00:00And you'll see cars slowing and aborting laps where previously you might not have expected it.
00:06And part of that, I wonder, Martin, is battery deployment.
00:09And if the deployment isn't quite right, the driver knows there's no point carrying on
00:13because he just hasn't got the energy coming to the fore where he needs it the most.
00:17Very fast. And this clumsy, tricky little left-hander.
00:20You don't want to be running too wide there, otherwise it massively compromises the final corner.
00:26And what is going to be the benchmark set by George Russell.
00:30And it's a good one.
00:32A 19.8. Only six tenths quicker than Bortoleta, though.
00:35Confirming what a great time that is from the young Brazilian.
00:38Permanent circuit, it's used the rest of the world.
00:41Oh, Max Verstappen! Into the gravel and into the barriers!
00:45And that is Max Verstappen having a horrendous start to his qualifying in 2026.
00:52This is his first flying lap.
00:54And the man who was knocked out in Q1 on pure pace for the first time in his F1 career
01:00in Sao Paulo last season
01:02is out of qualifying here after an escapade into the gravel.
01:06And we've got a red flag now.
01:08That'll help Mercedes, won't it?
01:10And Kimi Antonelli, maybe, get a shot lap.
01:13Has Max kept it going?
01:15Can he get it going if not?
01:17And can he find enough purchase to reverse that out of the gravel trap?
01:22If he can, no.
01:24He's out of the car.
01:25Where did he lose it?
01:26Where did it go wrong for Max Verstappen?
01:29Powering his way down the straight.
01:31Super clipping should now kick in.
01:34Did he touch the white line with his rear tyre?
01:37I don't know.
01:38If not, basically, as he's hit the brakes, the electric and the kinetic motor is like pulling the handbrake on.
01:47No.
01:48It's well away from the white line, yeah.
01:49That's not a driver error.
01:51I couldn't say, how often do you see Max Verstappen just making fundamental errors?
01:56He's hit the brakes and it's just locked the rear axle, just like...
02:01Lance Stroll in testing.
02:02Yeah, you can't pull handbrakes on anymore in modern cars, but in older ones, you could.
02:07If you were with us for our coverage of testing in Bahrain, going into turn 11, Lance Stroll.
02:14Okay, Max.
02:15Yeah, I don't know.
02:15The car just locked on the rear axles.
02:18Fantastic.
02:20It's not the start to the season that he would have expected.
02:24A pole sitter here.
02:25Yeah, Max Verstappen twice in the last three years.
02:29He's ramping up nicely as Lewis Hamilton is about to show us.
02:34Hamilton to the line goes fastest by 300th of a second from his former teammate George Russell.
02:41Kimi Antonelli has no GPS data.
02:46There's no deep GPS tracking on his car.
02:50He goes third fastest.
02:51He's having to rely on his mirrors to see what's around him.
02:54Celebration at Aston Martin if they can get a car into Q2 today.
02:58And all hope might not be lost.
03:01Oscar Piastri, meanwhile, goes fastest by a tenth and a half.
03:04You're not wrong, Martin.
03:06This track really is ramping up.
03:07What a final sector from Oscar Piastri.
03:09George Russell goes a tenth faster and goes back to the top of the pile again.
03:14But one by one, they're starting to get a bit closer.
03:17That reminds me of Michael Schumacher and others who shunned a car and go out and just start delivering straight
03:23away.
03:24That sort of inner confidence.
03:26That's super impressive.
03:27Unlike this braking zone.
03:29Yeah, Charles Leclerc.
03:30In the Alpine, closing speeds there.
03:32Very different.
03:33Alonso crosses the line.
03:35Stays right on the cusp of the elimination zone.
03:38Alex Albon goes into P13.
03:42Can Sergio Perez, though, get Cadillac out of the bottom six?
03:46No.
03:46Lost Max Verstappen.
03:47Big crash for him.
03:49Down at turn one.
03:50The rear axle locked.
03:51Nothing he could do about it.
03:53Oh, Colopinto finishing.
03:55Oh, he does go into 15th.
03:56I thought he'd actually finished his lap.
03:58Apologies to Franco Colopinto.
04:00Alonso is not through to Q2.
04:04Also, then Kimi Antonelli by this stage.
04:06Could be that George Russell has found the right places to deploy and has found better grip.
04:10We shall see as he makes his way towards the line now and goes faster.
04:14And the first man this weekend into the 1.18s by 7 tenths of a second.
04:20He hasn't used too much boost.
04:21He's just got a cracking lap in.
04:23Not quite so mighty.
04:26In fact, not mighty at all.
04:28It's a 19.5.
04:29This is Antonelli turned 12.
04:31And is there a lock-up coming up?
04:33Yeah.
04:35Keeps it on the track but would have lost time to his teammate George Russell as a result of that
04:41lock-up.
04:42Max Verstappen's only got a little bit further to walk back to the hospitality unit.
04:46That's a really disappointing start to the season for him.
04:50Lewis Hamilton sixth fastest into the 1.19s for him but still about a tenth down on his best Q1
04:57time.
04:57Antonelli next to cross the line and goes just behind his teammate George Russell.
05:01I'll be looking, I wonder, at a Mercedes front row lockout here this season.
