LIVE – Formula 1: Leclerc on pole for Verstappen for Australian GP

“I haven’t felt very good this weekend so far. I’ve suffered. 2nd isn’t bad already, but I don’t feel good reaching the limits. Maybe at the pace of the race everything will have stabilized, but until now it’s a bit nonsense at the moment. As a team we want better than that.”

The Ferrari driver is ahead of the two Red Bulls and will start from pole position on Sunday morning. The 11th pole of the Monegasque career.

5th time for the Brit, just ahead of Russell.

Huge lap by Charles Leclerc, 1’17’868, he pushes Verstappen back to almost 3 tenths. Pole position for the Monegasque.

85 thousandth ahead of Leclerc, who is doing his last fast lap.

The Mercedes are only 4 hundredths apart, but the younger of the two Britons is slightly ahead. Ricciardo is wedged between the two.

Brilliant time from Perez, who in spite of everything lost in the 3rd sector and was 1,000 behind Leclerc, still the best time.

The clock starts again, the Mercedes are the first to return to the track.

The pilots are now waiting for recovery.

On the other hand, Sainz’s time is not taken into account, which was very close to Leclerc’s, having arrived just after the red flag.

The Spanish pilot explains what happened to him. It didn’t go away because of pilot error, but because of a mechanical problem.

Accident for the Spaniard. Red flag. Alonso fought for the top positions. He gets out of his single-seater without any problems. Disappointment for Alpine.

Minimal gap between the two Red Bull drivers, but the Mexican comes first.

The Dutchman started for his teammate Perez.

At Canal+’s microphone: “He (Latifi) let me pass and then I looked at the cars around me. When he tried to overtake, the track really turns to the right. It’s a really weird accident. The timing was just terrible for both of them. No, it’s not at all (bullying). When the track turns to the right, the car goes to the right, and that was exactly when it accelerated.”

The Mexican may not have slowed down enough under the yellow flags. The examination takes place after the session.

The Monegasque pilot is blinded by the sun. Verstappen does the same constantly on the radio.

The battle between Red Bull and Ferrari continues.

The McLarens have regained their rhythm and are both entering Q3.

Hamilton’s last fast lap was the good one, moving up to 8th, 3 hundredths behind his teammate Russell.

The Alpha Tauri driver failed to improve on his time, he is 11th, 15 thousandths behind Hamilton.

The Frenchman pushes Hamilton to 10th place, on the brink of elimination.

The Frenchman wants to take Q3, for that he has to conquer a place.

Leclerc does even better than Verstappen, but does not reach Perez’s time, 26 tenths faster.

The Briton is threatened by Gasly and Ocon in particular. He is currently 9th but not guaranteed to compete in Q3 at all.

The Mercedes driver narrowly passed Verstappen on a fast lap, on a slow lap. The Brit complains on the radio. The Dutchman didn’t seem to have been warned that his opponent was in a timelapse.

He is 27 hundredths ahead of Verstappen.

The Spaniard is just behind Verstappen, best time for the time being. Perez 3rd, Leclerc 4th, Sainz 7th.

The Briton put his wheels in the grass when braking and pulled straight ahead. He triggers a yellow flag and forces his teammate Hamilton to slow down before quickly returning to the track. Everything is fine.

Max Verstappen starts in the lead, ahead of Hamilton, Russell and Schumacher.

Latifi at Canal+’s microphone: “From my point of view it’s pretty clear what happened. Before coming here I saw the incident on video and it confirms it’s not my fault. There was room inside, I was on my tire prep he wasn’t on an attacking lap either and he pointed at me thats all i can say i let him pass at the start because i thought he was attacking but when i saw he was slowing down drive, I got back into my position.”

The Red Bulls currently dominate. Q2 is about to start but Albon’s Williams is taken off the track after an apparent mechanical problem.

No surprise for now in this Q1.

Despite everything, the Frenchman had already qualified for Q2. Vettel set the fastest time and took 18th place, ahead of Latifi and Stroll. He doesn’t start last on the grid.

The drivers have less than 2 minutes, so you have to cross the line quickly to afford a fast last lap. The drivers overtake each other in the preparation lap.

With 2 minutes and 1 second on the counter, the drivers can start again, so time to drive a fast lap. Sebastian Vettel could be there, Aston Martin continues to tackle his car.

First, Latifi pushed aside to let Stroll pass. In the next corner, Latifi went back and Stroll touched Latifi with his right front wheel. Stroll probably wanted to hold his position before starting his fast lap, but his aggressiveness led to an accident and a session stopped.

The hearing has been suspended for the time being. At Aston Martin, Sebastian Vettel had no intention of driving this Q1, but with this break his car, which was damaged during free practice, could be ready to compete at this end of the session.

Red flag, Stroll crashed into Latifi. The clock has stopped. Latifi’s Williams is in bad shape. Both pilots are fine.

Hamilton 8th, Russell 9th. The two pilots are only held in 4 hundredths. Mercedes is way off the top of the table.

3rd lap with the same tires for Verstappen, who improved again and took the best provisional time, 3 tenths ahead of Leclerc. Perez also had a good lap, 2nd so far in this Q1.

1’20”070 ahead of Hamilton, more than a second behind Leclerc. Russell does a little better, at 8 tenths.

During a second qualifying round, the three drivers improved their times. Leclerc temporarily in the lead, ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. Perez did him worse than his first attempt and is now 5th, ahead of Norris.

The two Mercedes waited before taking off for their first attempt.

For his first attempt, Max Verstappen set the 4th provisional time, behind Sainz, Perez and Leclerc.

Ferrari’s Monegask signs his first lap with a good time of 1’19″391.

The first single-seaters took to the track at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne.

As a reminder, the qualifying hour is divided into 3 parts. In the 1st (Q1) all cars are on the track for 18 minutes. Only the authors of the 15 best times remain in the race for the 2nd stage (Q2), which lasts 15 minutes. Finally, the top 10 cars compete for pole position in Stage 3 (Q3) for 12 minutes. The times are reset at the end of Q1 and Q2.

Lando Norris (McLaren) set the fastest time in the third free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday. In 1’19″117 Norris defeated Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Sergio Pérez (Red Bull). Fernando Alonso (Alpine) set the 4th fastest time in training. The second Red Bull, that of reigning world champion Max Verstappen, is only 7 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) is in 8th place, ahead of his teammate and compatriot George Russell, 11th.

After Charles Leclerc’s victory in Bahrain in the first race of the season, Max Verstappen and Red Bull reacted in Saudi Arabia.

To be able to follow the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, you have to be earlier than usual. Qualifying starts at 8 a.m. French time.