“It feels a bit tough this one,” he said. “I had a good feeling in Q1 and then Q2 lost a bit. I was not as happy with the balance, and really tried to push through, but it was not enough.

“P11, I would have signed for it, of course. But it’s not like I did the best lap ever, and I know where I lost the lap time, so that’s why I’m a bit frustrated. But all in all, it’s a really, really good day.

“I think we it shows that we worked really hard since Bahrain, we have improved a few things, we understand the car better. So it’s really positive.”

Hadjar has at least conducted some testing of previous cars (TPC) in the wet, although not with the definitive 2025 tyres.

“I’ve done a TPC test in the rain, but they were not like the nicest tyres out there, you know how it is. But I still had one day.

“There is a degree of nervousness, of course, because I’ve never raced those cars in in wet conditions, with other cars around me, so it’s going to be a bit stressful. But there’s other rookies on track out there.

“I’ll just use my instincts. There’s not much experience I can use right now. Only instinct and be smart. The more chaos, the more opportunities, that’s for sure!”

P14 Jack Doohan: “Unfortunately we got a little bit of misfortune”

Given all the focus on the possibility of him being bumped out by Franco Colapinto in the coming weeks Jack Doohan really needed to get off to a flying start at his home race.

Sadly circumstances conspired against him. He had a great Q1 to take P10, just ahead of Alpine team mate Pierre Gasly, but then in Q2 yellow flags for Lewis Hamilton’s spin ruined his lap and stranded him in 14th.

“We were confident for Q3,” he said. “And we just got a bit unlucky with the yellow flag with Lewis, which brought a close to our chances of that. But all in all, it was looking very strong before that happened, and that was out of our control. I think we did everything we could, we positioned ourselves well.

“We switched over to a more sort of standard place for qualifying. I felt a lot more comfortable straight away, which helped a lot. And we were taking steps forward. Unfortunately, we got a little bit of misfortune. Sure, it won’t be the last time, but we just look forward to maximising it for tomorrow.”

Despite doing a lot of TPC running with Alpine over the last few years Doohan says he hasn’t driven an F1 car in the wet: “It’ll be what it’ll be, and I’ll enjoy it regardless.”

P15 Gabriel Bortoleto: “I needed to make a perfect lap”

Gabriel Bortoleto made his mark by outpacing Sauber team mate Nico Hülkenberg in Q1 to progress through.

Alas a small mistake in Q2 compromised him and left him last in that session, and thus 15th on the grid. To his credit the Brazilian admitted that he was at fault.

“I did a mistake in my lap,” he said. “I tried a bit too hard on T4, and ended up running a bit too much the kerb there, and let’s say skateboarding a bit the car. Initially I was not even sure I could keep it still on track.

“It was a bit too risky. But I knew that to put the car maybe further away, and maybe even in Q3, that was very tricky today, because I don’t think we had the pace to. I needed to make a perfect lap, and that ended up as a no-lap. But quite happy with Q1 still a solid result there, and a solid first quali ever in my career in F1.

He added: “It’s not an easy track. It’s a very tricky one, you see a lot of experienced drivers, world champions, spinning or doing mistakes. But that’s our level. When we are fighting for milliseconds basically, we need to push the car to the limit, and sometimes you end up running too wide or not finishing your lap.”

Bortoleto says he has done “a couple of laps” in the wet in a TPC car, but like some of his colleagues he has much to learn on Sunday.

“I’m excited, I can’t wait,” he said. “Wet is one of my favourite conditions. I’ve not been running in the wet so much in recent years. I don’t know why, it just didn’t rain actually, but every time I jump in the rain, I’m very happy to drive, and I have a lot of fun there.

“In the rain, everything can happen. I cannot change the conditions we’re going to have. So I just accept it.

“It’s good experience as well to happen this at the beginning of the career, at least it happens now, and not at the moment that I am fighting for something bigger, and I don’t have the experience.”

