McLaren are back in the race, but Ferrari and Red Bull are too good to catch | Melbourne GP Quali

In what was an eventful qualifying session on the Albert Park race track, Charles Leclerc takes his second pole position of the season as Max Verstappen is still left chasing his first of the new season.

The Ferrari and the Red Bull’s seemed to have similar pace throughout the entire weekend, but when it mattered Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari prevailed as the Monegasque driver posted the fastest time of 1:17.8 – three tenths faster than Verstappen's Q3 best of a 1:18.1.

Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz, will be left scratching his head as he records his worst qualifying session this season as the best the Spaniard could manage was P9 after his Q3 best of 1:19.4 – which was one second slower than his fastest time set in Q2.

However, for Mercedes and McLaren things are seeming more optimistic as both teams had both drivers in the final Q3 session for the first time this season.

McLaren have come on leaps and bounds since their last outing in Saudi Arabia with the car seeming more stable and, ultimately, being able to deliver much more lap time than what was managed in Jeddah or Sakhir.

On Daniel Ricciardo’s first home race since 2019 he managed to put his papaya McLaren in seventh place – three-tenths of a second off the pace set by Lando Norris who put his car on the second row of the grid and may potentially move further forward should Perez receive a three-place penalty.

Lews Hamilton’s qualifying session was also far greater than that of two weeks ago when the best the 7x world champion could manage was a disappointing P16. Hamilton, who has claimed all of the last six pole positions in Albert Park managed to put his car in fifth, just ahead of teammate George Russell in sixth.

Looking further down the grid, the weekend has gone from bad to worse for Aston Martin and the Williams teams.

Aston Martin have had a weekend riddled with issues and failures – and that was further extended into the qualifying session as the team only managed to put in one lap collectively as Lance Stroll collided with the Williams of Latifi.

Sebastian Vettel only managed one lap in the qualifying session which was only good enough to put his Aston Martin in 18th place.

The Williams weekend followed a similar trajectory to that of Aston Martin as their cars were riddled with flaws and mechanical issues – which Alex Albon ultimately had to drop of out qualifying as his car broke down at the end of the Q1 session.

Nicholas Latifi’s session was also cut short as he collided with fellow countryman Lance Stroll. As a result of the collision Lance Stroll has received a three-place grid penalty.

Haas are also a team which have struggled on the Albert Park circuit, which comes as a surprise to many. Kevin Magnussen scored points in the first two races of the season but has recorded his worst qualifying session since his return to the sport - only managing to put his car on the 17th grid spot.

A similar story befell Mick Schumacher as he struggled for an overall one-lap pace and also recorded his worst qualifying session of the new season - only being able to put his car in 15th ahead of tomorrow's grand prix.

Overall, the field seems to be close and competitive around the Albert Park circuit – which will hopefully transfer into tomorrow's race as Max Verstappen will be looking to close the gap between himself and Charles Leclerc at the top of the standings.