Around the track: What are the racers saying ahead of the Australian GP

The qualifying sessions for the season’s third race in Melbourne was no different, with Le Clerc and his SF-75 recording the fastest time to secure the first position on the grid.

“I’m happy with my result today. This circuit is very tricky and I’ve always struggled here in the past. It may not have seemed like it this weekend because we’ve been quite fast, but I’ve done a lot of work to optimise my performance.

In contrast with other teams complaining of car problems, Ferrari hasn’t encountered any and LeClerc sounded confident heading into tomorrow’s race.

“It (the SF-75) doesn’t look too bad in terms of race pace. It’s very close with our competitors so it will be a difficult but exciting race tomorrow.”

Defending champion Max Verstappen finished with the second-fastest time in qualifying. The Dutch champion is no different to many racers, who have had a lot of complaints about their cars following the revised car specifications.

“I didn’t feel 100% in the car today, so we tried to change a few things in the set-up, but it didn’t quite make the improvements we hoped for.

“I think we have a good race car, and in proper race conditions, everything stabilises a bit, so it is more consistent. Let us hope we can have a good race tomorrow.” Verstappen said.

Nobody loves the Melbourne track more than Sir Lewis Hamilton. He’s won eight poles at this course, including the last six in a row!

In spite of porpoising and other issues with the Mercedes car, Hamilton still managed to secure the fourth spot on tomorrow’s grid.

“Today was a good day for me, and I am really grateful for the work at the factory in turning the car around from yesterday. I almost got P4 which would have been cool but we’ll be fighting for that position tomorrow.

“George (Russel) and I tried slightly different things on our cars today, so hopefully that’s good learning for the team to take into the race.

Despite his upbeat demeanour, Hamilton could not help but highlight the issues with his car once again.

“I’d say this era is the worst for porpoising that I’ve ever experienced. When you turn in you never know which position you’ll catch it in, and the car could oversteer or understeer depending on where you catch it, so driving it is a real challenge, it’s like a rattlesnake.” Hamilton said.

Can anybody beat LeClerc to a pole finish in Melbourne? Will Sir Lewis begin his comeback at one of his favourite tracks?