00:01So, work going on down in the Sauber Garage. They are trying to get Joe Guanyu into this contest.
00:07He is attempting to join, having hit the barrier on the exit of Ternade a couple of hours ago.
00:14And rotating around that final corner, Daniel Ricciardo leaving a little bit of room.
00:18Verstappen has gone fastest of anyone, Perez has gone into third, but we're looking at the drop zone
00:23and that is an improvement from 15th to 11th for Daniel Ricciardo.
00:26Stroll needs a quick lap, he's got one in the middle sector. Tsunoda improves to ninth position.
00:32Bottas back to the drop zone, along with Gasly, Sargent, Ocon and we go on board with the Canadian driver
00:38who is currently on the brink of the elimination zone. Bottas has not improved in that first sector.
00:45Stroll has though, can he book his place in the next part of qualifying? The answer is yes, with the
00:50second fastest time.
00:52And Joe Guanyu did not get out in time, he is out, so is Esteban Ocon, so is Pierre Gasly,
00:58as Alpine's really tough start to the season continues.
01:02And Bottas is going to join his teammate in the first part of qualifying, he will be eliminated.
01:10Unbelievable.
01:11Box, box, yeah.
01:13Yeah, you are one-time topping yourself.
01:15They are going to be in trouble for that, if that was Bottas on a flying lap and improving, that's
01:19a slam dunk I think.
01:21It is two Alpines, two Sauber's and Logan Sargent who fall at the first hurdle.
01:28A valiant effort from Sauber to repair Joe Guanyu's car, but they just ran out of time.
01:37I've lost the power, I've lost the power, something's wrong.
01:40As Russell goes to the top of the page by seven hundredths of a second, Piastri goes third, but Hülkenberg
01:47looks like he'll play no further part.
01:49He's at the side of the road, having reported that problem, it's brought him to a halt.
01:54One of the stars of the qualifying hour one week ago, this is what it sounded like on board, he
01:59reported the problem very quickly.
02:01Let's listen in.
02:03There you go.
02:06Oliver Behrman is in touching distance of making the top ten.
02:11He is the danger man for Yuki Tsunoda, who's on the brink of elimination, and he's only one thousandths of
02:16a second away.
02:17Tsunoda's improving as well, and Hamilton's not right out of this either.
02:21He's only half a tenth up on Tsunoda's time, so if they both find a bit, then Lewis Hamilton could
02:25yet be shuffled out.
02:26A clean lap required for everyone to get into the top ten shootout.
02:30Over the line goes Ricciardo, he won't be part of it.
02:33He's out, along with Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg.
02:36Albin is eliminated as well.
02:38Can Behrman find something absolutely magic at the end?
02:41Behrman trying to eliminate Lewis Hamilton, and he misses out by three hundredths of a second across the line.
02:50That was a great effort.
02:52Ferrari know it.
02:53On debut, less than an hour of track time.
02:56Charles Leclerc has gone into second place.
02:58Eighty-nine thousandths of a second separating the top three.
03:03Three hundredths of a second away from knocking out a seven-time champion of the world.
03:10But it is a great performance under the circumstances from Formula One's newest driver.
03:19Hamilton to go across the line, 28-8.
03:21Alonso has the fastest first sector of anyone who has journeyed through there at the moment.
03:26That includes Sergio Perez.
03:29But it's just been beaten by Max Verstappen as we look to see our first times on the board.
03:35Russell from Piastri from Hamilton at the moment.
03:38Perez has gone over the line and he is fastest by half a second ahead of George Russell.
03:44Verstappen looking good though.
03:45Alonso goes behind Perez, but he's still in the vicinity.
03:50Is Verstappen about to blow them all away?
03:52Fastest in sector one, sector two.
03:55He goes to the top of the page by three tenths of a second.
03:59It's a 27-4, 7-2.
04:03It is a Red Bull 1-2 and a dominant one at the moment for a front row lockout.
04:08Can he beat Alonso?
04:09The answer is no.
04:10On run number one, Charles Leclerc is in fourth position.
04:14And look at Alonso getting a huge slipstream to start his lap.
04:18He's going to time it nicely.
04:20Hamilton over the line, only seventh with both McLarens improving as it stands.
04:24That's a useful toe if you're Fernando Alonso and you're trying to hang on to third place.
04:29Lando Norris has his designs over that P3 on the grid.
04:33Can he get there as he comes across the line and he's just behind in fourth position.
04:3930 seconds remain.
04:41This is Oscar Piastri, the man from Melbourne, about to cut the beam.
04:44Where does he go?
04:45He goes ahead of his teammate at this racetrack for the second year in a row in Formula One qualifying.
04:52Perez is improving his lap time, but he's still two tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen.
04:58Very good first sector for Alonso with that slipstream from Hamilton.
05:01He's the closest anyone's been to Verstappen in the first sector.
05:05Still a tenth down, but quicker than Perez.
05:07Tsunoda knows he'll be the lead RB on the grid.
05:10He goes ahead of Lance Stroll.
05:12Stroll will have a chance to respond.
05:14He is on for a personal best.
05:15Perez to the line.
05:16No improvement for him.
05:19And now Alonso's in the mix.
05:22Alonso is finding a special lap here.
05:25He's only one tenth of a second away.
05:27The man who has not been on pole position in Formula One since 2012.
05:32As Charles Leclerc finds the time to go up to second position.
05:36But Alonso is going to be threatening that.
05:38And Ferrari know it as it stands.
05:41Seven front rows in a row for Charles Leclerc.
05:44Could we see a magical moment from Fernando Alonso across the line?
05:48It's fourth place.
05:50He gave it everything.
05:51He improved his time.
05:53He's only three tenths of a second away.
05:55Where does Stroll go?
05:56He stays in tenth place.
05:58Alonso in fourth.
05:59He was only a tenth of a second away in the middle part of the lap.
06:02But he dropped behind Leclerc and Perez.
06:06So, yeah.
06:07Nice shot, mate.
06:07That was pole position.
06:08Three tenths to Charles.
06:10Yeah, that was a very lovely qualifying car wins on the rails.
06:14Really good.
06:15Well done, everyone.
06:17It's the same story at the front of the field once again.
06:22Max Verstappen takes his 34th pole position in Formula One.
06:27And in truth, he's taken it at a canter.
06:31He's beaten the field by three tenths of a second.
06:33He will be joined once again by Charles Leclerc on the front row.
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