Verstappen takes another pole but expresses concern about Ferrari’s quickness.
MELBOURNE, Australia—It might have taken Max Verstappen until the final qualifying session to take his fourth consecutive pole Saturday afternoon at Albert Park. Still, the Dutchman clocked a final 1:15:915 best lap just ahead of a recovering Carlos Sainz in his Ferrari with Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez third.
Verstappen had to slowly come back after having Sainz dominate the first two sessions, but he had no trouble coming back to take the pole when it really counted. “A bit unexpected in qualifying today, but very happy with Q3,” Verstappen said afterward. Both of those laps felt very nice. It was a bit of a tricky weekend, but we managed to be there at the end.”
For the rest of the top ten finishers, McLaren had Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri take fourth and sixth, while Charles Leclerc finished fifth in his Ferrari. George Russell took seventh in the Mercedes, Yuki Tsunoda lodged eighth in the RB Visa Cash App, while Aston Martin completed the top ten with Lance Stroll in ninth and Fernando Alonso in tenth.
The first session close-outs included Haas F1 Nico Hulkenberg, Zhou Guanyu of Kick Sauber, the home driver and veteran Daniel Ricciardo in the RB Visa Cash App, and Pierre Gasly of Alpine, who had a possible penalty for crossing the white line of the pit lane out all out for the day. The big surprise came in the second session when Mercedes Lewis Hamilton joined drivers out in the second session, which included the second Kick Sauber of Valtteri Bottas, Haas F1 Kevin Magnussen, and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
He might have taken the pole again, but Verstappen realizes Ferrari could challenge him on race day. “They (Ferrari) seem very quick in the long runs, so tomorrow is also a bit of a question mark, but that makes it interesting,” Verstappen concluded.
