Max Verstappen has yet to find the comfort zone around the revamped and faster Albert Park Circuit, nevertheless, the Red Bull driver was still good for second on the grid for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, Round 3 of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship.
Even when he brings his B-Game, as was apparent during Melbourne qualifying today, the Red Bull driver is still stellar.
Early in the session, it appeared a safe bet that a Red Bull would claim pole position; Verstappen topped Q1 with Sergio Perez second, then the Mexican - fresh from winning his first F1 pole during the Jeddah weekend - topped Q2.
But Ferrari had the most firepower in the all-important Q3 session, which Charles Leclerc harnessed to blow everyone away by three tenths.
The 'theft' clearly irked a smile-less Verstappen who said in Parc Ferme: "Not good. I didn’t really feel good in the car the whole weekend so far; there has not been one lap where I felt confident so far, so a bit of a struggle. Of course, second is still a good result but not feeling that great to go the limit so we’ll try to analyse it.
“It's been terrible for me, the whole weekend so far. Just not a good balance, all the time chasing something and I never felt comfortable for one lap, except the long runs. Just been a big struggle and clearly, we didn't seem to really fix it, even in qualifying.
Verstappen: Happy to be second but also as a team we want more
The Dutch ace went on to explain: “It just doesn't give you the confidence to push. Also my first run in Q3, I started to feel a bit better and I was actually hooking it up, but then I locked up again in one corner just because of a random balance shift. So it's not been great, to be honest.”
While it's wafer close between the Ferrari F1-75 and the Red Bull RB18 in qualy, the two teams are possibly even closer in terms of race pace which sets the stage for another VER v LEC battle that so mesmerised F1 fans in the two opening rounds of this new era.
And of course, Verstappen has hope: "Probably in the race pace everything stabilises a bit, but for me everything this weekend has been a bit all over the place. Of course, happy to be second but also as a team we want more.
"I think we have a good race car and in race conditions, everything stabilises a bit, so it is more consistent. Let’s hope we can have a good race," concluded the reigning F1 World Champion.
On the other side of the garage, it's good news for Red Bull is that Perez seems to have a handle in qualifying, a turnaround compared to last year when it was his Achilles heel. The veteran has upped his game as his first pole last time out in Saudi testifies.
Perez: The double push didn’t work any better than just setting one lap
The Mexican's third-place effort today was not too shabby either, after spending the Q1 and Q2 at the sharp end he was less than a tenth down on his teammate; in stark contrast, his counterpart in the Ferrari camp, Carlos Sainz, was ninth fastest after the Reds on his side of the garage seriously fumbled their lines when it mattered.
Afterwards, Checo was less upset than Max about his afternoon in Melbourne: “I think qualifying was going well, Q2 especially and then there were red flags on a couple of occasions which meant we didn’t get to experiment with the tyres, it is always hard with strategy when you get red flags.
"We went for three laps and carried that fuel just to find out at the end that the double push didn’t work any better than just setting one lap. It wasn’t the right thing to do and that costs us a couple of tenths, but Charles put in a tremendous lap, he put everything together and I didn’t.
"Hopefully in the race, we can be a lot closer, make it hard for them, have a strong race and enjoy it. I like this car, we are all learning every time we drive these new cars and in the race I want to make a big step," declared Perez.
It is crystal clear that Verstappen's first F1 crown is under serious attack from Leclerc, while the Red Bull team now know that Ferrari are the enemy to be stopped. Winning on Sunday is vital, as the double-DNF in Bahrain haunts them in the points standings: Ferrari 78, Red Bull 37; Leclerc 45, Verstappen 25.
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