In a thrilling qualifying session at the Albert Park Circuit, Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver set an impressive lap time of 1m 15.915s in the final moments of Q3, securing his third pole position of the season.

The session had its fair share of surprises and disappointments. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who has been struggling this weekend, was unexpectedly knocked out in Q2 and will start from P11 on the grid. It was a difficult session overall for Mercedes, with Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas starting from P13.

There was also disappointment for Australian fans as local favorite Daniel Ricciardo suffered an early exit, finishing Q1 in P18. Despite the support from the home crowd, Ricciardo had a lap time deleted due to track limits, which pushed him down the grid.

Carlos Sainz of Ferrari showed strong pace throughout qualifying and briefly held provisional pole position. However, he had to settle for second place after Verstappen's blistering final lap. Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc finished in fifth place after abandoning his last flying lap.

The session also saw impressive performances from Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso of Alpine, who secured ninth and tenth positions respectively. Esteban Ocon of Alpine had a brush with the wall in Q1 but managed to haul his car into P15.

It was a disappointing qualifying session for Williams as Alex Albon, who took over the chassis of teammate Logan Sargeant after an earlier crash, and Nicholas Latifi failed to make it into Q3 and will start from P12 and P20 respectively. Due to Sargeant's absence, the Australian Grand Prix will have only 19 cars on the grid.

Max Verstappen expressed his satisfaction with his pole position, highlighting the challenging weekend so far. He stated, "I think both of those laps felt really, really nice and that was very enjoyable. It was a bit of a tricky weekend, but we managed to get there in the end, so I'm very happy with that."

The 2024 Australian Grand Prix is set to commence at 1500 local time, and fans are eagerly anticipating an exciting race with Verstappen leading the pack from pole position.