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Results
Formula 1 Australian GP

F1 qualifying results: Max Verstappen takes Australian GP pole

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took pole position for the Australian Grand Prix, the third round of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship.

Verstappen will start ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

Australian Grand Prix qualifying results: Verstappen on pole from Russell

Cla   Nº   Driver   Car / Engine   Time   Delay 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1'16.732  
63 George Russell Mercedes 1'16.968 0.236
44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'17.104 0.372
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'17.139 0.407
55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1'17.270 0.538
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1'17.308 0.576
16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'17.369 0.637
23 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1'17.609 0.877
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1'17.675 0.943
10  27 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1'17.735 1.003
11  31 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1'17.768 1.036
12  22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 1'18.099 1.367
13  4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1'18.119 1.387
14  20 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1'18.129 1.397
15  21 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 1'18.335 1.603
16  81 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1'18.517 1.785
17  24 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1'18.540 1.808
18  2 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1'18.557 1.825
19  77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1'18.714 1.982
20  11 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT - -

What happened in Australian Grand Prix Q1?

Nico Hulkenberg set the early pace for Haas at 1m18.373s when the red flag came out for Sergio Perez going off into the gravel in his Red Bull at Turn 3.

Verstappen grabbed P1 with a lap of 1m18.063s at the resumption, which he lowered to 1m17.469s and 1m17.384s, ending the session three tenths clear of the Mercedes pairing of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).

Falling at the first hurdle were local hero Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo), Logan Sargeant (Williams, who spun early on), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and Perez.

Australian Grand Prix Q1 results: Verstappen fastest from Russell

Cla Driver Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'17.384     245.539
2 United Kingdom George Russell 1'17.654 0.270 0.270 244.685
3 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'17.689 0.305 0.035 244.575
4 France Esteban Ocon 1'17.770 0.386 0.081 244.320
5 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'17.832 0.448 0.062 244.125
6 Canada Lance Stroll 1'17.873 0.489 0.041 243.997
7 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'17.928 0.544 0.055 243.825
8 Thailand Alex Albon 1'17.962 0.578 0.034 243.718
9 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 1'18.029 0.645 0.067 243.509
10 Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1'18.159 0.775 0.130 243.104
11 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'18.218 0.834 0.059 242.921
12 United Kingdom Lando Norris 1'18.243 0.859 0.025 242.843
13 France Pierre Gasly 1'18.312 0.928 0.069 242.629
14 Netherlands Nyck de Vries 1'18.450 1.066 0.138 242.202
15 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 1'18.471 1.087 0.021 242.137
16 Australia Oscar Piastri 1'18.517 1.133 0.046 241.996
17 China Zhou Guanyu 1'18.540 1.156 0.023 241.925
18 United States Logan Sargeant 1'18.557 1.173 0.017 241.872
19 Finland Valtteri Bottas 1'18.714 1.330 0.157 241.390
20 Mexico Sergio Perez        

What happened in Australian Grand Prix Q2?

The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc set the initial pace at 1m17.560s until Verstappen took over at the top with 1m17.219s. Alonso got to within 0.064s of that before Verstappen ran again and improved to 1m17.056s, ahead of Alonso and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).

Knocked out at this point were Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Lando Norris (McLaren, who suffered an off at Turn 3), Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri).

Australian Grand Prix Q2 results: Verstappen fastest from Alonso

Cla Driver Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'17.056     246.584
2 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'17.283 0.227 0.227 245.860
3 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'17.349 0.293 0.066 245.650
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'17.390 0.334 0.041 245.520
5 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 1'17.412 0.356 0.022 245.450
6 United Kingdom George Russell 1'17.513 0.457 0.101 245.130
7 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'17.551 0.495 0.038 245.010
8 France Pierre Gasly 1'17.574 0.518 0.023 244.937
9 Canada Lance Stroll 1'17.616 0.560 0.042 244.805
10 Thailand Alex Albon 1'17.761 0.705 0.145 244.348
11 France Esteban Ocon 1'17.768 0.712 0.007 244.326
12 Japan Yuki Tsunoda 1'18.099 1.043 0.331 243.291
13 United Kingdom Lando Norris 1'18.119 1.063 0.020 243.228
14 Denmark Kevin Magnussen 1'18.129 1.073 0.010 243.197
15 Netherlands Nyck de Vries 1'18.335 1.279 0.206 242.558

What happened in Australian Grand Prix Q3?

On the first runs, Verstappen laid down his marker with a scrappy lap of 1m17.578s. Alonso beat that with 1m17.303s, before Hamilton banged in a 1m17.271s to snatch the quickest time.

Verstappen, who slipped to sixth, pushed again and grabbed P1 back with 1m17.262s, but only by 0.009s from Hamilton.

On the final runs, Verstappen lowered his pole time to 1m16.732s, 0.236s ahead of Russell, while Hamilton just pipped Alonso for third. Sainz will start fifth, ahead of Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Leclerc, Alex Albon (Williams) Pierre Gasly (Alpine), and Nico Hulkenberg (Haas).

Australian Grand Prix Q3 results: Verstappen takes pole

Cla Driver Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Netherlands Max Verstappen 1'16.732     247.625
2 United Kingdom George Russell 1'16.968 0.236 0.236 246.866
3 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 1'17.104 0.372 0.136 246.430
4 Spain Fernando Alonso 1'17.139 0.407 0.035 246.318
5 Spain Carlos Sainz 1'17.270 0.538 0.131 245.901
6 Canada Lance Stroll 1'17.308 0.576 0.038 245.780
7 Monaco Charles Leclerc 1'17.369 0.637 0.061 245.586
8 Thailand Alex Albon 1'17.609 0.877 0.240 244.827
9 France Pierre Gasly 1'17.675 0.943 0.066 244.619
10 Germany Nico Hulkenberg 1'17.735 1.003 0.060 244.430

 

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