The Monegasque charles leclerc (Ferrari), leader of the Formula One World Championship, will start first this Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix, the third of the year, which takes place in Melbourne; where TYou will have to defend yourself from the presumed attack of the Red Bull the Dutchman Max Verstappen -the last world champion- and the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), who will start second and third in the semi-urban circuit of Albert Park.
Leclerc24 years old, winner in Bahrain and second in Arabia, set the fastest lap of the day by covering the 5,303 meters of the Australian track in one minute, 17 seconds and 868 thousandths; signed the eleventh pole of his career -the second of the season- and will start from the front row alongside Verstappen, the last world champion.
The Dutchman, retired in Sakhir and winner in Jeddah, was 286 thousandths behind the pilot from the principality of the Côte d’Azur and improved by just under a tenth to Czech; in an unlucky day for the Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine), who had very bad luck in the last round of the main timed (Q3) and will face the race from the fifth row.
Leclerc, who leads the World Cup with 45 points -twelve more than Sainz, second in Bahrain and third in Arabia-, had been the fastest in practice on Friday, in which the talented driver from Madrid had headed the time table in the first test. But this Saturday the Monegasque settled for being second in the third and last free, which the Englishman Lando Norris dominated, also glimpsing a certain recovery of the McLaren when finishing qualifying in fourth position: from which he will start this Sunday, next to Pérez, in the second row.
right behind them, in the third row, it will be the two English Mercedes drivers -winner of the last eight Constructors World Championships-, which ‘varnished’ in this way the obvious problems to stay at the top that are evident at this start of the season: the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (six of his titles during the last eight seasons ), will start fifth; and George Russell, his new partner, former Williams, will do so from sixth place.
Norris had improved Leclerc by 132 thousandths in the last training session; what Czech finished third -148-, only one hundredth ahead of Alonzo, that in his own words was completing “the best weekend in many years” before having an accident, when he aspired to practically everything, in Q3. The decisive round of the main timed session, which his compatriot Sainz -fifth in the third free practice- described as “an absolute disaster”, before finishing ninth, one place ahead of the Asturian double world champion.
The Aston Martins, protagonists -with two accidents- in the last free session, they were eliminated in the first round (Q1), neutralized for a few minutes, again with a red flag, due to the accident caused by the Canadian Lance Stroll when he touched his compatriot Nicholas Latifi ( Williams), who also did not go round.
Verstappen was the fastest in the first actin front of Czech, with the Red Bull ahead of the Ferrari -Leclerc was third; and Sainz, fourth- and Alonso marking the fifth part: from which he practically never came down this weekend.
finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), last winner in Australia -where he won in 2019 with a Mercedes, before, due to the pandemic, racing was stopped in ‘Down Under’ the past two years- and the Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who two seasons ago won in Monza with an Alpha Tauri , were the most egregious eliminated in Q2. Which ended with most pilots complaining about poor visibility due to glare; and asking some of them for the darkest visors for their helmets.
Pereztwice victorious in the queen category, in which he has fifteen podiums, will point this Sunday to his first ‘drawer’ of the season after having suffered very bad luck in the first two races. The brave driver from Guadalajara had to retire on the last lap of Bahrain when he was running third; and he could only be fourth -when he was facing victory- in Saudi Arabia, where he had signed the first ‘pole’ in the history of Mexico in F1 and ended up harmed by the entry into the track of a safety car in the circuit Jeddah urban.
Czech he was the fastest, ahead of Sainz, in Q2; in which Leclerc scored the third set, with ‘Mad Max’ fourth and Alonso, again, fifth.
But in the decisive round, Alonsoflying in the second sector, had a hydraulic problem that caused him to overbrake on the eleventh of the fourteen corners of the circuit, losing control of the Alpine, which hit the wall and caused another red flag, which interrupted the session for a few minutes, with almost seven to go.
“It has been frustrating”, commented the great Asturian pilot, unharmed in the mishap and who explained that they do not rule out making changes to the car -whose front left part he damaged- that could imply a grid penalty; something that he does not care about because he stated that he prefers “everything to nothing”.
Fernando’s red flag indirectly harmed Carlos -fourth in Q1 and second in Q2-, who with a few meters to go to cross the finish line in the first attempt saw his time annulled; and then he had problems starting his car, delaying his entry onto the track to face his last lap, so the talented driver from Madrid was unable to properly warm up the tires of his Ferrari.
Sainz and Alonso will start just behind Australian Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), eighth, who will face the third race of the year from the fourth row, scheduled for 58 laps, to complete a journey of 307 and a half kilometers.
Ahead, the Red Bull kept the type, but could not overcome the lap that ‘boarded’ Leclerc, who signed the first ‘pole’ in Australia for Ferrari since it was achieved for the last time by Kimi Raikkonen -retired after last season- in 2007: curiously, the year in which the Finn captured the last World Cup for the ‘Scuderia’. (D)
Source: Eluniverso
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