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00:00 The peril is very high for the Williams team in terms of spare chassis, spare parts.
00:06 So it's fast action on the track for qualifying and the car speeding around the Albert Park circuit.
00:13 It is autumn here. We have gone through the summer and we're going into autumn.
00:19 But whilst they speed around the track are waltzing Matilda in the pit lane, Ted Kravitz.
00:23 Good evening. As you break into turn one and Alex Albon's time of a 1.18.709
00:29 as he crosses the line is not going to be good enough.
00:31 He's going to have to go faster than that. Q1 last year, 1.17.3 was the best time.
00:36 That was maximum stamina. This was the moment.
00:38 Yeah, he got a little wide on the way in to turn nine.
00:42 And in fact, he's lost that time for track limits there out front.
00:48 So they've been just but consistently the target team, haven't they?
00:53 Oh, so close to the wall. Got onto the kerb. Let's see from this angle just how close that was.
01:00 I think he just brushed it. He did. The end of the tyre barrier.
01:02 Yeah. We've seen drivers go way too far to the left-hand side and come a cropper quite often at that turn.
01:10 Boris goes into the top three with his first flying lap.
01:14 His teammate, Oskar Piastri, who's been out there a bit longer, replaces him by just under two tenths of a second.
01:21 And while all that's happening, Fernando Alonso had gone fastest in the first sector to be usurped by Max Verstappen.
01:28 Where? Just three hundredths of a second separating the Ferrari and the other Red Bull.
01:33 We're looking at Max Verstappen, who's now got a time of 1.16.9 to chase down.
01:37 Fernando Alonso started his lap well and he finished it well too.
01:40 DRS down the main straight for Max Verstappen, who crosses the line behind Fernando Alonso.
01:46 And behind by about three tenths of a second.
01:48 We concentrate now on Alex Albon. First two sectors here, Martin, have been really, really competitive.
01:54 Can he hold it together? Can he keep away from the barriers?
01:57 And now the run down to the line to try and put that Williams somewhere in the top eight.
02:02 He does better than that. Top five for Alex Albon.
02:05 This is Pierre Gasly. Now, which line did he cross at the end of the pit lane?
02:12 Oh, he did, didn't he? He absolutely did go to the left of that white line.
02:17 And whilst the sun might have been in his eyes a little bit, I'm not sure the stewards are going to take that into account.
02:23 Get off the brakes, ease the car in, try to open up the angle of the final corner.
02:28 Again, it nips through the exit. Avoid the wall, stay left, shortest run to the line.
02:34 And Daniel Ricciardo does go P10.
02:37 Never knocked out in Q1 in Australia. That might just continue that run.
02:42 That is a massive disappointment.
02:44 Oh, where did I get this damage?
02:48 We assume maybe exit 10.
02:52 And you can see the front wing on Joe Guainu's Sauber missing an end plate and losing him an awful lot of downforce.
03:02 That is a huge disappointment for Daniel Ricciardo out in Q1 for the first time ever in Australia because he had a lap time deleted.
03:11 He joins Sgt. Joe Gasly and Hulkenberg, the bottom five, out of turn 11 and dipping a tyre into the stones and the dust.
03:21 Sight is impressive here, but Verstappen's about a tenth of a bit up on the Ferrari,
03:27 which has been mighty in the final sector so far this weekend.
03:31 Should, at the moment, be ahead of that.
03:33 Verstappen crosses the line with a 1.16.3 and was just about a tenth of a second in every sector ahead of Carlos Sainz.
03:43 Max Verstappen, by the way, with a brand new power unit in that Red Bull for this weekend.
03:48 A slow motion replay of the Aston Martin sliding through turn 1.
03:54 It might look spectacular, it's not necessarily the quickest way to go there.
03:59 Now you've got to keep it tight on the way into the penultimate corner.
04:03 Opens up the angle of this final turn and releases you better into the long pit straight.
04:10 Watch Sainz going to do on his new tyres. He goes fastest.
04:13 Don't go too wide through there.
