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Formula 1 Australian GP

F1 Australian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying

Saturday's action from the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18

Over two years on from the cancelled Australian GP due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, F1 returns to a revamped Albert Park.

The key track changes see sections of the circuit widened, the Turn 9-10 chicane taken out to increase speeds in a flowing back section and the entire layout has been resurfaced. All changes have been made in the hope of increasing overtaking opportunities and creating more exciting races.

Sebastian Vettel is back for Aston Martin after missing the opening two races having tested positive for COVID-19 and had an eventful Friday after suffering an engine failure in FP1 which ruled him out of second practice, while he also picked up a €5000 fine for riding a scooter on-track back to the pits after FP1.

F1 world championship leader Charles Leclerc topped Friday practice for Ferrari from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, after Carlos Sainz Jr was fastest in FP1.

Final practice for the Australian GP gets underway at 4am BST (1pm local time), followed by qualifying at 7am BST (4pm local time).

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Stopwatch
Tsunoda has been off at Turn 10 but is able to carry on. At the top Leclerc reclaims the fastest time with a 1m18.881s.
Stopwatch
Verstappen moves up to second on his second timed lap, 0.044s off Leclerc, as Bottas goes fifth and Alonso takes sixth.
Still no lap times from both Mercedes and both Aston Martins. Hamilton and Russell are both going for a double warm-up preparation on the C5 soft tyres.
Hamilton has a pretty messy final sector which puts him 11th, with Russell three-tenths faster in 10th place. Both are around one second off the frontrunners.
Stopwatch
All of a sudden it is a Red Bull 1-2. Verstappen puts in a 1m18.580s to go fastest ahead of Perez by 0.254s.
Stroll is out on track with four minutes to go in Q1. But still no sign of Aston Martin team-mate Vettel.
The bottom five is currently Magnussen, Zhou, Latifi, Stroll and Vettel.
The FIA stewards have noted an unsafe release for Gasly during Q1. Elsewhere Zhou improves to move up to 14th place and put Albon into the drop zone.
Red flag
Latifi has a huge crash - it looks like he made contact with Stroll!
Crash
That was messy. So Latifi moved out of the way to let cars through at Turn 4 while on a slow lap, allowing Stroll to overtake him, and then gets on the power down to Turn 5 to re-pass Stroll and they make side-on contact.
The result of Stroll vs Latifi is huge damage to the Williams car, the whole left-rear corner and rear wing is destroyed along with the front wing when Latifi hit the barrier in a spin.
To no surprise the clash will be investigated by the FIA stewards after qualifying.
A lengthy clean up job is underway by the Albert Park track marshals with 2m01s left on the clock in Q1. That is enough time for some final lap efforts, which the vast majority will need to do in order to fight for a Q2 spot.
Q1 will restart at 16:31 local time - five minutes away. Is it enough time to get Vettel into qualifying?
The Aston Martin mechanics are busy at work with Vettel's car trying to get it ready for a late run. Is there enough time?
Lights green
Vettel is out on track for Q1! He's at the back of the queue of about 10 cars - here we go!
It is a race out of pitlane, as Magnussen overtakes Albon after Turn 1. This is going to be tense.
Magnussen now leads the train getting ahead of Ricciardo. Some of these cars might still miss out.
Hamilton and Russell both miss out on a final Q1 timed lap but it looks like they weren't pushing for it at the back of the pack by some distance. Everyone else on track (P8 and below) is on a final lap all or nothing.
Checkered flag
Only Gasly can improve on his previous best, moving up to 10th, as Vettel sets his one and only Q1 lap time of 1m21.149s which puts him 18th ahead of the clashing Canadians.

Out in Q1: P16 Albon, P17 Magnussen, P18 Vettel, P19 Latifi, P20 Stroll. Albon will drop three places due to a grid penalty picked up from his crash with Stroll at the Saudi Arabian GP.

Albon has stopped on track just before Turn 13, which means the start of Q2 will be delayed.

Q2 will start at 16:44 local time - that is four minutes away.
Lights green
After a small breather, time to get going for Q2.
Verstappen leads the charge out of pitlane ahead of both Mercedes, Perez and Schumacher. Q2 is go, 15 minutes to decide who gets to fight for pole position and who will start 11th-15th. Which is less catchy than just calling it Q2.
Stopwatch
Verstappen's opening Q2 effort is a 1m18.611s, three-tenths up on Perez. Both Mercedes are going for double warm-ups again, but Russell has been off at Turn 11, so that's hampered the pace of the drivers behind him on the track.
Stopwatch
The stewards have noted Perez failed to slow under those yellow flags created by Russell's Turn 11 off but there is no investigation yet. Elsewhere Alonso pops up to second place with a 1m18.815s.
Stopwatch
Perez, on a second push effort, goes fastest with a 1m18.340s which is the fastest lap of the weekend so far.
Hamilton's fastest lap is only good enough for ninth, but he had a close moment with Verstappen who was on an in-lap after backing off.
Both Ferraris are out on new soft tyres now. Leclerc was fourth on the first run on used softs and Sainz was eighth.
Perez will be investigated after the session for failing to slow under yellow flags at Turn 11. It'll be a busy evening for the stewards with the Stroll vs Latifi crash already on their to do list.
Stopwatch
Leclerc goes second quickest on those fresh softs, 0.266s off Perez, with Sainz slotting into fourth place. Both safely through to Q3, you'd think.
Ocon, Bottas, Zhou, Schumacher and Tsunoda are the five drivers fighting to steal a Q3 spot on the final runs in this session.
Checkered flag
Ocon moves up to eighth place on his final Q2 lap to push Gasly out of the top 10.
Gasly cannot respond with his final lap and drops out in Q2 along with Bottas, Tsunoda, Zhou and Schumacher.
Q3 will start at 17:07 local time, which means the sun will be right in the drivers' eyeline when they are facing it. Leclerc has asked for his darkest visor to cope with the glare.
Sun
Verstappen and Hamilton have also asked for darker visors to deal with the low sun, with the Red Bull driver applying black tape to the top to help.
Lights green
Here we go for Q3 - hopefully no more delays otherwise this will finish in the dark!

By: autosport.com

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