Ferrari #1, Red Bull #2 and #3, for Sunday’s race. Mercedes continues to lag.
MELBOURNE, Australia—Charles Leclerc endured two red flags and a possible penalty to take the pole (1:17:868) Saturday afternoon just ahead of rival Max Verstappen. Sergio Perez qualified third. They will race on Sunday in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne.
The Monegasque set a quick lap just ahead of the final red-flag period when Alpine’s Fernando Alonso crashed at turn 11 with 6:58 remaining. Leclerc had just brought his Ferrari over the line to make the lap count. Verstappen took the fastest lap when the session resumed, but Leclerc went quicker to take the pole with very little time remaining.
“It felt good, even more, because it is a track I have always struggled at in the past,” Leclerc said afterward.
For Verstappen, second means he will be on the front row Sunday. But he wasn’t happy with his performance. “I didn’t feel good in the car the whole weekend,” Verstappen asserted. “There wasn’t one lap where I felt confident. Second is good, but it’s not great when you can’t go to the limit.”
The other red flag occurred in the opening session when Canadians Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll struck each other at turn three, spinning the Williams around and having the Aston Martin pull off the circuit moments later. This gave Sebastian Vettel, Stroll’s teammate, a good chance to do one flying lap, despite suffering heavy damage to his car after crashing in Free Practice Three. Vettel made it happen despite his inability to advance further into the next round.
The second session was delayed by a few minutes when Alex Albon, in the second Williams, could not return to the pits and had to have his car pushed away from the back straight. Along with Albon, Stroll, and Latifi, Kevin Magnussen of Haas F1 joined the trio. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Gwangu and Valtteri Bottas, Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, and the second Haas of Mick Schumacher exited the second round.
Lando Norris, who had the fastest time in Free Practice Three, finished fourth with his McLaren. Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ended up fifth and sixth, respectively.
There is a chance of rain on Sunday in what will be a test for cars and drivers even if it is a dry track. That’s because this circuit has been resurfaced with four corners changed over the last two seasons. The Australian GP will be televised live on Sunday by ESPN starting at 1 am Eastern time.
