2024 Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying Results & Summary

Max Verstappen won the qualifying sessions ahead of the 2024 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit. He will start the third consecutive race from pole position.

Daniel Ricciardo, for whom the Australian Grand Prix will be the home race, needed to perform under pressure from Helmut Marko, but his time in Q1 was deleted for track limits, and he couldn't make it through to Q2.

Therefore, the Honey Badger will start the race in Melbourne from P18. Only two drivers had a slower time than the 34-year-old in the end: Zhou Gunayu, who suffered damage to his front wing while riding a curb in P10, and Pierre Gasly.

Only four drivers needed to be kicked out of Q1, as one driver, Logan Sargeant, won't be participating in the weekend. The last driver to not make it out of Q1 was Nico Hulkenberg.

Esteban Ocon, who showed his surprise on his team radio when he made it out of Q1, didn't have the speed he needed in Q2 and will start the race from P15.

However, that wasn't as big of a surprise as when Lewis Hamilton was knocked out of P10 by Yuki Tsunoda, who made it into P9 with his last lap in the second part of qualifying.

The seven-time World Champion said after FP2 that it was one of the worst sessions he has ever had. Though he seemed much faster in FP3, the pace seemingly went away from his Mercedes into Qualifying.

Alonso lost his car in turn six during the first run in Q3 and almost collided with the wall in the run-off area. He then headed to the pits before going on his final flying lap.

Ferrari drivers seemed the fastest by some margin from the beginning of the session, but Verstappen showed Red Bull also had some pace in their hands with the first lap in Q3, which was almost three-tenths faster than everyone's. The Dutchman improved his lap by a tenth in his second run.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who were first expected to take P1 and P2 in the end, took "only" P2 and P5. Sergio Perez Will start the race from P3.

Aston Martin drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso also struggled in the final part of qualifying. They couldn't put in a faster lap than Yuki Tsunoda, who will eventually start the race from an excellent P8.

George Russell performed better than his seven-time World Champion teammate and finished seventh in the end, in position behind hometown hero Oscar Piastri. Piastri's teammate, Lando Norris, will start the race from P4.

UPDATE: Perez received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Hulkenberg on a flying lap in turn 13. As a result, the Mexican driver will start the Australian Grand Prix from P6.