Verstappen enjoys ‘unexpected’ pole in Australia as he predicts ‘very exciting’ race amid Ferrari threat.
Until the checkered flag was finally waved, it was believed this weekend belonged to the Prancing Horses of Ferrari.
Max Verstappen has admitted that his pole position for the Australian Grand Prix came as a little bit of a surprise after he and Red Bull struggled to get on top of their car’s balance throughout practice.
Reigning world champion Verstappen had several wild moments and off-track excursions across the three practice sessions in Melbourne, including an incident during FP1 that caused damage to his floor and chassis.
He was still struggling as qualifying got under way but ever-improving track conditions and a series of tweaks saw him work his way to the top of the timesheets once more, getting the better of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for P1 on the grid.
Reflecting on his third pole from three events in 2024, and how he turned things around, Verstappen said: “Even though it was a more difficult weekend, achieving pole position today was great. I didn’t really expect to make it on pole, but we kept on making steady improvements throughout qualifying and I felt able to push a little bit better. Over the weekend, we have been struggling with the graining and have had a lot of things to figure out, but we just needed to keep on fine tuning the car with the Team. The balance of the car got better throughout; as we went through the session it felt easier to manage and I’m very happy with the laps we did in Q3 and surprised myself. We obviously had all the information from Q1 and Q2 and I think we achieved two very good laps. It is a bit of an unknown tomorrow as it is always easy to make a mistake here and it is harder to manage the tires. Although the weekend has been a bit tough for us and I don’t think tomorrow will be an easy race, to still be on pole with the difficulties that we had is something we can be very proud of.”
Asked about the threat from Ferrari on race day, he added: “They seem very quick also in the long runs, so a bit of a question mark for tomorrow, but I guess that makes it very exciting, so we’ll find out tomorrow.”
With Sainz almost three-tenths down on pole, Verstappen’s team mate, Sergio Perez, trailed by another tenth as he slotted into third place.
After being out of the car last race in Saudi Arabia, Sainz was all smiles after qualifying.
“From missing the race in Jeddah to this P2 in two weeks, it’s been an interesting journey to say the least!” said Sainz post qualifying, “I’m very happy because coming to Australia I wasn’t even sure I was going to make it. We have managed to progress steadily session after session, knowing that the target was to arrive as prepared as possible for qualifying. I tried everything to get pole in the last lap but it’s impossible to be disappointed with today’s result given the circumstances. Hopefully the body holds on during the entire race. As long as I have no pain and with the extra motivation from today, I will fight to get a good result tomorrow.”
Perez, who finished third in qualifying but was handed a three place grid penalty for impeding added, “My first sector was not great, especially Turn 1, I think, on my final attempt I didn’t hook the whole combination, which is straight away a tenth, a tenth and a half. But I’m happy. I think given how we’ve been during the weekend, I think it’s been a very nice progression. I think tomorrow we’ve got a fight on our hands to the Ferraris and to the rest of the field. I think the tire degradation is going to be very high, so I think starting position is not that relevant at the moment.”
Asked if Red Bull’s straight-line speed could help in race-trim, Perez signed off: “We will find out tomorrow. We have changed a bit our strategy for tomorrow and let’s see who can survive the most on the degradation side.”
The other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc had been in the mix with Verstappen and Sainz earlier in qualifying but the Monegasque abandoned his final effort and wound up back in fifth, splitting the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.