P16 Kimi Antonelli: “We could have fought for a much better position”

Inevitably Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes debut is a huge focus of attention this weekend, and after a solid run through the practice sessions a small mistake in Q1 proved costly when floor damage hampered him for his final run.

The Italian admitted that he was surprised to have damaged the car.

“To be honest, I did the same line as FP3,” he said. “It’s just there was a lot of gravel on the kerb, and when I went through it, I picked up quite a bit of damage.

“I was losing quite a bit on the straights, first of all, because the floor was scrubbing on the track, and then lost quite a bit of aero load because, obviously the floor was not aligned as well, because one part was on the on the tarmac, scratching. So definitely it was quite important.

“I think FP3 was very, very positive. So that’s why it’s quite disappointing, the result. We could have fought for a much better position, but it’s what it is, and we’ll try to move on and see what we can do tomorrow.”

Antonelli is one of the best prepared rookies in years after all his TPC running, but even he’s only had one outing on wet tyres.

“Tomorrow obviously it’s raining, and many, many things can happen. It’s going to be my second ever time in the wet. So it’s going to be fun. I really like the rain. Obviously this track seems to be tricky, but I think we can do something good from there.”

P18 Liam Lawson: “It’s going to be very, very tough tomorrow”

Liam Lawson’s credentials as a rookie have been questioned given his two part-seasons, but to be fair to the Kiwi he is new to Albert Park while his fellow youngsters had sampled it previously in F2.

His first outing as Max Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate proved frustrating after his power unit restricted his laps in the crucial FP3 session, and then Q1 slipped away from him.

“Everybody was using soft tyres this morning and I think we had the car in a good window,” he said.

“Honestly, it wasn’t bad. I think we made a big step today, or at least Max did this morning, and the car was in a better window, which was positive. Obviously for me, just not doing the laps was made it pretty tough.

“The lap we were on was perfectly fine. I just had a snap through the high-speed. I think that overheated the tyres, and then the last sector was basically gone from there. It’s hard to know, but we were on a good lap. I think it would have been well in Q2. Obviously, where we’re starting, it’s going be very, very tough tomorrow.”

Rain will not be a novelty for Lawson, who made his debut at a soaking Zandvoort in 2022 and also raced in Brazil last year.

“I would love some rain. I think it’s hard to overtake. So where we’re starting, if it’s dry, it’s going to be pretty hard. So rain would be nice.”

P20 Oliver Bearman: “Clumsiness from my side to make these errors”

Oliver Bearman’s first weekend as a full-time Haas driver could hardly have gone any worse thus far. He had a huge crash in FP1 on Friday and missed the whole of the second session.

Obviously he needed a strong FP3, but instead he managed to spin off right at the start, so again he didn’t get any laps. Then a gearbox issue meant that he didn’t get out of the garage in qualifying.

The fact that team mate Esteban Ocon was only P19 after a clean weekend will be of little comfort to Bearman.

“A pretty unforgiving circuit, and two seemingly small errors giving big consequences and missing out on all of my running,” he said. “Clumsiness from my side to make these errors, honestly. And then that’s not good enough. And of course, the gearbox issue in the qualifying pretty much sums up what we’ve had so far.

“It’s a long season ahead of us. I’m not going to get down about two days in a very long season. I think as a team, we’re struggling a bit more than we anticipated and more than we looked in Bahrain.

“We’ve got a bit of work to do on that side of things, on pure car performance. And of course, I haven’t helped out very much, because the team’s pretty much been running with one car all weekend.”

Bearman will at least go into a wet race having learned a few lessons from Interlagos last year, where he made a few mistakes.

“I’m glad to have done the laps in the rain in Brazil. Wet races are rare. It looks like half of my F1 career will be in the wet so far, but it’ll certainly be an interesting race tomorrow.

“White lines, a very smooth surface. So it will certainly be difficult. I drove here in the wet in F2, very low grip, very tough. I think it won’t dry that fast. So it will be interesting, and a big challenge for us tomorrow.”