went to the top with a 1:16.734 right as the session finished but Leclerc was able to beat his time with his final lap, doing a time of 1:16.714.
His time was the fastest ever around the new configuration of the Albert Park track.
Australian and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri was eighth, ahead of his teammate Lando Norris in 10th.
RB Honda and Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo was 18th, almost three tenths behind his teammate Yuki Tsunoda in 11th.
Qualifying starts at 4pm AEDT for the race.
Piastri sees ‘positive signs’
– Rebecca Williams
Hometown hero Oscar Piastri says he is “feeling optimistic” of his prospects for his home race at the Australian F1 Grand Prix after an encouraging Friday practice as countryman Daniel Ricciardo set his sights on a top-10 qualifying result at Albert Park.
As the F1 cars hit the track for the first time in front of a record Friday attendance of 124,113 fans, Piastri finished seventh in practice two, which was topped by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ahead of world champion Max Verstappen.
Piastri’s 1:18.077 time improved on his effort from the opening practice session when he finished 10th as his McLaren teammate Lando Norris was fastest.
While Piastri will need to make gains if he is to challenge for a podium, the 22-year-old was not far off the sixth-placed Mercedes of Brit George Russell and ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (eight) and Norris (ninth) in P2.
Aiming to turn around a difficult start to the F1 season for RB, Ricciardo finished 12th in Friday’s second practice session, which followed his 11th in opening practice.
But he finished behind his RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda (fifth and 10th) in both sessions.
Piastri gave his hopes of pushing onto the podium at his hometown race a shot in the arm after he finished fourth in Saudi Arabia, which pushed him to fifth in the driver standings.
The 2023 FIA rookie of the year finished eighth in his Albert Park debut last year, but the outlook for McLaren has been much improved since the early races of last season.
Piastri said there were positive signs for his campaign this weekend after day one in the car.
“First day in Melbourne. All-in-all, not a bad day,” Piastri said.
“We were a bit up-and-down but there were definitely some positive signs.
“We’ll have a look and see what we can find for tomorrow, but it’s been nice to be driving back home.
“We’ve got a few things to look at and try to work on, but I’m feeling optimistic”
It has been a difficult start to the 2024 Formula 1 season in the opening two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for Ricciardo with the rebranded RB team.
The eight-time Grand Prix winner finished 13th in the season-opening race amid tensions with teammate Yuki Tsunoda and then finished 16th in Jeddah after a poor qualifying performance and a late-race spin.
Ricciardo later explained the team had found inconsistencies between the cars, but RB team chief executive Peter Bayer explained on Friday both cars had been armed with new rear wings for Melbourne.
The 34-year-old said the team still had some work to do before Saturday qualifying, but he was confident the team had “a shot “ of qualifying in the top 10.
“I think as a team we started the morning on the front foot, and I think this afternoon, the others found a little more,” Ricciardo said.
“We’re definitely still within a shot of Q3 tomorrow. There are a lot of corners where, because it’s still a street circuit obviously, you put it on the edge.
“I think the conditions and grip were pretty good and it was fun to get into it. There’s a little bit of work to do tonight but nothing too crazy.
“As always, I think there’s a bit of finetuning of the car, and it should give us a good chance for tomorrow.
“In terms of race pace, with the little long run that we did, it seems okay. Let’s qualify in the top 10 and then it’ll all get easier from there.”
This year’s Australian Grand Prix is the first time Australia has had two drivers on the grid at Albert Park since 2013.
Meanwhile, McLaren announced on Friday that Zak Brown had extended his contract as chief executive officer until 2030.
Originally published as Formula 1: Australian Grand Prix Day 2, news and results
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