F1 Qualifying Results: Mercedes hit back at the Australian Grand Prix

Qualifying is in the books at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix following an epic session at Albert Park as Max Verstappen claimed his first ever Melbourne pole.

The reigning world champion pipped the resurgent Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, with Fernando Alonso just behind in P4.

It was a day of disaster for Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, who went out in Q1 after enduring a similarly miserable FP3 earlier in the afternoon.

Here are the qualifying results from Melbourne on Saturday.

Australian Grand Prix 2023 Qualifying Results

Here is the detail on how Qualifying played out on Saturday:

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull): 1:16.732

2. George Russell (Mercedes): +0.236

3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes): +0.372

4. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin): +0.407

5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari): +0.538

6. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin): +0.576

7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari): +0.647

8. Alex Albon (Williams): +0.877

9. Pierre Gasly (Alpine): +0.943

10. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas): +1.003

11. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

12. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)

13. Lando Norris (McLaren)

14. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

15. Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri)

16. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

17. Zhou Guanyou (Alfa Romeo)

18. Logan Sargeant (Williams)

19. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)

20. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

How does F1 Qualifying work?

The 60-minute qualifying session is split into three finite windows which provides a dramatic prelude to Sunday's big race.

The bottom five drivers are eliminated at the end of Q1, with a further five eliminated after Q2.

Then Q3 gives us a shootout between the remaining 10 drivers in the battle for positions at the front of the grid.

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