MELBOURNE: Max Verstappen not surprisingly clinched pole position for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. More surprising was record eight-time Australian pole winner Lewis Hamilton not making it into the final round of qualifying on Saturday.
Verstappen, who has won both races to start the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez second both times, will start in the front row for Sunday’s 58-lap race on the temporary Albert Park street circuit.
It was the 35th pole of Verstappen’s F1 career.
Carlos Sainz, returning from appendix surgery ahead of the last race in Saudi Arabia, was second-fastest, followed by Perez in third.
“It was a bit unexpected but I’m very happy,” Verstappen said. “It’s been a bit of a tricky weekend so far. (Ferrari) seem very quick, so it’s a bit of a question mark for tomorrow.”
“Even throughout qualifying, Q1, Q2, I didn’t really feel like (I was) fighting for pole. Then we made some little tickles on the car and that seemed to help me in Q3 to really push it to the limit; both of my laps I was quite happy with it.”
The biggest surprise of the day was Mercedes driver Hamilton. He failed to advance from the second qualifying session, finishing 11th. It was his worst qualifying position at the Australian Grand Prix since 2010.
“The inconsistency within the car — it really messes with the mind,” the seven-time world champion said, citing the afternoon wind as a problem.
“Our car is on a bit of a knife edge. When the wind picks up the car becomes a lot more unstable. But the others seem to (be able to) pick their pace up in qualifying, I’m not sure why. It’s not a great feeling for everyone in the team, but we’ll just keep working away.”
Ferrari’s performance here could have been compromised after Sainz declared he was ready to return to the cockpit, but not feeling 100 percent after surgery for appendicitis ahead of the last race in Saudi Arabia.
But the Spanish driver, who is out of contract at the end of the season, rebounded from a hospital bed a few weeks ago to the front row of the grid in Australia this weekend.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks, so to make it to this weekend I’m very happy,” Sainz said. “I was a bit rusty at the beginning but I got up to speed and I’m feeling good in the car.”
Sainz said he was still feeling the effects of the surgery.
“I am not going to lie, I am not in my most comfortable state, but i can get it done,” he said. “Obviously, a lot of discomfort and weird feelings, but no pain, so it allows me to push.”
Australian Daniel Ricciardo was eliminated in the first qualifying session for the first time at Albert Park after his fastest lap was deleted by stewards. Ricciardo surged into the top-10 near the end of the session and seemed certain to continue his impressive record of never qualifying lower than 15th in Melbourne.
But the 34-year-old Ricciardo was deemed to have exceeded track limits and was pushed back to start from 18th place in his first GP on home soil since 2022.
Alex Albon qualified 12th, repaying some of the faith shown from Williams after the British-born Thai driver sat in teammate Logan Sargeant’s car. Albon’s vehicle sustained extensive damage after he crashed into a wall during practice on Friday, with American driver Sargeant stepping aside for the rest of the weekend.
It was already an eventful week ahead of Saturday’s qualifying. FIA’s Ethics Committee had cleared its president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, from “interference of any kind” at two F1 events last year was followed quickly by a social media post from Susie Wolff, who is director of the all-female series F1 Academy and also married to Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff, announcing that she had filed a criminal complaint in the French courts against the sport’s governing body for statements made about her in December.
It was all against the backdrop of ongoing furor surrounding Red Bull Racing and its team principal Christian Horner.
Verstappen takes pole position for F1 Australian GP, resurgent Carlos Sainz also in front row
https://arab.news/vgqhu
Verstappen takes pole position for F1 Australian GP, resurgent Carlos Sainz also in front row
- Verstappen will start in the front row for Sunday’s 58-lap race on the temporary Albert Park street circuit
- Carlos Sainz, returning from appendix surgery ahead of the last race in Saudi Arabia, was second-fastest, followed by Perez in third
Lategan leads the Dakar, champion Al-Rajhi withdraws
- Lategan, last year’s overall runner-up, took his fifth career stage win and led Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah by three minutes and 55 seconds
ALULA, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia’s Dakar Rally champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi declared an end to his title defense and withdrew on Wednesday as South African Henk Lategan dominated the fourth stage for Toyota and took over at the top.
Al-Rajhi had been struggling from the start in his customer entry Toyota Hilux, and was already 19th when he withdrew with technical issues 234km into the 452km part of a two-day marathon stage around AlUla.
“Sadly, our Dakar 2026 journey ends here,” he posted on Facebook. “We’ll come back stronger next year.”
The Saudi explained later that he had lost half an hour with two punctures and, with nearly half the stage remaining until the bivouac and having to go slow with no further spare available, had called it a day.
It ended a difficult year for the Saudi since he won last year, with Al-Rajhi crashing in Jordan last April and breaking two vertebrae. He returned to competition only in September.
Lategan, last year’s overall runner-up, took his fifth career stage win and led Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah by three minutes and 55 seconds.
“Yesterday, we had a total of nine punctures. It’s unbelievable. I think that’s a record in three days. I was lost,” the factory Toyota driver said, his happiness tempered by missing his son’s sixth birthday.
“I didn’t know what to do on the rocks, whether to slow down or not, attack or not. Today I decided to forget all that and just go for it. It’s a lottery anyway.”
Al-Attiyah, a five-times Dakar winner now with the Dacia Sandriders team, was second in the stage — more than seven minutes behind Lategan — to move up from 10th overnight.
“We did a good job, we’re here, and I think we didn’t lose too much time. It might even be good for our start position tomorrow,” he said.
“We didn’t need to push any harder; we’re still some way back. The car is in good condition and we’re happy.”
Ford’s Mattias Ekstrom was in third place overall with teammate and four-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz fourth and nearly 16 minutes off the lead.
Ford’s overnight leader Mitch Guthrie of the US dropped to 13th.
In the motorcycle category, Spaniard Tosha Schareina took the lead for Honda from Australia’s defending champion Daniel Sanders, who dropped to third on his KTM. American Ricky Brabec was second.
Schareina and Brabec finished the stage in a Honda one-two-three with American Skyler Howes third and Sanders fifth.
“I made some silly mistakes in the navigation. After the refuel, I tried to push and make up time,” said Sanders.
“I felt better in the last half. The bike’s okay. There was a lot of rocks. I tried to protect my tires. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