05:07They certainly have the pace for the next to cross the line.
05:10Stays half a second behind George Russell.
05:14It was a McLaren 1.2 on the grid this time last year.
05:18Currently it's a 3.5 and it stays a 3.5 for Lando Norris this week.
05:23Meanwhile, personal best in the first sector.
05:26Can Pierre Gasly start off the season with a top 10 place on the grid?
05:31No, he can't.
05:3214th only for Pierre Gasly.
05:34That means Alpine will lose both cars in this second part of qualifying.
05:39Alex Albon has pitted, leaving Ocon and Behrman as the only two on the track trying to get out of
05:47the bottom six.
05:47But their times are nowhere near where they wanted to be.
05:51And that is what cost Alex Albon a shot at a top 10 start.
05:55Yeah, couldn't get it slowed down.
05:57Lewis Hamilton was a tenth slow in Q2 on the soft tyres than he was in Q1 on the mediums.
06:02And that is the big drama he had down in the first corner that spoiled that lap.
06:07But at least he didn't end up in the barriers like Kimi Antonelli this morning.
06:11Feeling more connected with the car than he was as...
06:14Ooh, is that...
06:16That looks like a cooler, a piece of cooling.
06:19That would have been fitted to the car as fallen off.
06:22They've got a red flag, that.
06:23They've got a red flag it.
06:24Can't have that flying around or flying into the crowd.
06:28It's come from Kimi Antonelli.
06:28I was going to say, is that a Mercedes?
06:30It is.
06:31It's come from the right-hand side pod.
06:34Yeah.
06:35And that...
06:36Well, it is red flagged.
06:37So we've got a red flag with just under 10 minutes to go.
06:42And look, it's fallen off, Martin.
06:44I was going to say, Crofty, obviously that's a team side.
06:46That's not Kimi himself.
06:47But that fan obviously caused a lot of debris.
06:51But I think that would be a team issue, a team reprimand,
06:54rather than a grid penalty for Kimi.
06:57So has this damaged the front wing then of Lando Norris?
07:02So it was Lando that hit it.
07:05I just checked, I hear a lot of debris.
07:09Yeah, OK.
07:11Smashed a piece as well.
07:12Front left.
07:14An issue that saw him not make it through into the pit lane itself.
07:20He scored points on all four occasions.
07:22He reached Q3 last season.
07:24He'll start 10th for the race tomorrow.
07:26This is a lock-up going into turn three.
07:29And a Mercedes off into the gravel in the runoff area.
07:32Kimi Antonelli.
07:33He takes the high line through the final corner.
07:36And what time is it going to be?
07:38Was it an 18.9 in Q2?
07:41That's a 19 flat.
07:42He can go faster than that on a brand new set.
07:44Might need to.
07:45Isaac Hadja is 6 tenths behind him.
07:48But had a better middle sector.
07:50That was pretty wide from Oscar Piastri.
07:53Going around the final corner.
07:54Crosses the line only in the 120s.
07:56When these cars cross the line.
07:58So you leave nothing in the locker.
08:00In terms of energy deployment.
08:01Lewis Hamilton trying to leave nothing in the locker.
08:04In terms of hustling that car.
08:06That Ferrari around the track.
08:07But he is the slowest of the six drivers so far.
08:11As Lando Norris goes in the second place.
08:13That was nice.
08:14That was good.
08:15Now Isaac Hadja is about to start a lap here.
08:18He'll only accelerate.
08:19Ran about now.
08:22Shouldn't interfere too much with Kimi Antonelli.
08:26Antonelli might have got a really good slip streak.
08:28He's a bit nip and tuff really.
08:30But George Russell has looked an absolute certainty for pole.
08:34So far this Saturday here in Albert Park.
08:37Mr. Saturday comes good.
08:40And takes provisional pole.
08:42For what would be his first pole position.
08:44Here in Australia.
08:46Can Oscar Piastri send Albert Park home with a smile on their face?
08:50Well P3 for Oscar Piastri.
08:52Might be the best that McLaren can do.
08:54Here this weekend.
08:56Charles Leclerc next to cross the line.
08:59He replaces Piastri with P3 on the grid.
09:02Lando Norris still out there.
09:04Isaac Hadja still out there.
09:07His first race for Red Bull.
09:09Where does he start?
09:11Starts in third place.
09:13Ahead of the Ferrari.
09:14Ahead of the McLaren.
09:16Lando Norris next to cross the line.
09:18And Lando Norris pole last year.
09:22Only P6.
09:23Twelve months later.
09:25Lewis Hamilton will be the final contender for pole position across the line.
09:29But he can't find the pace.
09:31It's only seventh place for him.
09:33His former teammate George Russell is already celebrating what is the eighth pole position of his career.
09:40But Arvind Lindblad starts out his Formula 1 career with P8 on the grid.
09:45As I say around here, that was a fair dinkum lap.
09:49Pole position.
09:50Great job.
09:51Well done team.
09:51Well done again.
09:52Kimi's car back out of 12.
09:54Wolf's effort.
09:55George.
09:56Pole position.
09:57Well done.
09:58So controlled.
09:59Well, well done.
10:00Merci.
10:00Thanks.
Comments