Charles Leclerc put in a brilliant lap to beat Max Verstappen and claim pole position at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Red Bulls had set the pace in Q1 and Q2, but the Monegasque responded in Q3 posting a 1m17.868s on his final run to take a second P1 in qualifying this season.
Q1
Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll were involved in a bizarre crash approaching Turn 6 as the Williams let the Aston Martin through before trying to repass.
But in doing so, it caught Stroll unaware, who turned into his fellow Canadian and sent him into the barriers.
? RED FLAG ?
Latifi and Stroll collide in the first sector and both are out of qualifying#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/lhb5OHUKM7
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2022
The accident also came just as Aston had sent Lance out on track after repairing the damage done in an earlier crash at Turn 11 in final practice.
In the ensuing red flag, the team was able to finish rebuilding teammate Sebastian Vettel’s car following his crash at Turn 10 in FP3.
That triggered a crazy final two minutes as the drivers dashed to complete a final run.
There would be no changes in the bottom places though with Alex Albon just missing out in 16th, with Kevin Magnussen a disappointing 17th in the Haas.
Vettel could do not better than 18th ahead of Latifi and Stroll.
Here comes Sebastian Vettel! ?
Qualifying resumes with two minutes remaining ?#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/L296wUNj9p
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2022
Q2
At the front, Sergio Perez went quickest but is under investigation for failing to slow under yellow flags after George Russell ran wide at Turn 11.
In the elimination zone, Valtteri Bottas saw his 103-race run of consecutive Q3 appearances end in P12, just behind Pierre Gasly in 11th.
AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 13th ahead of Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher in 15th.
Q3
On the first run, Leclerc led the two Red Bulls before Fernando Alonso, who was on a faster lap, crashed at Turn 11 with an apparent hydraulics issue.
Alonso is out of the car and appears to be okay ?
He had just set the fastest middle sector of all, but his crash pauses the clock with seven minutes to go #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/PcmbC3dOgG
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2022
The second run saw Perez fall just 0.001s shy of displacing the Ferrari before Verstappen, who blew his first lap at the penultimate corner, went quickest.
Leclerc though would go even faster and be the only driver to go sub-1m18s around the revised Albert Park.
Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz had a disastrous Q3 though, as the red flags cancelled his first run just metres from the line and then he could do no better than P9 on his second set of tyres.
Lando Norris claimed fourth ahead of the two Mercedes’ with Lewis Hamilton pipping George Russell into fifth. Daniel Ricciardo was seventh in the other McLaren, Esteban Ocon eighth with Sainz and Alonso completing the top 10.