04:15 And then this corner, the car still wandering around a little bit.
04:19 But what can Fernando do? Will this get him in further into the top ten? It does for now.
04:27 I'm sure we'll be a lot happier to know that Alex Albon isn't coming out for any more runs in qualifying.
04:33 Because he is very much on the bubble and that looked a bit unsteady.
04:36 Still Lewis having to jockey the car, stand up in the seat to deliver a lap time.
04:42 And over the line he goes. Stays P9 and that was a lot of effort.
04:46 As he goes over the line, Yuki Tsunoda. Can he replace Lance Stroll?
04:50 And he can replace Lance Stroll in the top ten.
04:53 So Tsunoda strings together three personal bests.
04:57 But Lance Stroll then usurps him right at the end.
05:01 And he had to make that count. Tsunoda's in and that's pushed Lewis Hamilton out.
05:05 Lewis Hamilton out of qualifying in Q2 at Albon Park.
05:11 Are we safe or not?
05:14 Except that we've just been bumped.
05:20 And that is his worst qualifying here since 2010.
05:25 Nose in, straight back on the throttle. And two corners to go.
05:30 And it is neat and tidy. He's in all the right parts of the racetrack.
05:35 Is Carlos Sainz as he drives for the line.
05:38 This is a really, really terrific lap by Carlos Sainz. It's a 1.16.3.
05:43 It is not as fast as his quickest time in Q2.
05:46 As Oscar Piastri on those new tyres powers down the main straight.
05:50 Goes third fastest, which will be lovely if he can stay there.
05:53 But Max Verstappen will be next to cross the line.
05:55 And Verstappen is hunting for a third successive pole position in 2024.
06:02 Verstappen crosses the line and does take that provisional pole position
06:06 by nearly three tenths of a second.
06:08 Fernando Alonso, meanwhile. This is what happened at Turn 6.
06:12 You mentioned it, Martin, that he'd had a bit of an off.
06:15 Oh dear.
06:16 Oh dear. We had to turn into a slide.
06:19 Watch, watch. Lost the car in 6.
06:22 Alonso, who are yet to complete a time.
06:25 And did he lose quite a bit of time going through 9 and 10 here?
06:30 Where he really had to correct that early, didn't he?
06:33 And you heard, you could hear his foot bouncing on the throttle pedal as well.
06:37 That cost him dearly, because it would cost you all the way down the next straight as well.
06:42 Through Turn 9 and 10 we go, through Turn 12 now.
06:45 Here comes Carlos Sainz.
06:47 Fully lit up on the exit of Turn 10.
06:50 And let's see what he can do. Oh, here we go.
06:52 Here comes Max Verstappen down the main straight.
06:54 Has he improved on his time? Yes, he has.
06:57 By a tenth of a second.
06:59 So we're into the 1.15s now for pole.
07:02 Sergio Perez next to cross the line.
07:04 It's Red Bull 1 and 2 as it stands on the front row at the moment.
07:08 Here though comes Carlos Sainz.
07:10 And he's dislodged Sergio Perez, but not Max Verstappen.
07:13 What can Oscar Piastri do to send the home crowd home very happy?
07:17 It's top 5 at the moment for Oscar Piastri.
07:21 But his teammate Lando Norris now wants to go one step better.
07:25 Goes two steps better. Second row for Lando Norris currently.
07:29 George Russell in the one remaining Mercedes to the line.
07:32 He goes, stays 7th fastest.
07:35 That's him done in qualifying. And Charles Leclerc pits.
07:38 So Charles Leclerc, top 5 for him.
07:41 Wasn't going any faster. He's pitted at the end of that lap.
07:44 He's gone through the last corner where Verstappen seemed to...
07:48 Turn 12. That's where it all went wrong for Charles Leclerc.
07:54 Bit of an odd downshift in there.
07:56 It wasn't that bad, was it?
08:00 Car was really difficult to drive. It was going from understeer to oversteer.
08:04 But it worked.
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08:36 (upbeat music)
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