The Australian Grand Prix continued with an early but even better qualifying session, which was not without surprises.
After the surprising success of Ferraris in the third free practice, it was a big question whether anyone could repeat it. After the first fast laps of Q1, the order was the two Ferraris, the two Red Bulls, the two McLarens, but the track quickly improved. Thanks to this, the composition of the leading field did not change, but we could see interesting rearrangements in the middle field. The leading trio was finally Carlos Sainz, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, while the names of Nico Hülkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo, Guanyu Zhou were recorded among the eliminated.
The first moments of Q2 were for Red Bull Racing, this weekend it looked like RB was showing some of its true strength for the first time. Of course, this was also due to the new compounds, as Sainz was put on the fresh soft, and he immediately found himself back in the lead. The Mercedes, which had been performing terribly until now, also started to liven up, and it seemed that both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell could reach Q3. The group of farewells was eventually expanded by Lewis Hamilton, as well as Alexander Albon, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon, to no small surprise.
Q3 was here, promising the most exciting finale of the season so far, and it can be said that we were not disappointed. That is, for Red Bull fans, as the Austrian team continued its well-known drag-and-drop game. New engine plus performance here or there, Verstappen and his team are still only willing to show their real strength in the last phase of qualifying, thus raising false hopes in the opposing camp. Even though it seemed that Carlos Sainz, who made an incredible comeback and did a sensational job all weekend, could be a worthy challenger, in the end he could not take the lead from Max Verstappen.
