Max Verstappen took pole position for the Australian Grand Prix after a close qualifying session at Albert Park. The defending world champion edged out Carlos Sainz for pole, with teammate Sergio Perez rounding out the top three.
With only 19 cars on the track in qualifying, Q1 was a relatively simple session, though there was some pain for local favorite Daniel Ricciardo, who had a great lap time deleted, dropping him into the elimination zone and setting him up for a back-row start on Sunday.
After Ferrari dominated Q1, Verstappen and Oscar Piastri set impressive early lap times in Q2, but the cream finally rose to the top, with Sainz leading Charles Leclerc on the timing screens at the chequered flag.
Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda’s late laps knocked seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton out of the top ten, resulting in his lowest qualifying performance at Albert Park since 2010. His Mercedes teammate George Russell fared no better, finishing in P10, just above the cut-off mark.
When the race for pole began in Q3, Verstappen set the early pace, with a blazing provisional P1 time that was about three-tenths faster than closest opponent Sainz. Leclerc finished third fastest, with Perez closing out the top four after a purple first sector.
Verstappen accelerated in the final runs, producing the fastest final sector and securing pole position ahead of Sainz. Leclerc had less success, starting from fifth place after an error in sector three led him to abort his last run. Elsewhere, Lando Norris excelled by putting his McLaren on the front row.
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