George Russell planted himself emphatically on pole at the Australian Grand Prix, confirming his position as favourite for the world championship.
The Briton was in a class of his own and so were his Mercedes crew. Russell qualified three-tenths clear of his team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who will share the front row.
Isack Hadjar, on his Red Bull debut, was an impressive third – though a giant eight-tenths back from Russell.
Yikes that is a big gap, even if it might have been less had Hadjar’s proven team-mate Max Verstappen not have crashed out at the first corner of his only fast lap – leaving the four-time world champion to start 20th of 22 and bringing out one of two red flags that delayed the action at Melbourne’s Albert Park.
But, no matter what Verstappen might have achieved, it is clear that Mercedes hold a royal flush after four years as ‘jokers’.
Team principal Toto Wolff went up to the pit wall from the garage to congratulate his team, confident that they are setting the early pace. They are out of the doldrums under the new regulations that have changed the chassis – narrower, nimbler cars – and new power units, which are half electric, half internal combustion engine.
George Russell qualified in pole position for the Australian Grand Prix in style
Max Verstappen brought out a red flag as he crashed out – he will start 20th out of 22
Lewis Hamilton could only qualify seventh, marking an underwhelming start to F1’s new era
Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest for Ferrari, Oscar Piastri of McLaren fifth best, Lando Norris sixth and Lewis Hamilton seventh (so much, alas, for a revival in a new era!).
‘The whole session seemed very clean,’ said Russell. ‘The new cars are difficult to drive. But they are more agile. It feels more like a go-kart. Last year it felt like a bus.’
Antonelli had a strange day – further evidence that he won’t be able to match Russell over the stretch, or certainly that it would be a shock if he did. He showed his sophomoric inexperience when he crashed in the previous practice session.
His team rebuilt his car at speed and the 19-year-old Italian was resilient in bouncing back, however distant he was from Russell.
It was a scramble for Antonelli’s side of the Mercedes garage from that point onwards. And a couple of cooling fans came detached from his car in Q3, an emblem of the pressure they were under – a great recovery job.
Norris – the defending champion, who, in truth, was off the pace all day – ran over the debris. He returned in a patched-up car with the help of duct tape and was unimpressed by this year’s major revamp to the car and engine, with a reliance on harvesting energy during a lap.
‘Everyone knows what the issues are,’ said Norris. ‘It’s a 50-50 split and it just doesn’t work.
‘You decelerate so much before corners, you have to lift everywhere to make sure the battery pack is at the top.
‘If the pack is too high, you’re also screwed. It’s just difficult, but it’s what we have. It doesn’t feel good as a driver, but I’m sure George is smiling.
‘We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One, and the nicest to drive, to probably the worst. It sucks, but you have to live with it.’
Aston Martin had a nightmare qualifying session, as expected. Fernando Alonso was 17th best, or fifth worst, while his team-mate Lance Stroll did not even make it on to the track, a problem with their Honda engine taking the blame – an utter embarrassment for a team so lavishly funded and with such lofty ambitions.
As for Verstappen, a rare error saw him leave the action early under regulations he doesn’t like – ‘like Formula E on steroids’, as he said the other day.
After his accident, the Dutchman raged over the radio: ‘The car just f****** locked up on the rear axles. Fantastic.’
