NASCAR on TV this week

Max Verstappen Takes Pole Down Under in Australia

Max Verstappen‘s seemingly invincible run in Formula 1 continued on Saturday (March 23) when he took pole for the Australian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz qualified second, while Sergio Perez continued his strong start to the season by qualifying third.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” Sainz said, in his comeback from appendicitis a couple of weeks ago at Saudi Arabia. “A lot of days in bed. Waiting for this moment, to see if I could be here today. To put it on front row after being on top of most of qualifying, I was almost not believing it. Especially after how tough it has been … I was a bit rusty at the beginning, but I got up to speed. Finally found the pace and feeling good with the car.”

Charles Leclerc’s challenge at the pole ended with him going off track in turn 12, forcing the Ferrari driver to pit on his fast lap. He still qualified fifth.

Outside of some minor off-tracks, there were no serious incidents in qualifying, and there were no red flags.

Q3

Fernando Alonso went off in turn six on his banker lap but was able to continue and get back to the pits in time to set up for his hot lap.

Pos.Driver No.DriverTeamTime from Leader
1.1Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT1:15:915m
2.55Carlos SainzFerrari+0.270s
3.11Sergio PerezRed Bull Racing Honda RBPT+0.359s
4.4Lando NorrisMcLaren Mercedes+0.400s
5.16Charles LeclercFerrari+0.520s
6.81Oscar PiastriMcLaren Mercedes+0.657s
7.63George RussellMercedes+0.809s
8.22Yuki TsunodaRB Honda RBPT+0.873s
9.18Lance StrollAston Martin Aramco Mercedes+1.157s
10.14Fernando AlonsoAston Martin Aramco Mercedes+1.637s
See also
2024 IndyCar $1 Million Challenge Preview

Q2

Tsunoda advanced to Q3 in this round, knocking out Lewis Hamilton and giving RB a second straight top-10 start.

Pos.Driver No.DriverTeamTime from Advancing
11.44Lewis HamiltonMercedes+0.059s
12.23Alexander AlbonWilliams Mercedes+0.266s
13.77Valtteri BottasKICK Sauber Ferrari+0.439s
14.20Kevin MagnussenHaas Ferrari+0.526s
15.31Esteban OconAlpine Renault+0.796s

Q1

It was heartbreak in this round for Daniel Ricciardo, who had his fast lap deleted due to a track limits infringement in turn 5. This is the first time the native Australian has ever been knocked out in Q1 in his home Grand Prix.

As seen above, Zhou Guanyu had wing damage on his fast lap after turning 10 wrong and hitting the exit curb.

Pos.Driver No.DriverTeamTime from Advancing
16.27Nico HulkenbergHaas Ferrari+0.267s
17.10Pierre GaslyAlpine Renault+0.273s
18.3Daniel RicciardoRB Honda RBPT+0.376s
19.24Zhou GuanyuKICK Sauber Ferrari+0.479s

2024 F1 Australia Qualifying Results

The third round of the Formula 1 season is now upon us. Lights out for the 2024 Australian Grand Prix will come on Sunday, March 25th at exactly 12:00 a.m. EST.

Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.