George Russell powered to pole position on Saturday for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, but there was disaster for Max Verstappen who crashed out.
On a fine day at Melbourne’s Albert Park, Verstappen’s Red Bull partner Isack Hadjar came third in chaotic qualifying as the pecking order became clearer after the biggest regulation shake-up the sport has seen in years.
Australian GP Qualifying
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will keep Hadjar company on the second row with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and world champion team-mate Lando Norris starting from fifth and sixth.
Russell eclipsed his rivals with a flying lap of one minute 18.518 seconds on soft tyres, 0.293 ahead of Antonelli.
“A great day. We knew there was a lot of potential in the car,” said the Briton.
“Really happy to have Kimi here next to me as well, as the team did an amazing job in the garage today.”
Qualifying Highlights
Incredibly, Antonelli showed up after crashing heavily in final practice earlier in the day and writing off his Silver Arrow.
The 19-year-old left the car in a mess but his mechanics miraculously managed to stitch it back together and he got on track with just three minutes left of Q1 to stay alive.
“It has been a very, very stressful day. The mechanics today were the heroes. We couldn’t even set up the car, we just went out,” said the Italian. “It was not easy, I needed to dig deep.”
Here are the top 10 qualifiers:
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
- Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bull)
- Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bull)
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
For more information on the Australian GP, visit the official Formula 1 website.
Read more about the new engine regulations on Motorsport.com.
