F1 Australian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen on pole ahead of Sainz, as car damage relegates China’s Zhou Guanyu to last
- World champion ‘very satisfied’ with third straight pole of the season, Carlos Sainz second for Ferrari
- Zhou damages front wing after hitting high curb and will start from 19th on the grid
.png?itok=arIb17P0)
A “very satisfied” three-time world champion Max Verstappen clinched a third straight pole of the season on Saturday at the Australian Grand Prix as the flying Dutchman targets a record 10th consecutive win.
Under hazy skies at Albert Park, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, back in the car barely two weeks after appendicitis surgery, came second in tense qualifying and will keep the Red Bull ace company on the front row.
Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull will start third alongside Lando Norris, who scored a surprise fourth in his McLaren.
“Very happy with that because so far this weekend it has been a bit tough to find a good balance in the car,” said Verstappen, who is looking to repeat his feat from last year when he started first and won a chaotic race in Melbourne.
“Obviously things can improve, but overall very satisfied with the performance.”
At the other end of the scale, there was more misery for China’s Zhou Guanyu, who had been trending nicely until he damaged his front wing exiting the tenth turn of the Melbourne circuit and was left stranded in last place on the grid.
Sauber teammate Valtteri Bottas faired somewhat better, getting into second qualifying and ultimately finishing 13th.
“It’s quite unfortunate, as I feel I would have comfortably made it into Q2; now I’ll have to make up more than expected during tomorrow’s race to be up there fighting for points,” Zhou said.
“While my last qualifying sessions haven’t been the luckiest ones, our race pace has felt quite good, and you never know what’s going to happen at this track. I am looking forward to racing in front of a great crowd and hopefully climb up the order.”
Chasing back-to-back wins in Australia, Verstappen knocked out his rivals to earn a 35th career pole with a flying lap of one minute 15.915, 0.270 secs ahead of Sainz, who missed the last race in Jeddah.
“I don’t feel 100 per cent, it’s impossible after spending a lot of days in bed like I did to try and recover,” said the Spaniard after his remarkable comeback.
“But the good thing is that I have no pain, I just have discomfort and everything feels a bit weird. Today, when the adrenaline came out I could close the visor and go for it which is a good thing.”
Perez came second to Verstappen in the opening two races and said he had confidence he could match or better the feat on Sunday.
“It was very tricky qualifying with the tyres and getting the best out of them,” said the Mexican. “As long as we are able to have good faith we should be able to come through.”
He will need something special to stop Verstappen, who won the opening two races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, both from pole.
The Dutchman is chasing a 10th straight victory to match his own record set last year, while Red Bull are attempting to score a third straight one-two finish for the first time in the team’s history.
