maximum verstappen ‘flew’ with his Red Bull at Albert Park to secure his second pole position of the season Australian Grand Prix, Third race of the 2023 calendar The current leader of the Championship, the Dutch driver, will open the front row tomorrow, accompanied by Russell and Hamilton’s Mercedes, who beat Fernando Alonso on a spectacular final lap.. The Asturian driver will start fourth in his Aston Martin and Carlos Sainz will complete the top five in a career that promises strong emotions. No doubt it’s worth getting up early (DAZN, 07:00).
Sergio Pérez took the role in the first surprise of the classification. The Mexican, who was second one point behind Verstappen in the World Cup, had many problems in the third free practice, especially in the third turn of the Albert Park circuit. And at the same point, as soon as Q1 started, Checo locked the tires again and Red Bull stuck in the gravel, causing the first red flag of the session. One of the Arabian favourites, who took pole position and won the last race, was thus eliminated early and relegated to last place on the starting line for tomorrow’s race in Melbourne.
The pole position challenge started with a temperature of 14 degrees Celsius, ten degrees below normal for this grand prix, with high humidity due to high winds and rain a few minutes ago, making grass escapes particularly difficult. . Verstappen led the way ahead of Alonso in the 3rd practice session. quickly ahead of the timetable (1.18.063). Fernando replied (1,17,832) and the World Championship leader forced him to reclaim first place, cutting time to 1,17,469, the best of the weekend so far. Half a second behind, Sainz solidified his position in the next lap.
Verstappen, Hamilton, Ocon, Alonso, Russell and Sainz took the lead, while Leclerc was not in the “top 10” after going off track. Along with Sergio Pérez, Zhou, Sargeant, Bottas and the local hero who was a rookie in F1 this year MclarenAustralian Oscar Piastri.
Aston Martin keeps the pulse
Two Aston Martins dominated the early stages of Q2 with Lance Stroll (1.17.616) and Fernando Alonso (1.17.681) separated by a few thousandths. Leclerc beat them with Ferrari (1.1.560) and Verstappen puts things back in order (1.17.219). In his second attempt, the Spaniard was second only 64k behind the champion, using only one set of soft tires to advance to Q3.
Alonso kept pushing his tires with good pace and good feelings for the race, with the goal of being in the final challenge for pole position and the track getting better and better. Verstappen has improved again (1.17.056) and is 2-tenths of the Spaniards thanks to Red Bull’s extra speed in the second sector of Albert Park, the fastest on the track, which marked the difference with the AMR23. Carlos Sainz climbed to third place in the final lap ahead of Leclerc and the combative Nico Hülkenberg, who, along with Ocon, Tsunoda, De Vries and Norris, once again left proof to teammate Magnussen, who came out of Q3.
Verstappen, a ‘missile’
Radar announced it was raining in the final minutes of the session, which led to a pole position fight that began with all the favorites pushing the pace and championship leader Max Verstappen “flying” in his RB19. The Dutch driver took first place after failing to improve his Q2 time (1.17,578) after being frightened in the final part of his fastest lap.. Alonso set the interim post with a time of 1,17,303 that Hamilton snatched away from him by a thousandth. And before the first drops fell, Verstappen took first place once again with 1,17,262 laps.
In a final try for everyone, before the rain forecasts come true, Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso and Russell were in the same tenth place, with the Ferraris in line. When Perez leaves the game, Red Bull had only one lead and Verstappen took advantage of it. With a spectacular final lap (1,16,732), the champion took the second pole position of the season after winning the opening race in Bahrain. Alonso, 4 tenths behind the Dutchman, lost second place to two Mercedes men who waited until the end to show their ‘claws’ and finished 2 tenths behind Max. ORA situation that led Hamilton and Alonso to share a ‘evil’ second place on the grid tomorrow, with Carlos Sainz opening fifth for third place.