Three thirds for Max Verstappen, an impressive new pole position for the Dutchman

Max Verstappen remained unbeaten in this year's Formula 1 and in his third qualifying of the year – he unexpectedly won pole position after his problems on Friday – ended the Australian GP with two spectacular rounds of testing at Albert Park in Melbourne.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz ultimately had no answer to the Dutchman's pace, despite the Spaniard – two weeks after undergoing appendicitis surgery in Jeddah – outpacing the champion in the first two qualifying sessions.

As a result, Saint will line up on the front row at the start of tomorrow's (24/03, 06:00) Australian GP, ​​second occupied by Sergio Perez and Lando Norris in the Red Bull RB20 and McLaren MCL38 respectively. . But the Mexican will face a stage penalty for blocking Haas' Nico Hulkenberg in Q1 during the German's fastest lap.

Charles Leclerc was not as competitive today as he showed in free practice: his Ferrari suddenly became uncontrollable, alternating between understeer and understeer on his fastest lap, and he was consistently slower than Saint. These issues saw the 25-year-old retire in 5th place as he made a mistake on his final lap in 13th.

On the third row of the grid will be Monegasque's Oscar Piastre, who carries the Aussie's confidence in the stands, with McLaren upping their one-lap pace impressively from testing and going into battle with the Ferraris, also ahead of Mercedes and Aston Martin. .