Morning session in Italy for Formula 1 qualifying, and it is Max Verstappen to take pole position for the Australian Grand Prix. The Dutchman of Red Bull will start from the first box, followed by the two Mercedes of George Russell e Lewis Hamilton. Not very well the Ferraris, with Carlos Sainz in fifth position e Charles Leclerc only in seventh. Let's see in detail how qualifying went after a FP3 that he underlined some problems for Pérez.
Q1: Surprise Pérez, out and will start twentieth
Qualifying, threatened by the possibility of rain, led about ten riders to immediately take to the track to try and set the time. Immediately in the head Kevin Magnussen with his Haas, bypassed by Alex Albon with Williams and, shortly after, by Nico Hulkenberg. The leading riders all come out around 13 minutes from the end, ready to go around, but here's the surprise of the Red flag caused by Sergio Pérez, arrived in corner 3 braking with a lock on the right front and running aground on the gravel, forcing the race direction to display the red flag and stop the session. By doing so, Pérez is assured of the twentieth position, barring subsequent penalties. However, the Mexican's team radio towards the team asks to solve the problem with the brakes, suggesting a technical problem rather than a pilot error.
The session restarts with 11:44 on the clock, and it is Max Verstappen to take the lead, only three tenths ahead of Hülkenberg. The gap is further reduced with the move to second position of Albon, which closes 80 thousandths behind Verstappen. In third place is Sainz with three tenths of a delay, but he thinks about shuffling the cards Fernando Alonso which he wears on his head. Verstappen responds immediately with three tenths of an advantage, with the top 3 becoming Verstappen-Alonso-Stroll. Albon returns to take back the third position, with Sainz who again conquers the place immediately behind the Thai. Leclerc never manages to get past eighth, slipping to tenth with two minutes to go. At the end of the session, the top 15 sees Verstappen ahead of Russell, Hamilton, Ocon, Alonso, Stroll, Sainz, Albon, Hülkenberg, Magnussen, Leclerc (with a mistake in the last sector), Norris, Gasly, de Vries and Tsunoda. Piastri, Zhou, Sargeant, Bottas and Pérez are eliminated.
Q2: Verstappen and Alonso fighting, the Ferraris follow
Q2 opens with all cars except the Alpines on track. Initially Lance stroll takes the lead ahead of Alonso, only to be overtaken by Charles Leclerc which signs an improvement of 56 thousandths. Sainz has to settle for a temporary fourth place, with the other riders starting to mark their times. Verstappen puts everyone back in line with a 3/10 lead over the Monegasque. The session proceeds without too many hitches, with many riders embarking on a slow lap to warm up the tires before setting the actual time. At the end of the session, the top XNUMX became Verstappen, Alonso, Sainz, Leclerc, Hülkenberg, Russell, Hamilton, Gasly, Stroll and Albon. Eliminated are Ocon, Tsunoda, Norris, Magnussen and de Vries. It should be emphasized that the gaps are not very high, with only seven tenths separating Verstappen from Albon.
Q3: What a weather for Verstappen! Pole for the Dutchman
The third session started under dark skies, with Xavier Marcos informing Leclerc of the possibility of rain in the last three or four minutes of the session. All the riders except Stroll took to the track, with Verstappen first to launch for the time. The Dutchman does an excellent 1:17.578, but with a small mistake in the third sector. This did not prevent him from having a second lap that brought him back to the lead with a 1:17.262, ahead of 9 thousandths of a second on Hamilton and 41 on Alonso. Half of the drivers stop in the pits for a tire change, also counting the possibility of rain on the way. With 4:40 at the end of the session, Sainz is back on track with new tires, and in the meantime a worrying message arrives from Verstappen regarding the climbing, which would be getting worse just like in Jeddah.
In the second attempt, Leclerc does not improve, perhaps due to the tires not yet up to temperature, while Verstappen sets another first sector record and improves by half a second, signing the pole in 1:16.732 ahead of Alonso by 4 tenths. In the finale, Russell moves into second position at 236s, with Hamilton in third position. The final classification therefore sees Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Alonso, Sainz, Stroll, Leclerc, Albon, Gasly and Hülkenberg.
