Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes was last time outside the top ten in the qualifying sessions in Melbourne in 2010.
The third qualifying session of the F1 season was Red Bull’s, as usual Max Verstappen’s from the screen.
Verstappen defeated the Ferrari duo, whose pace looked promising even considering the pole position. In the end, the Dutch won Carlos Sainz by a margin of as much as 0.270 seconds.
Sergio Perez drove third when the Ferrari Charles Leclerc failed in his final time lap and finished fifth.
The biggest surprise of the time trials was offered by the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamiltonwho was left out of the last section with Mercedes.
Hamilton, who drove to the pole eight times in his career in Melbourne, was only 11th. The grid is Hamilton’s worst in Melbourne since 2010, when he started from the same grid.
Valtteri Bottas drove to the second section for the first time this season and was 13th. Sauber’s pace was nowhere near the top ten, because George Russell was the last to reach the continuation with more than four tenths of a second better time.
– The goal was to get close to the top ten and maybe even fight to get into the top ten. We came close to the goal, Bottas stated on Viaplay’s broadcast.
Bottas reminded that Sauber had already been left in the opening section in two previous qualifying sessions.
– It’s good to see that small steps have been taken forward. Still have to rock.