What had been a consistent 0.4-second deficit in the dry to pacesetter Max Verstappen across Friday and Saturday morning practice in Melbourne was suddenly slashed in half right when it counted.
At the start of a second season of ground-effect struggles for the eight-time constructors' champion, George Russell hustled the limited W14 round just 0.236s short of the 1m16.732s Red Bull benchmark. Meanwhile, team-mate Lewis Hamilton was only another 0.136s in arrears to lead the second row of the grid ahead of Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso.
