Verstappen Takes Pole on Australia.
Saturday was full of action during FP3 and the Qualifying Session.
Despite their dominance on Friday, Albert Park has not been the best circuit for Red Bull; we have seen both drivers struggle with the car, overshooting braking zones and spinning around. The light drizzle that fell on Saturday also caused a few issues for the rest of the grid.
Free Practice 3
It seemed like an uneventful session at first; we saw more of the same thing we witnessed on Friday; drivers were having difficulties in controlling the car, and keeping tires up to temperature. Traffic was also an issue.
Perez suffered from braking issues, apparently a software issue affected its balance, so he was running wide on a few corners; it was an omen for things to come on Qualifying. The problem with this kind of issue is that the team only has a few hours to try to fix it before the Qualifying session begins. It seems that the team could not fix it.
As mentioned above, a lot of drivers, including Verstappen, had problems controlling the car or going over the limits; the Dutch driver did not look 100% comfortable, hence Red Bull did not look as dominant as in Bahrain, and Jeddah.
Less than 1 second separated Verstappen (1st) and Albon (12th); this was a bit of a sign of what was going to happen during the Qualifying Session.
The Red Flag also made its appearance once again at Albert Park when Nick De Vries left some of his Alpha Tauri's bodywork on the track.
Qualifying Session
Perhaps more hectic than any team or drivers wanted. The rain was looming around and everyone was expecting it to happen during the last few minutes of the final qualifying session.
Q1 went by as expected, top teams did not push too much; however, at the bottom it was utter chaos. The knockout zone was decided by less than .100 of a second. Some drivers could not manage to make it to Q2 because of traffic, or very small mistakes during their fast lap.
Did I say that Q1 went by as expected? Well, not quite, Perez beached the car out of turn 1 because of the brake issues mentioned above. He will start last because he could not recover his car and return to the pits. It's a huge blow for Red Bull and their hopes of a 1-2 on tomorrow's race. This meant that other teams had to take advantage of the spot left by Perez who was expected to finish 2nd.
Q2 saw some amazing action; Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon pulled incredible laps and secured their spots for the final qualifying session. Ferrari had hopes because they managed to place their drivers in 3rd and 4th position, just behind Alonso, who was 2nd. However, worrying too much about the rain ended up costing them the second row on Q3.
The final qualifying session was tense because of the threat of rain during the last 5 minutes. This meant that teams and drivers wanted to get the fastest lap early, before the rain caused issues.
Ferrari went by and their drivers pulled decent lap times; Sainz had been faster than Leclerc for the whole weekend, so his performance was not surprising on the final session before the race.
Mercedes was the big surprise, as they were able to secure 2nd and 3rd place. Russell, who has been outperforming his teammate, Hamilton, on every Qualifying of the season, finished ahead. It is quite a feat that they forced Alonso out of second, and even third position, considering he has the 2nd best car in the grid.
Ferrari paid the consequences of being too conservative. The rain never really came, and they witnessed how their lap times were not enough for a 2-3 finish, or even securing the second row, depending on where Alonso finished.
Lance Stroll, on the other hand, has been performing better and better since his biking accident. It looks like the Canadian driver is steadily gaining pace, and confidence in his AM23. It is a matter of time before we see both Aston Martin cars performing similarly.
Verstappen managed to put a hope-shattering lap of 1:16.732 despite his complaints about gearbox, and battery issues.
Everything is set for Sunday's race. Can Perez manage a podium finish? Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin will be in the mix for the remaining podium spots.
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