On April 1, Beijing time, the Australian Grand Prix, the third race of the 2023 F1 season, ended at the Albert Park Circuit. Red Bull leader Verstappen won the pole position in Australia for the first time in his career with 1:16.732. Russell and Hamilton of the Mercedes team won the second and third places respectively. Leclerc was only seventh, even behind Stroll. Zhou Guanyu ranked 17th and stopped in Q1.
After the two night races in the Middle East at the beginning of the season, the F1 Grand Prix moved to Melbourne this weekend to start the competition for the third Australian Grand Prix of the season. This is the 26th time that the Albert Park circuit has hosted the F1 Grand Prix, and it is also the 37th F1 race held in Australia. This weekend, Alonso made his 18th F1 appearance at Albert Park, surpassing Raikkonen and Jenson Button to become the first person in history. Piastri became the third Australian driver to participate in F1 here after Webber and Ricciardo, and the young McLaren driver was born in Melbourne.
The Albert Park circuit will be resurfaced in 2022 to increase the grip of the tyres. The track’s energy demands on the tires are about average for the season. Generally speaking, this is a smooth track. After last year’s improvement, the corner speed is faster. In addition, this year the FIA has confirmed four DRS areas at this station, which means that there may be the fastest limit speed in Melbourne’s history. Theoretically, it is possible to rush up to 340 km/h.
Qualifying in the first quarter: Zhou Guanyu is out and Perez triggers a red flag
Melbourne has been battered by rain this weekend. The rain had stopped before qualifying, but it was cloudy, with a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, a track temperature of 21 degrees, and a humidity of 59%. The weather forecast showed a 90% chance of rain. After the start of Q1, the drivers are all on dry tires for the time being. Sargent’s first speeding lap was due to a mistake in the last segment, so the car was directly sent to the maintenance area.
About 11 minutes and 49 seconds before the stop watch, Perez rushed to the gravel buffer zone at Turn 3 and triggered the red flag. Perez rushed into the gravel area several times in the third practice. On the radio, the Mexican driver said: “We need to solve this problem, it is still an old problem!” At the end of Q1, the eliminated drivers are: Piastri, Zhou Guanyu, Sargent, Bottas and Perez who did not make any achievements. Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton occupy the top three.
Qualifying in the second quarter: Aokang was eliminated by 7ths of a second
At the beginning of Q2, Stroll’s first speeding lap led his teammate Alonso by 0.065 seconds. Verstappen’s first speeding lap in Q2 was 1:17.219, setting the fastest time in the field, leading the second Leclerc by 0.341 seconds! Norris made a mistake at Turn 3, but fortunately he did not fall into the gravel buffer zone. At the end of Q2, the five drivers eliminated are: Ocon, Yuki Kakuda, Norris, Magnussen and De Vries.
Among them, Aokang was only 0.007 seconds away from the promotion line because of a slow car in the speeding circle. The French driver was annoyed and angry. Albon pressed the line to advance. Tsunoda Yuki, who was eliminated, was drawn to weigh again. As a result, because he did not stop at the designated position, the Japanese driver kept waving his hands in the cockpit to express his dissatisfaction.
Qualifying in the third quarter: Verstappen wins pole position and Mercedes 2nd and 3rd
Before the start of Q3, some teams reminded drivers that it might rain again before the end. The rest of the drivers, except Stoll, hurried onto the track. Before returning to the pits, Verstappen temporarily took the lead with a time of 1:17.262 on his first attempt, 0.009 seconds ahead of Hamilton. However, Verstappen complained to the team in TR that there was a problem with downshifting the car.
In the end, Verstappen retained his pole position, which was the 22nd pole position of Verstappen’s F1 career. Red Bull won pole position in Australia for the first time since 2013. All three pole positions so far this season belonged Red Bull Racing. Mercedes duo Russell and Hamilton ranked second and third respectively. The order of four to ten is: Alonso, Sainz, Stoll, Leclerc, Albon, Gasly and Hulkenberg. The main race of the Australian Grand Prix will officially start at 13:00 Beijing time on April 2. (Tauranga)Return to Sohu to see more
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