It wasn’t surprising that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen grabbed the pole Saturday for the F1 Australian Grand Prix. Despite it being his first pole in Melbourne, Verstappen and Red Bull have been the class of the field in 2023.
“I think the last run was very good,” said Verstappen. “The whole weekend it has been very tough to get the tires in the right window, to push straight away. But it all worked out in Q3. Very happy with the lap and of course very happy to be on pole position.”
The surprises came behind the top spot; both good and bad.
The bad: Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez slid out of qualifying in Q1 and ended his day prematurely trapped in a gravel pit.
The good: Mercedes showed some speed, enough that their drivers will occupy the next two spots on the grid with George Russell starting on the front row in second, with Lewis Hamilton in the second row in third.
“We weren’t expecting that, that’s for sure,” Russell said. “A lot of hard work going on back at the factory, here in Melbourne and wow, what a session for us. The car felt alive; the lap at the end was right on the limit I’ve got to be honest. I was a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get pole position.”
“We’ve got to go for the win. Max is going to be extremely fast, there’s no hiding that. I think it’s difficult to overtake around this circuit so the start, Lap 1, is going to be vital. The Red Bull has extraordinary top speed so it’s going to be very difficult to fight with Max but let’s see how we get on… If the opportunity’s there, we’ll go for it.”
After briefly leading the final qualifying round, Fernando Alonso continues his dream season and will start 4th.
“I feel good,” Alonso said. “Obviously, yeah, it was very tight, within one or two-tenths there were a lot of cars and we were on the upper part of that group in Q1 and Q2 – I think I was P2. And then in Q3, [by] a couple of hundredths we missed the first row of the grid.
“The Mercedes did a very good job, a very good job in Q3, so still probably the best qualifying of the three [races] for us. We were 0.6 [seconds off pole] in Bahrain, 0.5 in Jeddah and here 0.4 [seconds] from pole position, so I think we have to be happy and let’s see tomorrow what we can do,”
Carlos Sainz was the fastest Ferrari and will start fifth.
Trouble started early in the session as in Q1 with rain threating, Logan Sargeant went off track, just before Perez brought out red flags by locking up and sliding his Red Bull in the Turn 3 gravel. It ended a miserable day for Perez that saw him struggle in FP3. Perez will roll off in last place Sunday.
“It’s really hard to digest this one,” Perez said. “To end qualifying on the second braking zone is really disappointing. But nothing I can do now. I have to look forwards. I hope we are able to fix the technical issue for tomorrow, otherwise it will be really hard to race like this.”
Alonso’s Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll will start six, the second Ferrari with Charles Leclerc seventh with Alex Albon, and Pierre Gasly ninth.
Nico Hulkenberg rounds out the top 10 for the Haas F1 team.
The pole for Red Bull was the teams first in Melbourne since 2013. Verstappen now hopes his pole will turn into his first win in Australia.
“It’s going to be an interesting race that’s for sure,” he said. “We need a clean start, and after that, hopefully we can do a good job. I’ve been on the podium here before but this time I want to be on a different step.”
FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2023 – QUALIFYING
| Pos | Driver | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:17.384 | 1:17.056 | 1:16.732 | |
| 2 | 1:17.654 | 1:17.513 | 1:16.968 | |
| 3 | 1:17.689 | 1:17.551 | 1:17.104 | |
| 4 | 1:17.832 | 1:17.283 | 1:17.139 | |
| 5 | 1:17.928 | 1:17.349 | 1:17.270 | |
| 6 | 1:17.873 | 1:17.616 | 1:17.308 | |
| 7 | 1:18.218 | 1:17.390 | 1:17.369 | |
| 8 | 1:17.962 | 1:17.761 | 1:17.609 | |
| 9 | 1:18.312 | 1:17.574 | 1:17.675 | |
| 10 | 1:18.029 | 1:17.412 | 1:17.735 | |
| 11 | 1:17.770 | 1:17.768 | ||
| 12 | 1:18.471 | 1:18.099 | ||
| 13 | 1:18.243 | 1:18.119 | ||
| 14 | 1:18.159 | 1:18.129 | ||
| 15 | 1:18.450 | 1:18.335 | ||
| 16 | 1:18.517 | |||
| 17 | 1:18.540 | |||
| 18 | 1:18.557 | |||
| 19 | 1:18.714 | |||
| NC | DNF |
Q1 107% time – 1:22.800
Note – Perez failed to set a time in Q1. He will race at the stewards’ discretion.
Greg has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.