Australian Grand Prix Qualifying Rundown: Verstappen pole and are Mercedes back?

The Australian Grand Prix is often one of the most anticipated of the year, but how did qualifying shape up.

Pole position qualifier Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing poses for a photo in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit on April 01, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

By Jonathan Maze1 April 2023 17:25 BST

The Australian Grand Prix is almost upon us, with qualifying done and dusted, who has put themselves in a promising position for tomorrow's race?

Qualifying unsurprisingly saw the Red Bull of Max Verstappen storm its way to pole, however more surprisingly he was joined by the two Mercedes in the top three. An early Sergio Perez exit opened the door for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to have their best qualifying this season.

Tasty starting grid 😋#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/LOSz7ucTuj
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 1, 2023

Qualifying 1

Q1 saw the elimination of a big player, as Sergio Perez had a mechanical issue causing him to run off the track, and forcing him to retire the car. The incident caused a red flag to be shown due to the track being compromised by the gravel. So the championship's second-placed racer will start from the back of the grid tomorrow.

(Photo by MARTIN KEEP/AFP via Getty Images)

Another big story from Q1 saw home-favourite Oscar Piastri finish in the bottom five despite improvement in his last lap, with a 16th-position grid start.

Perez and Piastri are joined in the bottom five by Valtteri Bottas,, Logan Sargeant and Guanyu Zhou.

While Verstappen put in the fastest lap, to bring some normality to qualifying.

Qualifying 2

Q2 saw the elimination of Nyck De Vries, Kevin Magnussen, Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon.

While the top three saw a familiar sight with Verstappen once again fastest by two-tenths, followed by Fernando Alonso and then both Ferrari's.

Mercedes' put themselves into Q3 thanks to a late Hamilton quick lap to join Russell in the top 10.

Qualifying 3

Q3 was won by Mercedes who managed to get both their drivers into the top three, a storming final lap from Russell put him second, while his teammate Hamilton got his first top-six start of the season with a P3 start.

Pole was taken by the runaway fastest car with Red Bull ensuring they maintain their perfect pole start to the season.

Alonso continued his great season with a P4 finish lining up on the second grid line.

This promises to be one of the most exciting races of the season if qualifying is anything to go off. A good start for Mercedes could cause issues to Verstappen's dominance and hopefully, they make a race of it.

Reaction

Unsurprisingly, the reigning world champion was pleased with his performance, telling Sky Sports that, "I think the last run was very good," Verstappen said. "The whole weekend has been very tough to get the tyres ready to push straight away, but it worked out in Q3 and I am very happy with the lap and to be in pole position.

"I think we will have a good race car but it is tricky to keep the tyres alive so it will be an interesting race for sure."

Meanwhile, after weeks of turmoil at the Silver Arrows, Hamilton was delighted to finally see some pace from his car.

(Photo by Mario Renzi - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

"This is totally unexpected," Hamilton said. "I'm really proud of the team.

"George did an amazing job there today so for us to be up on the front two rows is honestly a dream for us.

"We are all working as hard as we can to get right back up to the front so to be this close to Red Bull is incredible."

The driver of the Day

The driver of the day from VAVEL goes to George Russell, he got the most out of his car and dragged it to a place he and his team previously thought impossible.