The homegrown Australian Grand Prix driver curse is alive and well, at least for Perth’s Daniel Ricciardo, as reigning world champion Max Verstappen continued his mastery over the field.

Ricciardo’s first qualifying session at Albert Park since 2022 ended in heartbreak, a last-second call ruling out his fastest lap - which had him 10th after Q1 - for breaching track limits in sector one.

There was no such trouble for Red Bull as Verstappen timed his run to perfection, sitting behind the Ferraris for the first two sessions before clocking the two fastest times in Q3 to claim another pole position.

“It was a bit unexpected in qualifying today, but with Q3, I think both of those laps felt really nice,” he said post-qualifying.

“It’s been a tricky weekend so far, but we managed to be there at the end, so I’m very happy.

“(Ferrari) seem very quick in the long run. A bit of a question mark for tomorrow, but it should be very exciting.”

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start second after returning from appendix surgery, while fellow Red Bull driver Sergio Perez rounds out the top three.

Charles LeClerc finished fifth fastest after bailing on his final lap, while the other local hope, Oscar Piastri, will start the Grand Prix from sixth for McLaren.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton produced the shock of the session, failing to crack into the top 10 after struggling through the three practice sessions.

No Aussie has finished on the podium at their home Grand Prix since 1983 and Ricciardo will now have to pray for carnage and brilliant strategy in Sunday’s feature race, starting from the last row of the grid with just Zhou Guanyu behind him.

To add insult to injury, his teammate Yuki Tsunoda fired his RB into the top 10.

Melbourne-born McLaren ace Piastri had a much better showing, appeasing the home crowd in a cut-throat Q3 shootout.

After his first lap in the final 12-minute session, Piastri settled into sixth and was given the order to boost teammate Lando Norris with a toe on the final flying lap.

It worked well with Norris to start fourth while Piastri didn’t lose a place.

In his first home Grand Prix last year, Piastri started 16th.