The Hindu (Thiruvananthapuram)
Verstappen takes pole position at Albert Park
Red Bull’s Formula One world champion Max Verstappen took pole position for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday with Carlos Sainz qualifying alongside on the front row for Ferrari, two weeks after undergoing surgery for appendicitis.
Verstappen’s team mate Sergio Perez qualified third but will start sixth after stewards imposed a threeplace grid penalty for impeding Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg in the first session of qualifying.
That promoted both McLaren drivers, with Lando Norris to start third and Oscar Piastri fifth behind
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen had bemoaned handling problems through practice but put together a sizzling lap of one minute, 15.915 seconds at Albert Park to be 0.27 seconds clear of Sainz.
“It was a bit unexpected today in qualifying, but very happy with Q3,” said the triple world champion, who won the race last year after his maiden pole at Albert Park.It was a tough afternoon for Mercedes, with seventime world champion Lewis Hamilton suffering his worst qualifying at Albert Park in over a decade.
Hamilton failed to make the third session of qualifying (Q3) and will start 11th on the grid, his worst result at Albert Park since qualifying 11th in the 2010 race.
Fernando Alonso had to abort his first lap in Q3 after a skid through gravel at turn six and qualified 10th, behind Aston Martin team mate Lance Stroll.
The starting grid:
Front row: Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari);
second row: Lando Norris (McLaren), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari); 3rd row: Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Sergio Perez (Red Bull); 4th row: George Russell (Mercedes), Yuki Tsunoda (RB);
5th row: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).
6th row: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Alexander Albon (Williams); 7th row: Valtteri Bottas (Sauber), Kevin Magnussen (Haas); 8th row: Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Nico Hulkenberg (Haas); 9th row: Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Daniel Ricciardo (RB); 10th row: Zhou Guanyu (Sauber).