The Dutch Max Verstappenleader of the World Cup Formula 1will be released first this Sunday on the Australian Grand Prixthe third of the year, which is held in the Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit; where the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) will start next to him from the front row and the Mexican Sergio Pérez, the other Red Bull, will do so from third place.
Verstappen, 26, signed his thirty-fifth pole position in F1, the third of the seasonby dominating the qualification held in the early hours of this Saturday, in whose third and decisive round (Q3) he covered the 5,278 meters of the Melbourne track in one minute, 15 seconds and 915 thousandths, 270 less than Sainz and 359 ahead about ‘Czech’.
The striking fact is that Carlos Sainz underwent emergency surgery for appendicitis two weeks ago. “I felt good. It is impossible to be one hundred percent, after having been in bed for seven or ten days. But today I didn’t feel pain, just some discomfort; and I was able to push hard,” he explained, during the official press conference of the FIA,” explained the Spaniard, who because of that intervention missed the second test of the year, in Saudi Arabia.
For his part, Verstappen, who aspires to repeat his performance from last year, when he won the Australian GP after starting from pole, stated: “It has been a bit of a complicated weekend so far, Ferrari seems very fast on the long runs, so tomorrow will be an exciting day.
Alonso, who was one second and 637 thousandths behind – like the previous ones, with the soft tire – will start from the fifth row, alongside his teammate, the Canadian Lance Stroll, who starts ninth in Australia.
From the third row will be the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) -fifth in qualifying- and the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren).
Just behind them, in fourth, will be the Englishman George Russell (Mercedes) and the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (RB), eighth this Saturday in qualifying.
At the end of Q2 there was a moment of shock, when the Englishman Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) was eliminated. The seven-time world champion will start from eleventh place on the grid, after making a small mistake in the penultimate corner.
With information from agencies.