Australian Grand Prix: Russell and Hamilton gatecrash top three after brilliant qualifying session

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton gatecrash top three after brilliant qualifying session… but defending champion Max Verstappen’s lightning-quick Red Bull secures him his first Australian Grand Prix pole

• Team principal Toto Wolff said ‘slowly but surely’ Mercedes was improving
• Verstappen’s team-mate Perez will start 20th after beaching car on the gravel
• Lewis Hamilton called the session a ‘dream’ for both drivers  

By Tamara Prenn For Mailonline

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix second and third on the grid in a dramatic upturn to Mercedes’ checkered fortunes. 

Russell, who out-qualified his team-mate for the third race this season, makes the front row after finishing just two-and-half tenths of second behind Max Verstappen. 

The world champion was fastest in Q3 to seal the first pole position in Melbourne of his career, but the grid will be bookended by Red Bulls after his team-mate Sergio Perez, crashed out of Q1 in dramatic fashion. 

Perez locked up on Turn 3, before beaching his RB19 on the gravel and bringing the unexpectedly cold and windy session to a halt as the red flags came out. 

The Mexican driver, who won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah last race weekend, will start 20th at Albert Park. 

Mercedes have had a muffled start to the season but barnstorming qualifying session paid off

George Russell out-qualified his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and will start second on the grid

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton called the session a ‘dream’ for both drivers

Both Mercedes drivers were delighted to have seen such progress achieved with the car between the previous and current race weekends. 

On the radio after his second position was confirmed, Russell crowed: ‘Not too shabby!’

He later confirmed that he was ‘disappointed’ not to have finished on pole position, a statement that might have seemed unfathomable even two weeks to go. 

Speaking Sky Sports, Russell said: ‘We weren’t expecting that – that’s for sure.

‘A lot of hard work going on at the factory, here in Melbourne and wow, what a session for us.

‘The car felt alive, the lap at the end was right on the limit and to be honest I’m a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get pole position.

‘It’s one of those things where your expectations change so quickly in this sport.’

Russell joked: ‘We would have been happy with a top four, top five yesterday.

‘The car felt awesome and we’ve definitely got potential still to come.’

His seven-time world champion team-mate was also impressed by the threat that Mercedes presented in qualifying. Over the radio, team principal Toto Wolff confirmed to his star driver: ‘We are making our way back, slowly but surely’. 

After the session, Hamilton also meditated on the ‘unexpected’ result, saying: ‘George did an amazing job there today so for us to be up on the front two rows in honestly a dream for us.

‘We are all working as hard as we can to get right back up to the front so to be this close to Red Bull is incredible.

Max Verstappen continues to be a force on the track, winning his first ever pole in Melbourne

But Sergio Perez will start at the other end of the pack after a calamitous start to Q1

‘Hopefully tomorrow we can give them a run for their money and we hope the weather is good.’ 

Hamilton reminisced about his 2007 race in Melbourne, which saw the then-McLaren driver seize an opportunity at Turn 1 to move from fourth to third and make the podium on his debut. 

‘I don’t know if anybody remembers but hopefully we can do that,’ Hamilton finished. 

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who has been enjoying a strong start to the season with third-place finishes in Bahrain and Jeddah, was just edged out by Hamilton to line up fourth tomorrow, and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz will start from fifth. 

:

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk