The textual chronicle
Verstappen's fantastic last lap destroyed his opponents' hopes for the umpteenth time. Pole no. 22 for the Dutchman: "The last attempt was very good - he says -, throughout the weekend it was difficult to get the tyres in the right window to be able to push straight away. But in Q3 everything worked well. I'm very happy with the lap and to be on pole. I almost hit a bird, but luckily it didn't happen. Sometimes it happens on these city tracks. The key will be to keep the tyres alive and manage them well. Australia? I've done a podium in the past, but I want to get on a different step."
Meanwhile, the other Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez, winner of the last race in Saudi Arabia, will start from the last position of the starting grid. He ended up off the track, due to a technical problem with the car during qualifying: "A problem that affects braking. We hope to fix it otherwise it will be a very difficult race. The tires? The problem is not the tyres, I think it's the right balance of the brakes. Melbourne is a tough track, where it's hard to overtake, but I have the car to do it. I look forward to the race with optimism."
As for the Ferraris, the best was Carlos Sainz in 5th position. For Charles Leclerc, however, a complicated moment: "It was not the best of qualifying. I was confident that we would be able to put together our potential in our last attempt but things did not go as we wanted because we did not make the preparation lap and we lost performance. We have to make sure that we improve as a team in similar situations for the next occasions. However, we tried different set-up configurations and worked on race pace, so I count on fighting for some interesting positions."
This is the starting grid of the Formula 1 Australian GP scheduled tomorrow morning at 07.00, on the "Albert Park" circuit in Melbourne;
1st Row 1. Max Verstappen 1:16.732 Red Bull; 2. George Russell 1:16.968 Mercedes;
2nd Row 3. Lewis Hamilton 1:17.104 Mercedes; 4. Fernando Alonso 1:17.139 Aston Martin;
3rd row 5. Carlos Sainz 1:17.270 Ferrari; 6. Lance Stroll 1:17.308 Aston Martin;
4th Row 7. Charles Leclerc 1:17.369 Ferrari; 8. Alex Albon 1:17.609 Williams;
5th Row 9. Pierre Gasly 1.17.675 Alpine; 10. Nico Hülkenberg 1:17.735 Haas;
6th Row 11. Esteban Ocon 1:17.768 Alpine; 12. Yuki Tsunoda 1:18.099 AlphaTauri;
7th Row 13. Lando Norris 1:18.119 McLaren; 14. Kevin Magnussen 1.18.129 Haas;
8th Row 15. Nyck de Vries 1.18.335 AlphaTauri; 16. Oscar Piastri 1:18.517 McLaren;
9th Row 17. Guanyu Zhou 1:18.540 Alfa Romeo; 18. Logan Sargeant 1:18.557 Williams;
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Max Verstappen in Melbourne, Australia
After a week off, Formula 1 returns to the track for the third grand prix of the 2023 World Championship on the "Albert Park" circuit in Melbourne with the Australian GP. Max Verstappen's Red Bull is the obligatory favorite, especially after the comeback of thirteen positions in Saudi Arabia. Distinctly different discourse and perspectives for the Maranello team. After the disappointing tests in the first grands prix of the season, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will have to show that they have begun to solve the problems on their cars and, above all, try to get Ferrari back to being the second force in the World Championship thus doing better than the Aston Martin of Alonso and Stroll and the Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell.
Max Verstappen: "To get a great result, we will need a great weekend"
"Last year was all very frustrating. In the race we were slow and then we retired. But I think we immediately understood what we had done wrong in the set-up and reliability, and from then on we made great strides in performance. Everything is different now. We have never been so strong at the beginning of the year, we have a chance to get a result here. Obviously to get a great result, we will need a great weekend."
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Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
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Melbourne's "Albert Park" F1 circuit