There are several drivers in contention for World Champion before they start racing in earnest this season. Piastri has it the toughest this week, not only being the driver who needs to step it up the most to stake his claim within his own team, it is also his home track. There is already extra demand for time from the media as it is the first race of the year but he will be needed to comment on racing in Australia too.
My son asked me who I thought would take pole for this first race of the season and I honestly had no idea. Someone from Ferrari? Someone from McLaren? Someone from Mercedes? There's also Williams in contention for two top ten places.
With so many rookies, it would be well to get a first lap in before anyone crashed and brought out any flagged restrictions on pace. One of them, Bearman, immediately reported a broken gear box. Lawson also had a poor Qualifying and went out with him, putting in a weak performance and going wide after aborting the lap. Something went wrong, whether driver or mechanic fault, on Antonelli's car and he the car was very low sending up sparks and he went out too. He had broken the bib of the car. Along with the three rookies, was Ocon, newly driving for Haas and Hulkenberg, newly driving for Sauber. Norris put in the quickest lap.
Nothing much happened in the second session, Bortoleto had a big off but saved it, still ending up in 15th in his Haas, still beating his team mate Ocon. Doohan was next, then Stroll, with his team mate Alonso ahead of him. In 11th was the best rookie, Hadjar for the Racing Bulls. The end of the session was dicey as Hamilton spun his Ferrari on track. With less than half a minute to go, he got going, which allowed some drivers to put in a quicker lap. Norris took 1st place from his team mate at the last gasp, putting him in pole position to take pole position.
In the final session, it was busy at the top to start. Norris's second hot lap time was deleted for veering off the track with all four tyres. Halfway through Verstappen held pole position, followed by Russell, LeClerc, Piastri, Albon and Tsunoda, six different teams. With four minutes left, everyone piled out of their garages. Piastri took pole, then Norris snatched it off him. Nobody could take if off them; it was a papaya front row. Behind them was Verstappen, Russell, Tsunoda in his Racing Bull, Albon in his Williams, LeClerc beating Hamilton, Gasly then Sainz in his first outing for Williams. Most improved definitely goes to Williams. Everyone seemed very happy for them. The range of different constructors in the top ten promises a great season.
There was a strong forecast for rain for race day, which no one was looking forward to. A nice clean race to get a feel for each cars' strengths and weaknesses would have been preferable. Hamilton was going to go home and study the rain settings for the Ferrari that evening. It will be a big challenge for the rookies.
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