F1 Results: Russell storms to pole in Australia as Verstappen suffers crash

The session, which kicked off with Kimi Antonelli in doubt about participating after his FP3 crash, was soon set alight by several drivers, including teammate George Russell.

The British driver led the session ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, who was briefly quickest. Oscar Piastri also stormed to first place, thrilling the crowd at Albert Park. However, it was Russell who would again clock the fastest time.

Amid the endless changes of lead, Verstappen, who took a while to hit the track, suffered a massive shunt as he put his foot on the pedals on his first flying lap.

The Red Bull driver, who prompted the red flag, would therefore be eliminated, with Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll, who both failed to set a time, joining him.

Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, and Fernando Alonso would wrap up the early eliminations from the first qualifying session.

The second session was less chaotic but still competitive. Russell again topped the timing sheets with a 1:18.934, while Charles Leclerc split the Mercedes duo with a strong lap. Q2 saw the elimination of Franco Colapinto, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Oliver Bearman, and Nico Hulkenberg.

The final session of qualifying unfolded with a little more drama than Q2. Gabriel Bortoleto, who had knocked out his teammate in Q2, failed to start after encountering a problem on his way back to the pit lane. The young Brazilian did not take part in the final running.

Lando Norris had his already difficult session go even worse after he hit a cooling fan that had fallen off the Mercedes of Antonelli. The world champion suffered damage that meant the McLaren engineers had to fix the car during the brief red flag.

However, once on track action resumed, it was Russell who led the field ahead of teammate Antonelli, with Red Bull Racing’s Isack Hadjar completing the top three.

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