Fastest three:George Russell,Max Verstappen (on pole) and Lewis Hamilton.Credit:AP
Damien Ractliffe
McLaren has conceded its car is too tricky to drive,taking the pressure off Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to claim points in Sunday’s grand prix and putting the responsibility back on the engineers.
Piastri fell just short of moving into Q2,finishing 16th in qualifying,while Norris was only marginally better,qualifying 13th fastest for Sunday’s race.
Oscar Piastri qualified 16th fastest for Sunday’s grand prix.Credit:Joe Armao
The Australian admitted he would have liked to perform better,but said the margins in midfield are so close that little mistakes in qualifying left him shy of the pack.
“Not quite the session I wanted,obviously,” Piastri said.
“I think we’ve said the whole season how incredibly tight it is.
“Went and had a look,and really it was one corner where I lost all my time. A shame,but overall,it’s been a good weekend and a nice experience so far,but one corner is where it all went wrong.”
But McLaren’s team principal Andrea Stella said both Piastri and Norris got as much out of the car as they possibly could on Saturday,putting the onus back on his engineers to fix the problems which have plagued the orange team over the past few seasons.
“The drivers,they need to attack because the underlying performance is not enough if they don’t take these kinds of risks,” Stella said.
“They’re trying to extract as much performance as possible,but the car is too difficult to drive and doesn’t have enough underlying performance. This is a responsibility that is entirely on the team’s side.
“We knew we didn’t have enough downforce on the car,and we knew there’s more drag than ideal.
Oscar Piastri qualified 16th fastest for Sunday’s grand prix.Credit:Eddie Jim
“This has manifested itself in terms of lap times in the first three races;it’s the same here in Melbourne. If anything here,the car was trickier to drive,more difficult to put clean laps together. That’s ultimately not their responsibility. They pushed the car,but the car was tricky,especially in braking.
“We have quite a lot of work to do,but this is in line with what we knew already.”
Meanwhile,Norris praised Piastri for setting a high benchmark,following the 21-year-old’s good performance at Saudi Arabia to qualify in the top 10 fastest.
“I’m not going to make him sound too good,but he’s done a very good job,” Norris said of Piastri.
“He’s understood the car well,it’s not been an easy car to drive,I think that’s been made clear with past drivers and comments that I’ve made over the years.
“He did a very good job in Saudi. He got into Q3 in Saudi,the only Q3 so far this year,so he’s keeping me on my toes.”
Neither Piastri nor Norris have been able to pick up a championship point this season,and Piastri said he anticipated much of the same on Sunday.
“I think our pace was reasonable,nothing different good or bad compared to the last two races,” he said.
“Melbourne keeps trying to rain as it does. It might be to our advantage if it rains tomorrow,but I don’t think it will.
“It’ll be difficult for everyone,but I think we’re in a similar place to where we have been.”
Melbourne hope and young McLaren star Oscar Piastri failed to progress beyond the first stage of qualifying for his home Formula 1 grand prix by the most agonising of margins - just 0.046 of a second - and will start 16th on the grid on Sunday.
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez also had a Saturday to forget and will start 20th on the grid after his qualifying session ended prematurely with a spin-out on turn 13.
Perez had not even got a lap under his belt in qualifying when his front right wheel locked up,forcing him into the gravel and prematurely ending his Saturday,less than 10 minutes into the session.
Sergio Perez is likely to start 20th on the grid on Sunday.Credit:Getty Images
Hot favourite,two-time world champion Max Verstappen claimed pole position in 1:16.732,a track record at Albert Park,smashing the time Charles Leclerc posted to claim pole position last year when he clocked 1:17.868.
Just over 0.4 of a second separated the top seven in qualifying with minutes to go,before Verstappen flexed his muscle late in the session to claim his first pole position at Albert Park,and Red Bull’s first in Melbourne since Sebastian Vettel was in the seat.
“I think the last run was very good,” Verstappen said.
“The whole weekend has been very tough ... but it all worked out in Q3. Very happy with the lap and very happy to be in pole position.”
Mercedes finished strongly,with George Russell claiming the second spot at the front of the grid,just shy of teammate Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso grabbed fourth,from Carlos Sainz,Lance Stroll and Leclerc.
“We weren’t expecting that,that’s for sure. Wow,what a session for us,” Russell said.
“To be honest,I was a little bit disappointed we didn’t get pole position. But the car felt awesome,and it goes to show we’ve definitely got potential still to come.
George Russell will start Sunday’s grand prix in second spot on the grid.Credit:AP
“It’s going to be tough against Max,but definitely happy to be lining up in P2.”
Hamilton said he was shocked both he and Russell finished as close to Verstappen as they did.
“I’m so happy with this,” he said.
“This is a totally unexpected. Really,really proud of the team. For us to be on the two front rows is honestly a dream for us. To be this close to Red Bull is honestly incredible. I hope tomorrow we can give them a run for their money.”
Nothing went right for Perez on Saturday. He had issues in the third practice session,managing just 18 laps,locking up and spinning out a number of times.
Max Verstappen showed off his speed in Saturday’s final practice session.Credit:Getty Images
Turn one proved the biggest handful for drivers in the final practice session before qualifying later on Saturday afternoon,but Perez complained of balance issues throughout the hour-long session,before finishing with the sixth-fastest lap with just minutes remaining.
But the issues continued into qualifying,leading to his early exit.
It was an eventful session,with traffic causing a few issues and light rain towards the end of the session forcing teams to call it quits early.
In the Formula 2 sprint race,Aussie future star Jack Doohan had a race to forget,spinning out with seven laps to go after an incident with Juan Manuel Correa.
Doohan was 12th,as a number of cars battled to move towards the top 10,but Correa got too close to Doohan,clipping him from behind and forcing him to spin out.
Stewards handed Correa a 10-second penalty for causing the incident. Doohan did not finish the race.
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