Qualifying for the 2022 Australian GP saw
Charles Leclerc on pole after a fierce battle between Red Bull and
Ferrari saw the scarlet team come out on top of session filled with incidents and drama.
Mercedes struggle, Mclaren return
While the struggles of the reigning constructors' champions continue, with
Lewis Hamilton and
George Russell qualifying P5 and P6 respectively, the most suurprising Mercedes-powered team was Mclaren, who managed to get both cars into Q3. Ricciardo and Norris qualified P7 and P4, a massively improved showing compared to Bahrain. The team from Woking seem to be at the form they showed in the pre-season Barcelona tests.
Mercedes tension
One of the talking points from Q3 was the tension between
Lewis Hamilton and young teammate
George Russell. On a push-lap, cool-lap, push-lap strategy, Russell was heard over the radio telling the team that Lewis needed to speed up. Hamilton eventually ended up outpacing the fellow Brit, could this be the beginning of a new inter-team rivalry?
Q1
The first qualifying session was highlighted by a blunderous collision between Stroll and Latifi that caused a red flag with two minutes to go.
The following moments saw a flurry of activity that saw the Aston Martin of
Sebastian Vettel able to join the session for a last-grasp attempt to set a time, which saw him grab 18th, ahead of teammate Stroll and Latifi. It was a valliant effort from the Silverstone-based team who managed to repair Vettel's car after a hefty shunt in FP3 only two hours earlier.
ELIMINATED IN Q1:
16th - Albon
17th- Magnussen
18th - Vettel
19th - Stroll
20th - Latifi
Q2
Qualifying 2 saw Perez on top with the two Ferraris trailing closely behind. It was a poor showing from Haas with neither car making it to Q3 - the first time this season.
ELIMINATED IN Q2:
11th - Gasly
12th - Bottas
13th - Tsunoda
14th - Zhou
15th - Schumacher
Q3
The final session of the afternoon was interrupted by a red flag courtesy of
Fernando Alonso, who had looked rapid all throughout qualifying. A hydraulics failure saw the Spaniard get thrown into the wall after he had just set the fastest middle sector on his flying lap.
This caused multiple drivers' laps to be invalidated before they could even finish them - causing a high-pressure one-lap attempt final minutes to the session. In this environment it was Leclerc who excelled, claiming pole position for the
Australian Grand Prix. However,
Ferrari teammate
Carlos Sainz massively struggled in Q3, not being able to set a representative time. The Spaniard will start 9th.
Q3 RESULTS:
1st - Leclerc
2nd - Verstappen
3rd - Perez
4th - Norris
5th - Hamilton
6th - Russell
7th - Ricciardo
8th - Ocon
9th - Sainz
10th - Alonso