Max Verstappen‘s seemingly invincible run in Formula 1 continued on Saturday (March 23) when he took pole for the Australian Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz qualified second, while Sergio Perez continued his strong start to the season by qualifying third.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” Sainz said, in his comeback from appendicitis a couple of weeks ago at Saudi Arabia. “A lot of days in bed. Waiting for this moment, to see if I could be here today. To put it on front row after being on top of most of qualifying, I was almost not believing it. Especially after how tough it has been … I was a bit rusty at the beginning, but I got up to speed. Finally found the pace and feeling good with the car.”
Charles Leclerc’s challenge at the pole ended with him going off track in turn 12, forcing the Ferrari driver to go pit on his fast lap. He still qualified fifth.
Outside of some minor off-tracks, there were no serious incidents in qualifying and there were no red flags.
Q3
Fernando Alonso went off in turn 6 on his banker lap, but was able to continue and get back to the pits in time to set up for his hot lap.
| Pos. | Driver No. | Driver | Team | Time from Leader |
| 1. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 1:15:915m |
| 2. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +0.270s |
| 3. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | +0.359s |
| 4. | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | +0.400s |
| 5. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.520s |
| 6. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | +0.657s |
| 7. | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.809s |
| 8. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB Honda RBPT | +0.873s |
| 9. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | +1.157s |
| 10. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | +1.637s |
Q2
Tsunoda was able to advance to Q3 in this round, knocking out Lewis Hamilton and giving RB a second straight 10 top start.
Q1
It was heartbreak in this round for Daniel Ricciardo, who had his fast lap deleted due to a track limits infringement in turn 5. This is the first time the native Australian has ever been knocked out in Q1 in his home Grand Prix.
As can be seen above, Zhou Guanyu had wing damage on his fast lap after taking turn 10 wrong and hitting the exit curb.
| Pos. | Driver No. | Driver | Team | Time from Advancing |
| 16. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas Ferrari | +0.267s |
| 17. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | +0.273s |
| 18. | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB Honda RBPT | +0.376s |
| 19. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK Sauber Ferrari | +0.479s |
The third round of the Formula 1 season is now upon us. Lights out for the 2024 Australian Grand Prix will come on Sunday, March 25th at exactly 12:00 a.m….
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