Formula 1 News: Verstappen beats Sainz for pole in Australia (Update)

The teammate of polesitter Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, will drop three grid positions for the Australian Grand Prix after receiving a penalty for impeding Nico Hulkenberg during qualifying.

The incident occurred in Q1 of the hour when Hulkenberg was forced to take avoiding action on his flying lap after encountering Perez – on an out lap – into Turn 13.

World Champion Max Verstappen turned a lap of 1m15.945s in his #1 Red Bull Honda to win pole for the 2024 Australian GP, his third straight P1 start this season.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The sold-out crowd witnessed an exciting battle for pole. Verstappen was the only driver to break into the 1m15s bracket around the Albert Park circuit with a time that was 0.270s faster than the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr.

“A bit unexpected today, but very happy with Q3 – both laps felt very nice,” said Verstappen.

“A bit of a tricky weekend so far, [Ferrari] seem very quick in the long runs so that makes tomorrow exciting.”

Sainz had been fastest in both Q1 and Q2 and looked set to challenge for pole

It was a fantastic performance for the Spaniard just coming back from emergency surgery. “It’s been a tough couple of weeks, a lot of days in bed waiting to see if I could be here today. To put it on the front row after leading through qualifying, I was almost not believing it.

“I was a bit rusty yesterday, but I’m feeling good with the car. Not going to lie, not in my most comfortable state when I’m driving out there, but I can get it done.”

The Red Bull of Sergio Perez was third quick, 0.359s behind his teammate. “I think there was a bit more in it, my first sector was not great especially Turn 1. I’m happy, but tomorrow we have a fight on our hands with the Ferraris and the rest of the field as degradation looks very high, so starting position isn’t as important.

“We’ve changed a bit our strategy tomorrow, let’s see who can survive the most on the degradation side.”

Lando Norris was 4th in his #4 McLaren Mercedes, while the 2nd Ferrari of Charles Leclerc rounded out the top-5, 0.520s behind the Dutchman Verstappen.

Verstappen had a real fight on his hands there, the Ferraris looking quick throughout the day. But he seems to always manage to find that extra tenth when it matters, and has grabbed yet another pole position.

Home favorite Oscar Piastri will start from sixth.

George Russell was the sole Mercedes in Q3 and collected seventh on the grid, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda. Lance Stroll had just one run and finished ninth-fastest, despite a snap of oversteer at Turn 10, ahead of Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton was pushed out of the top 10 by Yuki Tsunoda, meaning that the overrated seven-time world champion will start from P11 on the grid following a difficult session for Mercedes.

Verstappen had a fight on his hands to win a third consecutive grand prix in 2024 this weekend, admitting after practice that “Ferrari is certainly fast”.

“But we can fine-tune a few things,” the triple world champion said in Melbourne. “I don’t see a reason to worry yet,” Red Bull’s Dutch driver added.

Team advisor Dr Helmut Marko agreed: “We have to take Ferrari seriously here. They look extremely strong on one lap and in the long run.”

However, he added: “We drove with less power than Ferrari on the fast lap. And the long run still needs fine-tuning. But they’re strong here. (Charles) Leclerc is fast.

“Max also damaged the underbody and a few other things relatively badly in the first session, which meant we had less time in the second one.

“We were a little bit behind in the long run, but this is due to the lack of time. But it will be tight, especially if we don’t get the tuning under control.

“But I’m optimistic that we will succeed,” said Marko and he was right.

All eyes will be on the man of the moment, the man at the front, the man on pole. Verstappen has two wins from two races so far this season, and will be looking for the hat trick here.

Can anyone stop the charging Dutchman? And what is Ferrari thinking – they re-signed Leclerc and are bringing in Hamilton, but Sainz appears to be a better driver than both of them. What were they thinking?

Qualifying Results