Max Verstappen has secured pole position for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.
Having already dominated the opening two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the defending champion is looking to strengthen his hold of top spot in the standings.
The Red Bull driver has taken the next step towards achieving that by edging out the returning Carlos Sainz Jr to remain at the front of the grid.
Sainz was absent from the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix courtesy of requiring surgery for appendicitis, but the Spaniard posted the fastest time in Q1 and Q2.
However, Verstappen was able to respond in Q3, finishing 0.270 seconds ahead of the Ferrari driver with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez in third.
QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 23, 2024
A superb effort from Carlos Sainz in his comeback weekend following surgery#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/w0h0rfpjxR
Perez will instead start down in sixth, though, courtesy of being handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Nico Hulkenberg.
Lando Norris was fourth fastest in the McLaren, with Charles Leclerc having to make do with fifth quickest in the second Ferrari, with just over half a second covering the top five.
In qualifying for his home Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri was sixth fastest, with the Mercedes of George Russell and RB of Yuki Tsunoda occupying the fourth row of the grid.
The Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso completed the top 10, albeit each were well over a second slower than Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton, who had admitted that he had little confidence in the current performance of his career after an earlier practice session, had to make do with 11th position.
Darren Plant
