Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc managed to top both Red Bulls for pole position for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne at Albert park on Saturday. It looked as if it would be close between the two manufacturers but in the end, Leclerc had a terrific lap to start on the front row.
Max Verstappen struggled both Friday and Saturday to find the right balance on his Red Bull but he managed to put a final lap together to secure second with his teammate, Sergio Perez, right behind him.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso looked to be having a terrific run but had a hydraulic issues leaving him in the wall and out of qualifying while his teammate, Esteban Ocon, was disqualified from qualifying due to a fuel breach that saw him stop on track due to a lack of fuel. The FIA mandates at least 1.0 liter of fuel is to be provided to them for testing at any time and Ocon only had 0.33 left to provide them.
McLaren and Mercedes seemed to fare better on the Albert Park circuit and perhaps some of that is track specific pace but Lewis Hamilton says that Mercedes still has not made any progress with the car.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was the big loser for Saturday as his hot lap time was removed due to a red flag just before he crossed the timing line. A mistake during his final run left him down in 9th.
Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Name | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m18.881s | 1m18.606s | 1m17.868s |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m18.58s | 1m18.611s | 1m18.154s |
| 3 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1m18.834s | 1m18.34s | 1m18.24s |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m19.28s | 1m19.066s | 1m18.703s |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m19.401s | 1m19.106s | 1m18.825s |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m19.405s | 1m19.076s | 1m18.933s |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m19.665s | 1m19.13s | 1m19.032s |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1m19.605s | 1m19.136s | 1m19.061s |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1m18.983s | 1m18.469s | 1m19.408s |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1m19.192s | 1m18.815s | |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m19.58s | 1m19.226s | |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m19.251s | 1m19.41s | |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Red Bull | 1m19.742s | 1m19.424s | |
| 14 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m19.91s | 1m20.155s | |
| 15 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1m20.104s | 1m20.465s | |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1m20.135s | ||
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1m20.254s | ||
| 18 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m21.149s | ||
| 19 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1m21.372s |
Just had to drop in to say that I’ve enjoyed your persistent “Better Off Dead” references over the years.
So Max was struggling to find the right balance this weekend, but manages to get P2.
Question for the podcast: When does the driver and team decide during the weekend to stop adjusting the car to fit the driver’s style, and when to get on with it and adjust the driving to suit the car and get the quickest time?