Frustration for Alonso and Sainz in Melbourne, with Leclerc on pole

He came with a pace that was going to place him, at least, among the top three, but a breakdown crossed his path again.

suffered an accident in Q3 that ruined the improvement he had made since Friday in Melbourne.

As if that were not enough, misfortune was also going to befall

, whose Ferrari did not start in time when attacking the decisive lap, which made him lose his preparation until he was relegated to ninth place on the grid, just because in front of the Asturian.

Oblivious to these evil fates, after a Saturday plagued by incidents and red flags,

scored his second

in three races (1:17.868), ahead of

and

.

"I lost the hydraulic system and I couldn't downshift," Alonso explained over the radio, shortly before jumping out of the car.

Coming out of the crash unscathed didn't lessen his visible anger.

Albert Park seemed like the ideal setting to showcase the speed of the A522, but the two-time world champion finished again far behind what his speed had shown.

The sound of its engine was suddenly muted and that moral blow was much harder than the impact against the wall at turn 11. "It's quite frustrating, because we could have fought for

," he admitted minutes later, on the microphones of DAZN.

No less tense Sainz arrived to attend to the press, because his good work ended in a very bad way.

While Leclerc battled the Red Bulls, the Madrid native couldn't even get close to the lead.

That second and a half ceded to his garage partner does not respond to Sainz's true moment, now forced to race against the foot.

With that Ferrari out of position, the other candidates won't be able to relax.

And new protagonists can be incorporated into that fight for the podium.

Alpine's preponderant role in Melbourne was intended to be challenged by McLaren.

, with the best time in the third free session, finally seemed to feel comfortable with the MCL36, always faster than

.

At least, the double qualification for Q3 is a step forward for the Woking team, which resumes its place among the best to the detriment of Alfa Romeo and Haas.

Reaching that top10 is already almost a relief for Mercedes, with

and

in fifth and sixth position, respectively.

At the last minute, the race director had almost surreptitiously eliminated one of the four DRS zones.

What reasons could be attributed to this change in the middle of the weekend?

Better not think about them.

The modifications planned for months had increased the spectacular nature of the track, with areas of true vertigo, such as the arrival at turns 6 and 11. Perhaps with three sectors of DRS it seemed enough, because the average speed would already be around 250 km/h per lap.

Not even the best were safe from fright.

Several errors by Verstappen were added to Alonso's spin early on Friday, although nothing comparable to that of Aston Martin, which in the morning lost its two cars against the protections of turns 10 and 11. Their mechanics had to work hard to recover

in time for Q1, but when he was taken out on the track, the Canadian had no better idea than to crash into his compatriot

.

A nonsense that both should take note of.

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