Toro Rosso put in one of their best qualifying performances in recent years, with Max Verstappen starting fifth and Carlos Sainz Jr. seventh in Australia.
Both cars were ahead of the Red Bull’s, and only Felipe Massa in the Williams managed to split the two youngsters.
Verstappen, who hadn’t qualified above sixth before this weekend, believes that the Italian-based team are only behind the Mercedes’ and Ferrari’s in terms of pace.
“We have to be realistic, Mercedes and Ferrari are a little too fast for us at the moment,” he said when interviewed after qualifying.
“But it was a great achievement by the whole team – I think you can call us best of the rest at the moment.”
The Dutch driver was 1.6 seconds off Lewis Hamilton’s impressive pole time, and just four-tenths off Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari.
“I was quite on the limit, quite on the edge, but I think not many people made a mistake so I think we deserved to be P5,” he said.
“It should be positive in the race; we have a good chance to maintain position.”
With limited long-run testing in the practice sessions, it remains a mystery as to whether the Toro Rosso’s will be able to maintain their strong positions.
Verstappen has twice finished fourth, at the Hungarian and United States Grand Prix, and is in a better position than ever to go a step further and chase down his maiden podium in only his second F1 season.
