Australia GP practice/qualifying recap
Day 1
FP1
What started as a relatively standard practice session would change the entire weekend. We began to see a trend of instability, with multiple cars, including Alonso, Hamilton, Albon, Bottas, and even Max Verstappen, going off track. Many cars suffered flooring damage from the high-speed off-track rides. Carlos Sainz returned to Ferrari after emergency appendectomy surgery. He started a little dusty from his time off but would quickly find speed in his Ferrari. The main takeaway was Alex Albon's crash in FP1, which damaged his chassis. With Williams not having a spare chassis to repair Alex's damaged car, the team decided to swap Logan Sargeant's car for Albon, leaving Sargeant without a car for the weekend.
Top 5: Lando,Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc, Tsunoda
FP2
It was a typical practice session. The theme of instability carried over into practice 2; quite a few cars had minor off-track excursions. Turn 10, Leclerc and Magnussen both dropped tires off. Both Astons had off-track excursions, and George Russell had a lovely drive through the grass. Albon was out of the practice session while Sargeant ran the full FP2 session.
Top 5: LeClerc, Verstappen, Sainz, Stroll, Alonso
Day 2
Practice
It was a typical practice session with no significant incidents. Albon swapped Sargeants' car for day two, leaving the American driver without a ride on Day Two.
Top5: Leclerc,Verstappen,Sainz,Hamilton, Russell
Qualifying
Qualifying was very exciting. Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren were fast, and even Mercedes found more speed.
Q1
Eliminated in the first session were Zhou, Gasly, Hulkenberg, and Ricciardo, who had a lap deleted for track limits and found himself out. Ocon found some speed in the Alpine and advanced to Q2. Kevin Magnussen put together a great lap in his of Haas sneaking out of Q1.
Q2
Tusnoda shocked the crowd and found himself in Q3 after bumping Lewis out.
Hamilton, Albon, Bottas, Magnussen, and Ocon were eliminated in Q2.
Q3
Max setting pole, the Ferraris challenged behind, with Sainz splitting the Red Bulls. Sergio Perez would later receive a three-place grid penalty and will start in 6th place. Leclerc ended up in a Mclaren sandwich in the fourth, with Norris in front and Oscar behind. Russell found his Mercedes in 7th place, while Yuki Tsunoda had a blazing lap and will start 8th on the grid. The two Aston Martins struggled a little more in Q3 and finished out the top 10 with Stroll in 9th and Alonso in the 10th.
Starting Grid:
(1) Verstappen (2)Sainz
(3) Norris (4)Leclerc
(5)Piastri (6)Perez
(7)Russell (8)Tusnoda
(9)Stroll (10)Alonso
(11)Hamilton (12)Albon
(13)Bottas (14)Magnussen
(15)Ocon (16)Hulkenberg
(17)Gasly (18)Ricciardo
(19)Guanyu Sargeant(out)
Race Predictions: Unless we see some first-lap extracurriculars or if there is a mechanical problem, Max will more than likely run away from the rest of the pack. The race for the podium should be a great battle between Ferrari, the McLarens, a charging Sergio Perez starting fifth after a penalty, and we may even see a charging Alonso in the Aston Martin that has shown signs of pace all weekend.
These racing and the cars struggling for downforce all weekend should result in a few yellow-flag situations. We could see an exciting race, and the podium and points could go in any direction under different circumstances.
