Max Verstappen hauled himself into contention for pole position in Melbourne, taking a respectable third place on the grid behind McLaren.

After a tough Friday with a tricky RB21, Verstappen briefly looked capable of taking pole position outright on Saturday at Albert Park.

Max Verstappen ‘surprised to be here’ with top three finish

Red Bull had looked off the pace on Friday in Melbourne, with Verstappen unable to get anywhere near the laptimes set by Charles Leclerc and the two McLaren drivers as he finished the day over half a second behind the leading trio.

But FP3 suggested that Red Bull had found more pace from the RB21 and Verstappen went on to prove that in qualifying as he continuously managed to keep in the mix with the fastest times.

The reigning World Champion then slotted himself into provisional pole position on the first runs in Q3 as scrappy laps from Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris upped the pressure on the papaya cars.

Both Piastri and Norris responded to that pressure on the final laps, with both overcoming Verstappen’s time – Norris coming out on top to land pole position ahead of Piastri at his home race.

Verstappen briefly dipped to fourth as George Russell improved, but finished with the third-quickest time, and is clearly in the mix for at least a podium finish on Sunday.

“Yeah, I think so. We had a bit of a tough start,” Verstappen said, when asked if Red Bull had improved the RB21 over the course of the weekend.

“This has never really been a good track to us, I think, as well, so it took a bit of time to understand and how we can improve the situation, and we did that today.”

Having made it into the post-qualifying press conference, Verstappen said, “Honestly, I’m quite surprised to be sitting here after yesterday.”

Encouragingly for Red Bull, who have concentrated on widening the operating window of the RB21 compared to last year’s more “peaky” car, Verstappen said he had no complaints about how the car handled in qualifying.

“I felt confident. I felt one with the car,” he said.

“But yeah, of course, clearly, we’re still lacking a bit of pace but, overall, I’m happy with the laps in qualifying, trying to really extract everything.

“Tyres are quite sensitive around here as well, with all these high speed corners, but I’m happy to be here.”

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Max Verstappen: The Red Bull came alive

Last year, Verstappen made it clear that the RB20 wasn’t handling to his liking – even on weekends where the performance allowed him to compete.

Balance issues plagued the team, and technical director Pierre Waché explained to PlanetF1.com in Bahrain that a key aim with the RB21 was to take a step back on chasing the ultimate potential of their platform in order to make the car more malleable for the drivers.

To that end, Verstappen’s comments suggest this compromise has succeeded – the car appears better-balanced and more pleasant to drive, while the focus now will be on unlocking more performance.

“Just trying to fine tune balance things and the car just came alive a little bit more,” he explained, when asked what had changed from Friday’s track time.

“Yesterday was, in general, quite okay to drive it, just too slow.

“Today, it was a little bit faster, but clearly, yeah, still not fast enough, but still to be ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes, I think is good for us here.”

While rain is forecast for Sunday, which could transform the complexion of the race, Verstappen said that – if conditions remain the same as Saturday – beating the McLarens could be a step too far with dry race pace.

“I don’t expect any kind of miracles about it,” he said.

“I think it’s okay, but it’s not on the same level [as McLaren]. But I’ll just do my best, and see what happens tomorrow.”

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