F1 Qualifying Results 2022 Australian Grand Prix

Event: Australian F1 Grand Prix
Track: Albert Park Circuit

Max Verstappen driving Red Bull Racing RB18 on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on April 09, 2022 (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Weather: dry 24°C
Tarmac: dry 32°C
Humidity: 55%
Wind: 2.0 m/s SW
Pressure: 1017.5 bar

Charles Leclerc qualified as quickest for the eleventh in his F1 career and scored pole position for tomorrow's 36th Australian Grand Prix. It was the second pole of this season for the Monegasque driver and the 232nd pole for Scuderia Ferrari.

Q1 session
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen was first to enter the revised track for his first effort to get into Q2. After all drivers except both Aston Martins, had put a lap time on the timesheets, Ferrari driver Charle Leclerc was fastest with a 1:19.179 min. Max Verstappen was only 0.044s slower in the Red Bull then Lelcerc.

Nicolas Latifi almost put the Williams in the wall again. This time he lost control of the FW44 in turn 11, but was able to safe it. Both Mercedes drivers were the last drivers who clocked a lap time. While Fernando Alonso getting up to to speed on P4.

With 5 minutes to go Verstappen got his lap together at last and improved to 1:18.580 min. His Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez also improved a lot and now was second on +0.254s. The drivers who had to improve to make it into Q2 were: Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Nicholas Latifi (Williams), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin).

Two minutes before the end of the session the Aston Martin team had managed to fix Lance Stroll's car and got him on to the track to set a lap time. As he was warming up the car during his out lap the Canadian driver had a miscommunication and crashed hard with his fellow countryman Latifi. Both cars were damaged, but the drivers were unharmed. The session got red flagged to recover the cars and clean up the track from lots of debris. It was the fourth time in 4 grand prix that Latifi had a shunt with the Williams

Strangely the red flag situation was exactly the break that Aston Martin needed to get Vettel in the mix. With 20 seconds to go the German driver got out the garage. Lando Norris was the first who entered the track. Vettel didn't make it into Q1 and qualified 18th. The weekend for Williams also was turning out as a hard one, when team had to ask Alex Albon to stop the car, because there seemed to be an issue with the engine.

Zhou and Tsunoda improved enough to get their car into Q2. They pushed out Albon and Kevin Magnussen (Haas).

Q2 session

Verstappen got out the garage as first to get on with the session. He was also the first who put a lap time on the board in Q2 and rounded the Albert Park in 1:18.611 min which was the fastest time of the first runs.

A general view over the circuit showing Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing RB18 on track during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on April 09 (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Perez improved to 1:18.340 min during his second lap and out performed his teammate by 0.271s being fastest. Mick Schumacher still had to record a lap time in the Haas, while Tsunoda and Zhou even still were standing in the garage.

With 5 minutes to go the following drivers were in the drop zone: Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Schumacher, Tsunoda and Zhou. The only driver who improved enough to get in to Q3 was Ocon. The Alpine driver pushed out his French compatriot Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri. Lewis Hamilton who was on P10 for while also improved to get into Q3 again with the Mercedes, while his old teammate Bottas ended his streak of getting into Q3's since Australia 2017.

Due to the sunset at Melbourne the drivers were complaining a lot getting blinded on the main straight.

Q3 session
Five different constructors started this session. A lot of drivers switched to a dark visor to improve their sight during the sunset period. The first lap time for both Red Bull drivers was only 0.001s apart, with Perez on P1. Verstappen did out-brake himself in the penultimate corner and therefor could improve if he could pull the lap together.

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, leads Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75, and Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42 during the Australian GP at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on Saturday April 09, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Sutton / LAT Images)

With seven minutes to go the session was again stopped by a red flag when Fernando Alonso crashed the Alpine into the barrier at turn 11. The Spanish driver told his team it was caused by a hydraulic problem. He was on a very quick lap and even was 0.250s faster in the second sector and probably would have clocked the provisional pole.

Before the restart Leclerc was on pole with a 1:18.239 min. Perez was second (+0.159s) and Verstappen was third (+0.160s). The other Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz could not get up there because his lap time got deleted due to the red flag period.

After the Alpine car of Alonso had been recovered, all cars went out again on a brand new shiny set of Pirelli soft tyres. Perez improved his lap but got 0.001s short to get his second pole of his F1 career.

In the final stages Verstappen and Leclerc gave it all to get on pole position. Both drivers drove a perfect lap and Verstappen did end up on P1, but that was shortly lived as Leclerc even improved more to get pole again. He also was the only driver that ended up below the 1:18's.

The pole position time of last time in Melbourne (2019) was a 1:27.511 min driven by Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes W12.

Quali Times 2022 Australian GP

Notes:

• Alexander Albon (Williams car 23) has been disqualified, due to insufficient fuel to yield the required 1.0 litre sample.

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