It is a Mercedes domination. Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix has finally revealed the full potential of the Silver Arrows, and the margin shown by the W17 over the rest of the field is genuinely intimidating.
George Russell secured pole position with a lap time of 1:18.518, a performance that allowed him to beat teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli by almost three tenths of a second. The battle for pole position was an internal Mercedes affair, with the Italian driver attempting to snatch the top spot from the Briton, managing to do so only briefly for a few seconds before Russell responded.
Russell, already fully comfortable with the W17, set the fastest time during his final attempt on brand-new Soft tyres. It was a commanding 1–2 result that leaves very little room for rivals to respond and clearly demonstrates just how much performance the Brackley-built cars currently possess.
A great deal of credit must also go to the Mercedes mechanics, who in just a few hours managed to completely rebuild Antonelli’s W17 following the heavy crash involving the Bologna-born driver during the third and final free practice session earlier in the day.
Behind the two W17 cars there is a Red Bull, but it is not the one driven by Max Verstappen. Instead, it is the RB22 of Isack Hadjar. The Paris-born driver began his adventure with the Milton Keynes-based team in the best possible way, although his gap to Russell remains significant at almost eight tenths of a second.
Ferrari start from the second row with the ever-consistent Charles Leclerc, who once again managed to extract the maximum from the SF-26 at the most critical moment of the day. The Monegasque driver missed out on third place by just 24 thousandths of a second, but three of the four top teams ended up extremely close to one another, separated only by mere thousandths. Only Mercedes appear to have started the season competing in a championship of their own.
Disappointing performances — albeit for different reasons — came from Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. The Australian driver had appeared capable of being the only one able to challenge the Mercedes cars, but ultimately he could do no better than fifth place. Norris, meanwhile, failed to deliver when it mattered most and was also slowed by damage to part of his front wing, likely caused by a trip beyond track limits or a heavy strike against a kerb.
More was also expected from Lewis Hamilton, who qualified seventh and finished just under two tenths behind Leclerc. However, the gap separating the seven-time world champion from the Monegasque suggests that Hamilton is much more competitive compared to his first season with Ferrari.
It was an excellent qualifying session for Racing Bulls, who managed to place Liam Lawson and rookie Arvid Lindblad in eighth and ninth positions respectively, ahead of the first Audi R26 driven by the impressive Gabriel Bortoleto. The Brazilian driver, however, was unable to take part in Q3 after stopping on track at the end of Q2, at a moment when he was already certain of securing a place inside the top ten.
While Bortoleto managed to reach Q3 and secure a surprisingly strong top ten result for Audi, Nico Hulkenberg narrowly missed out. The German driver ended up as the first driver eliminated in Q2 and had to settle for eleventh place, beating the two Haas VF-26 cars of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon by eight thousandths and nearly two tenths respectively. The Haas pair had appeared to be favourites to lead the midfield group.
Alpine showed a clear step forward in performance compared to yesterday’s free practice sessions, with Pierre Gasly finishing just a fraction behind Ocon’s Haas VF-26. Nevertheless, the Frenchman had to settle for fourteenth place, ahead of the first Williams — the overweight FW48 driven by Alexander Albon. There was nothing more Franco Colapinto could do, as he once again finished significantly slower than Gasly, trailing by 339 thousandths.
Fernando Alonso was the first driver eliminated in Q1, ending the session seven tenths away from the time needed to progress into Q2. Despite the obvious struggles of the Aston Martin AMR26, the Spanish driver still showed some encouraging signs following yesterday’s difficult performance.
Behind Alonso were the two Cadillac MAC26 cars of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas. From this perspective, everything unfolded exactly as expected and largely predictable.
The biggest surprise of the session came from the accident suffered by Max Verstappen at Turn 1. The Dutch Red Bull driver began his first flying lap in Q1 with only a few minutes remaining in the session, possibly attempting to save tyres for Q2. However, the RB22 spun at the first corner and ended up hitting the wall.
Verstappen lost the rear of his car while braking into Turn 1 due to a lock-up of the rear axle. This caused the Dutchman to lose control of the car without being able to recover it. In the impact with the wall the RB22 lost its front wing and also became stuck in the gravel.
The red flag caused by Red Bull car number 3 helped Mercedes complete the repair work on Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s W17. The Italian driver was therefore able to return to the track and attempt to qualify his Silver Arrow for Q2 after the major crash he had suffered just three minutes before the end of Free Practice 3 earlier in the day.
Also eliminated in Q1 were Carlos Sainz with Williams and Lance Stroll with Aston Martin. Both the Spanish and the Canadian drivers remained in the garage due to mechanical failures that occurred during Free Practice 3 and were therefore unable to take part in the official qualifying session held during the early hours of the Italian morning at the Melbourne circuit.
Once again, in the case of Aston Martin, problems related to the power unit forced at least one of the team’s drivers to remain in the garage during the first crucial stages of the new Formula 1 season.
Australian Grand Prix qualifying results
Q3
1. George Russell — 1:18.518 2. Andrea Kimi Antonelli +0.293 — 1:18.811 3. Isack Hadjar +0.785 — 1:19.303 4. Charles Leclerc +0.809 — 1:19.327 5. Oscar Piastri +0.862 — 1:19.380 6. Lando Norris +0.957 — 1:19.475 7. Lewis Hamilton +0.960 — 1:19.478 8. Liam Lawson +1.476 — 1:19.994 9. Arvid Lindblad +2.729 — 1:21.247 10. Gabriel Bortoleto — No time set in Q3
Eliminated in Q2
11. Nico Hulkenberg — 1:20.303 12. Oliver Bearman — 1:20.311 13. Esteban Ocon — 1:20.491 14. Pierre Gasly — 1:20.501 15. Alex Albon — 1:20.941 16. Franco Colapinto — 1:21.270
Eliminated in Q1
17. Fernando Alonso — 1:21.969 18. Sergio Perez — 1:22.605 19. Valtteri Bottas — 1:23.244 20. Max Verstappen — No time 21. Carlos Sainz — No time 22. Lance Stroll — No time
