Max Verstappen was in top form as he claimed pole position for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen ended Saturday’s qualifying session 0.236secs faster than Russell, who out-qualified seven-time world champion Hamilton by 0.035secs. It is the third consecutive qualifying session Russell has outpaced Hamilton this season.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso will line up behind Hamilton on the second row of the grid in fourth, while fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. was fifth in his Ferrari.
The other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll was sixth, ahead of the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon, who was impressive in his Williams in eighth.
Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg completed the top-10 for Alpine and Haas respectively.
It was a nightmare session for the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez who was hoping to challenge Verstappen in Melbourne this weekend. The Mexican will however start in last place after he crashed his car into the gravel during his first run in the first session of qualifying (Q1).
Tasty starting grid ????#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/LOSz7ucTuj
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 1, 2023
Oscar Piastri suffered also suffured Q1 elimination in his first Australian Grand Prix qualifying and will start his home race in 16th.
